Intelligence
ABILITY: A skill you have, no additional “training” needed
ACHIEVEMENT: Mastery/knowledge in a specific subject area; reflect
current performance (school tests)
APTITUDE: Potential ability, predict future achievement in a certain
area (ACT, SAT, etc.)
INTELLIGENCE: “General Mental Ability”
 What does this mean? Practical? Verbal? Problem-Solving?
What is Intelligence?
 Intelligence
 ability to learn from experience,
solve problems, and use
knowledge to adapt to new
situations
Assessing Intelligence
 Aptitude Test
 a test designed to predict a person’s
future performance
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 a test designed to assess what a person
has learned
Assessing Intelligence
 Reliability
 the extent to which a test yields consistent
results
 assessed by consistency of scores on:
 two halves of the test
 alternate forms of the test
 retesting
 Validity
 the extent to which a test measures or
predicts what it is supposed to
A
A
B
B
C+
C
C+
C
C-
C-
D
D
F
F
A
B
C+
C
CD
F
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
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 What is Intel?
 the ability to learn from experience, think
rationally, and adapt to changes in the
environment
 Alfred Binet
 around 1900 French gov. made a law
saying all children must attend school
 all kids were not on the same level
 Binet’s job was to fig out who needed
special help
 Dev test to meas mental age
 -intellectual level in years that a child is
functioning on
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Mental Age
 a measure of intelligence test
performance devised by Binet
 chronological age that most typically
corresponds to a given level of
performance
 child who does as well as the average
8-year-old is said to have a mental age
of 8
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Stanford-Binet
 the widely used American
revision of Binet’s original
intelligence test
 revised by Terman at Stanford
University
Intelligence
A Little History of Intelligence Testing…
 Goddard: Translated Binet-Simon test into English.
 Advocated wide use of intelligence tests for social engineering
 Coined terms moron (mental age 8-12), imbecile, & idiot, all of whom
were “unfit for society” & should be institutionalized, sterilized,
segregated, or all three; work led to Army’s Alpha & Beta tests,
Ellis Island testing (where most immigrants were considered
“defective”); strongly supported eugenics
Terman (1916): Felt Binet-Simon was unfair – how can we say an 8-yearold is more intelligent than a 6-year-old just because she got more
questions correct? Worked at Stanford & adapted the test to create
the Stanford-Binet test
 First used idea of the “intelligence quotient” (I.Q.)
 Mental age/Chronological age x 100 = I.Q. (100 is average)
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 defined originally the ratio of
mental age (ma) to chronological
age (ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma/ca x 100)
 on contemporary tests, the average
performance for a given age is
assigned a score of 100
Intelligence
Extremes of Intelligence: Mental Retardation
Level
Typical
Intelligence
Scores
Percentage of
the disabled:
Adaptation to Demands of Life
Mild
50-70
85%
Moderate
35-49
10
May progress to 2nd grade level
academically. Adults may contribute to their
own support by labor in sheltered
workshops
Severe
20-34
3-4
May learn to talk & to perform simple work
tasks under close supervision but are
generally unable to profit from vocational
training
Profound
Below 20
1-2
Require constant aid & supervision
May learn academic skills up to 6th grade
level. Adults may, with assistance, achieve
self-supporting social & vocational skills
Assessing Intelligence
Assessing Intelligence
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
 subtests
 verbal
 performance (nonverbal)
Assessing Intelligence:
Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL
PERFORMANCE
General Information
Similarities
Arithmetic Reasoning
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Digit Span
Picture Completion
Picture Arrangement
Block Design
Object Assembly
Digit-Symbol Substitution
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977
Intelligence
Ability
Description
Visual & spatial abilities
Visualizing forms & spatial relationships
Perceptual speed
Grasping perceptual details rapidly,
perceiving similarities & differences
between stimuli
Numerical ability
Computing numbers
Verbal meaning
Knowledge of the meaning of words
Memory
Recalling information (words, sentences
etc.)
Word fluency
Thinking of words quickly (rhyming, etc.)
Deductive reasoning
Deriving examples from general rules
Inductive reasoning
Deriving general rules from specific
examples
Intelligence
Age
Task
2
Place geometric shapes in corresponding openings; identify body parts;
stack blocks; identify common objects
4
Name objects from memory; complete analogies (e.g., fire is hot, ice is
____); identify objects of similar shape; answer simple questions (e.g. why
do we have school?)
6
Define simple words; explain differences (e.g. between a fish & a horse);
identify missing body parts in a picture; count out objects
8
Answers questions about a simple story; identify absurdities (e.g. “John
had to walk on crutches because he hurt his arm”); explain
similarities/differences; tell how to handle certain situations (e.g. find a
stray puppy)
Intelligence
Age
Task
10
Define more difficult words; give explanations (e.g. about why people
should be quiet in a library); list as many words as possible; repeat sixdigit numbers
12
Identify more difficult verbal & pictorial absurdities; repeat five-digit
numbers in reverse order; define abstract words (e.g. sorrow); fill in a
missing word in a sentence
14
Solve reasoning problems; identify relationships among points of the
compass; find similarities in apparently opposite concepts (e.g. high &
low); predict the number of holes that will appear when a folded paper is
cut & then opened
Adult
Supply several missing words for incomplete sentences; repeat six-digit
numbers in reverse order; create a sentence using several unrelated
words (e.g. forest, business-like, & dismayed); describe similarities
between concepts (e.g. teaching & business)
Intelligence
Verbal:
 What day of the year is Independence Day? (Information)
 In what way are wool and cotton alike? (Similarities)
 If eggs cost 60 cents a dozen, what does 1 egg cost? (Arithmetic Reasoning)
 Tell me the meaning of corrupt. (Vocabulary)
 Why do people buy fire insurance? (Comprehension)
 Listen carefully, & when I am through, say the numbers right after me.
(Digit Span)
 Now I am going to say some more numbers, but I want you to repeat them
backward. (Digit Span)
Intelligence
Performance (Picture Completion):
Intelligence
Performance (Picture Arrangement):
Intelligence
Performance (Block Design):
Intelligence
Performance (Object Assembly):
Intelligence
Performance (Letter Number Sequencing):
 Give sequences of letters & numbers, then subject reorders them,
numbers first, letters second, arranged numerically &
alphabetically
For example:
8
G
D
6
1
S
2
2
6
8
D
G
S
becomes:
1
Intelligence
Performance (Digit Symbol Substitution):
Intelligence
Performance (Matrix Reasoning):
What is Intelligence? Thurstone
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 Thurstone’s Theory of Primary Mental Abilities
identified 8 factors that make up intelligence
 1)visual-spatial ability
 2)perceptual speed
 3)numerical ability
 4)verbal meaning
 5)memory
 6)word fluency
 7)deductive reasoning
 8)inductive reasoning
 said it is possible to be very high in one factor and low in
another
What is Intelligence? –
Broadened Theories: Gardner
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Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
 said there are 8 different types of intelligence
1)linguistic
any famous writer
2)logical-mathematical
Einstein
3)visual-spatial
Picasso
4)body-kinesthetic
Jordan/ Surgeon/ ballerina
5)musical-rhythmic
any great composer
6)interpersonal
Gandhi
7)intrapersonal
Freud
8)Nature
Darwin
 thought each intelligence was based in different parts of
the brain & each intelligence varies in intensity in every
person
What is Intelligence? – Broadened
Theories: Sternberg
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Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
-said there are 3 aspects of intelligence
1)analytical intelligence
-academic problem solving skills
2)creative intelligence
-being able to adapt quickly to new situations and come up with original
ideas
3)practical intelligence
-everyday tasks
*Said Trad tests test 1 but not 2&3 which are better predictors of
vocational success
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What is Intelligence?
 A.
Factor-Analysis
 -a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a
test that measure a common ability
 -used to find out whether there might be a general ability factor that
runs throughout our specific mental abilities
 Spearman’s 2 Factor Theory of theory intelligence
 -Spearman helped develop factor-analysis to support g factor theory
 -said intelligence was made up of 2 factors
 g factor – general ability
 s factor – specific ability
What is Intelligence?
 Factor Analysis
 statistical procedure that identifies clusters of
related items (called factors) on a test
 used to identify different dimensions of
performance that underlie one’s total score
 General Intelligence (g)
 factor that Spearman and others believed
underlies specific mental abilities
 measured by every task on an intelligence
test
Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 g factor underlies the specific abilities
 -said people who score high on one s factor usually do well on others as well
 -he attributed this to the g factor
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Biological Correlates
 2 Correlates: Brain Size, Processing Speed (Perceptual Speed &
Neurological Speed)
1. Brain Size
 Early 1800s Franz Gall and his school of phrenology believed that
they could tell your intelligence and other characteristics about you
by the size and shape of your skull
 modern studies do show a slight correlation (+.15) b/w head size
(relative to body size) and intelligence
 however, there is more inside your skull than just the brain
 newer studies using MRI technology to measure actual brain size
reveal a correlation of +.44
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Biological Correlates
Interesting Info: Einstein’s brain was 15% larger than average in the
parietal lobes lower region (math and spatial information processing
located here)
-other areas of his brain were smaller than average
-may indicate why he was so slow in learning to speak
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Biological Correlates
2. Processing Speed positively correlated with Intel
Diff b/w Sink & Wink
 ‘quick wits’
 higher verbal ability scores
-PET scans have revealed that high IQ performers use less glucose
when completing cog. tasks than do average people
Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Savant Syndrome
 condition in which a person otherwise
limited in mental ability has an exceptional
specific skill
 computation
 drawing
Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Social Intelligence
 the know-how involved in
comprehending social situations and
managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence
 ability to perceive, express, understand,
and regulate emotions
What is Intelligence? –
Broadened Theories: Emo Intel
Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman)
 interested in finding out why very intelligent people aren’t always
successful in life
 listed 5 areas needed for life success
 1)self-awareness
 2)self-motivation
 3)impulse control
 4)mood management
 5)people skills
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Intelligence and
Creativity
 Creativity
 the ability to produce novel and
valuable ideas
 expertise
 imaginative thinking skills
 venturesome personality
 intrinsic motivation
 creative environment
Assessing Intelligence
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison
with the performance of a pretested
“standardization group”
 Normal Curve
 the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that
describes the distribution of many physical
and psychological attributes
 most scores fall near the average, and fewer
and fewer scores lie near the extremes
The Normal Curve
Getting Smarter?
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Assessing Intelligence
 Can a test have high reliability but low validity? Yes
 Can a test have low reliability but high predictive
validity? No
 Could have content validity if it is measuring what its
supposed to
 See Barron’s Manual for more in depth on Reliability
& Validity if needed
Assessing Intelligence
Football 10
linemen’s 9
success
Greater correlation
over broad range
of body weights
8
7
6
5
Little correlation within
restricted
range
4
3
2
1
0
180
250
290
Body weight in pounds
 As the range of
data under
consideration
narrows, its
predictive
power
diminishes
The Dynamics of
Intelligence
 Mental Retardation
 a condition of limited mental ability
 indicated by an intelligence score below 70
 produces difficulty in adapting to the demands
of life
 varies from mild to profound
 Down Syndrome
 retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s
genetic makeup
Genetic Influences
 The most
genetically
similar
people have
the most
similar
scores
Genetic Influences
 Heritability
 the proportion of variation among
individuals that we can attribute to
genes
 variability depends on range of
populations and environments studied
Genetic Influences
Environmental
Influences
 The Schooling Effect
Group Differences
 Group differences and environmental impact
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil
Fertile soil
Difference within group
Gender Differences
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 Males=Females as group on math test mean scores
 F higher on computation, M on prob solving
(Int fact: males have a gr8er differentiation w/in group)
 Differences can be explained in socialization differences b/w males
& females
 Males better on spatial tasks (evol per: hunting in 3D space, bio per:
prenatal male sex hormones)
 Females better on emotion detecting (evol per: women’s ability to
det emotions helped them read emo in infants & potential lovers)