Intelligence
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
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Intelligence
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Why do we want to measure
intelligence?
What are some of the reasons we
measure intelligence?
If you had to construct an IQ test, what
kinds of questions would it contain?
What kinds of abilities do you think you’d
want to test?
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Alfred Binet
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Binet started out as a lawyer in
1878.
Then he started attending the
Sorbonne in France & began
studying psychology.
He published over 200 books,
articles, and reviews in
experimental, developmental,
social, and differential
psychology.
Binet later collaborated with
Theodore Simon in 1920.
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Theodore Simon
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Simon was a colleague
of Alfred Binet in Paris.
Coauthor of the first
test to roughly test
intelligence.
He felt that the test
could estimate
intelligence in children
from ages 3 to 12.
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Jean Piaget
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1896-1980.
Simon asked him to help
standardized intelligence tests with
Parisian children in 1920.
Definition of intelligence:
Intelligence is an adaptation…to
say that intelligence is a particular
instance of biological adaptation is
thus to suppose that it is essentially
an organization and that its function
is to structure the universe just as
the organism structures its
immediate environment. 1963.
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Vygotsky: ZPD
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Cognitive growth
occurs within the
zone where the
child receives help
to be able to
understand or do
something
independently.
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David Wechsler
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Wechsler’s definition of intelligence: the
global capacity of the individual to act
purposefully, think rationally, and to deal
effectively with his environment.
Vocabulary.
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David Wechsler
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“Intelligence is the
aggregate or global
capacity of the
individual to act
purposefully, to
think rationally and
to deal effectively
with his
environment.” 1944
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Accomplishments
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Developed 2 intelligence tests: WAIS &
WISC.
Greatly improved the normative process.
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Is there a consensus?
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No.
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What is intelligence?
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The ability to think abstractly
Plan
Gather information
Understand complex ideas
Solve problems
Reason
Adapt effectively to the environment
Overcome obstacles
Learn from experience
Adapt to a novel situation
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What intelligence is not
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Intelligence does not include every skill
or ability a person could have.
• For example… Celine Dion
• Michael Phelps.
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Other terms associated with
learning issues
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Ability: the power to perform something
Aptitude: the potential for performance
after training
Achievement: how well learned subject
Intelligence: the ability to learn; but
there is considerable overlap with
achievement – what one has learned
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Intelligence Testing
1. “One Score Tests”
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Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale IV–
Ages 2 through adult.
Modern version – scores no longer
reflect mental age. You’re now
compared to others – representative
sample used to obtain the distribution.
Links to Cattell-Horn’s theory.
Greater differentiation of abilities.
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Wechsler Intelligence Scales
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4-6.5 years – Wechsler Preschool and
primary scale of Intelligence – III.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – IV
(16 and older).
Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children –
IV (2 – 16).
Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV).
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Some important points
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Current IQ tests:
• Measure nonverbal intelligence as well.
• Patient receives points according to age level
completed.
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WAIS tests
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Intelligence is comprised of specific
interrelated abilities.
We sum up the individual’s scores on
each of these abilities = overall IQ.
Overall IQ = Full scale IQ.
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The Normal Curve
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The normal curve
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Describe
• Show IQ scores for the WAIS-IV.
• 130 and above very superior
• 120-129 Superior
• 110-119 High average
• 90-109 Average
• 80-89 Low Average
• 70-79 Borderline
• 69 and below – Extremely low
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Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
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Evaluate intelligence with respect to
normed samples by age.
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IQ = (mental age / chronological age) x 100
What does this mean? If a 10 year old can
answer questions of the same difficulty level
as most 13 year olds, then IQ = (13/10) x 100
= 130.
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Discuss issues with extreme
scores
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Diagnosis of GT
Diagnosis of MR
• Borderline (67-83), mild (50-66), moderate
(33-49), severe (16-32), profound (<16)
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Do we do a good job with extreme
scores?
Difference between intelligence (ability to
learn) and mastery tests like Wood-cock
Johnson (what you have learned).
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Verbal IQ subtests
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Measure learned/absorbed knowledge
Knowledge of history, literary/biological
facts
Knowledge relating to competent
functioning in the world
Knowledge of mathematics
Knowledge of the meaning of specific
words
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Performance IQ subtests
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Measure: unfamiliar tasks
Speed is critical
Measures on-the-spot analytical thinking
Measures how well a person can master
new problems
IQ measures person’s standing as
compared to a reference group
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Intelligence Testing
Important Issue: Standardization
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Standardization: What does this mean?
• Lots of people take the test to make sure it’s
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reliable and valid.
Cultural Bias of tests
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Vygotsky
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Vygotsky’s approach to intelligence
testing: “test, train, retest”
• Brown & Ferrara (1985)
• Not all average IQ kids are alike
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Robert J. Sternberg
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Graduate of Yale
University 1972 &
Stanford 1975 with his
Ph. D.
His research is
motivated by a theory
of successful
intelligence.
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Analytical Abilities
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Enable the individual to evaluate,
analyze, compare, and contrast
information.
Creative abilities generate invention,
discovery, and other creative endeavors.
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Practical abilities
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Tie everything together by allowing
individuals to apply what they have
learned in the appropriate setting.
To be successful in life the individual
must make the best use of his/her
analytical, creative, and practical
strengths while at the same time
compensating for weaknesses.
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Raymond B. Cattell
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1905-1998.
Student of Spearman.
Came up with the Cattell-Horn
theory of fluid and crystallized
intelligence.
Gf-Gc theory separates these
abilties broadly into two sets of
different abilities.
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Horn & Cattell
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Fluid Intelligence = ability to perceive
relationships, ability to adapt, ability
to learn new material. Independent of
culture and formal training.
Vulnerable to brain damage and aging.
Crystallized intelligence = completely
dependent on culture and formal
training or learning. Increases with
age.
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John L. Horn
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1928-2006.
His dissertation in
1965 was the 1st
empirical study of
Cattell’s theory of
fluid & crystallized
intelligence.
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Howard Gardner (Harvard)
“I want my children to
understand the world,
but not just because the
world is fascinating and
the human mind is
curious. I want them to
understand it so that
they will be positioned to
make it a better place.”
Gardner, 1999
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Gardner – Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
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Surveyed atypical populations, e.g. prodigies,
idiot savants, autistic children, LD children.
Found jagged cognitive profile.
These profiles inconsistent with a unitary view
of intelligence.
Question: does training in 1 area influence
skills in other areas. For example, math
training affect musical ability?
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Gardner - MI
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Gardner proposes 7 different
intelligences:
• Lingistic
• Logical-mathematical
• Musical
• Spatial
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Interpersonal
• intrapersonal
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Linguistic Intelligence
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Involves sensitivity to spoken & written language, the
ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use
language to accomplish certain goals. This
intelligence includes the ability to effectively use
language to express oneself rhetorically or
poetically; and language as a means to remember
information. Writers, poets, lawyers, and speakers
are among those that Howard Gardner sees as
having high linguistic intelligence.
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Logical-mathematical
intelligence
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Consists of the capacity to analyze
problems logically, carry out
mathematical operations, and investigate
issues scientifically. In Howard
Gardner’s words, in entails the ability o
detect patterns, reason deductively and
think logically. This intelligence is most
often associated with scientific and
mathematical thinking.
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Musical Intelligence
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Involves skill in the performance,
composition, and appreciation of musical
patterns. It encompasses the capacity to
recognize and compose musical pitches,
tones, and rhythms. According to
Howard Gardner musical intelligence
runs in an almost structural parallel to
linguistic intelligence.
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Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
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Entails the potential of using one’s whole
body or parts of the body to solve
problems. It is the ability to use mental
abilities to coordinate bodily movements.
Howard Gardner sees mental and
physical ability as related.
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Spatial intelligence
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Involves the potential to recognize and
use the patterns of wide space and more
confined areas.
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Interpersonal Intelligence
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Is concerned with the capacity to
understand the intentions, motivations
and desires of other people.
It allows people to work effectively with
each others.
Educators, salespeople, religious and
political leaders and counsellors all need
a well-developed interpersonal
intelligence.
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Intrapersonal Intelligence
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Entails the capacity to understand
oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings,
fears and motivations. In Howard
Gardner’s view it involves having an
effective working model of ourselves,
and to be able to use such information to
regulate our lives.
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Are there additional
intelligences?
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Gardner thinks that naturalistic
intelligence should be added.
IT enables human beings to recognize,
categorize, and draw upon certain
features of the environment. It combines
a description of the core ability with a
characterization of the role that many
cultures value.
42
Peter Salovey – Yale University
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Yale University
Developed the idea
of EQ or emotional
intelligence.
Goleman expanded
upon this theory.
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Emotional Intelligence
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Most intelligences can be grouped into 1
or 3 clusters … abstract, concrete, or
social intelligence.
Social intelligence (Thorndike): ability to
understand and relate to people.
Emotional intelligence has its roots in
social intelligence.
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Emotional Intelligence includes:
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Being aware of one’s own emotions.
Being able to manage one’s own
emotions.
Being sensitive to the emotions of others.
Being able to respond to & negotiate with
other people emotionally.
Being able to use one’s own emotions to
motivate oneself.
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Emotional Intelligence
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Emotionally intelligent individuals are said
to be particularly adept at regulating
emotions.
Utilized in problem solving. Propose that
they have the ability to organize their
emotions to solve problems.
Goleman includes: conscientiousness,
self-confidence, optimism, communication,
leadership and initiative.
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Infant intelligence & memory
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The history of studying infant intelligence
has seriously underestimated their
abilities.
Why?
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How infants learn?
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Learning is a relatively permanent change in
behavior resulting from experience.
We are all born with the ability to learn; but
learning does not take place without
experience.
Only with experience can a baby use his
intellect to distinguish between sensory
experiences (like sounds) and to build on
their inborn repetoire of behaviors (like
sucking).
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Types of learning
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Habituation: repeated exposure to
something reduces the response, e.g.
nursing baby.
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Types of learning
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Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• punishment
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Self-righting tendency
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Given a favorable environment, infants
generally follow normal developmental
patterns unless they have suffered
severe damage.
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Infant’s Memory
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Infant researcher: Carolyn RouieCollier: found that if a mobile was hung over
an infant’s crib and attached a ribbon to one
of the baby’s limbs.
.
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Is infant’s memory conscious?
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AS children and adults, our memory
often involves such conscious feelings
as “I have seen that before” or retrieval
abiltites, “where have I seen that
before?”
One study: 9 month old girls looked for
ribbons originally kept in a drawer.
When did not find ribbons, she searched
new drawer until she found them.
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Another study
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7 month old infant will search for an object
shown to him/her.
Younger infant will not.
First 6 months…memory of infants not similar
to what adults think of as memory.
It is not conscious memory for specific past
episodes, but learning of adaptive skills.
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Why does conscious memory
develop later than other
learning?
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Hippocampus?
Conscious memory depends on the
development of cognitive structures, like
Piaget’s theory suggests.
Recall minimum before age 3 – infantile
amnesia.
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