Psychological Attributes:
Ability, Interests, &
Personality
Attributes and Decision Making
• Certain psychological attributes have been shown to be
more relevant for decision making regarding individuals -but this depends on the nature of the decision.
• When using psychological attributes in making decisions,
it is absolutely vital to match the appropriate attribute
with the predicted behavior.
•For example, measures of general intelligence wouldn’t be
of much use in determining an appropriate psychological
treatment.
Attributes and Decision Making (cont.)
• All psychological attributes of interest are assumed to be
normally distributed.
• Therefore, all psychological attributes should reveal
individual differences (used for comparisons).
• This assumption of normal distribution is necessary in
order to analyze data with parametric statistics.
Fluid Attributes
• Fluid attributes such as mood can change on an
hour to hour basis. This instability indicates that
moods are not great predictors of future behavior
within a particular situation.
• Attitudes and Opinions are also relatively fluid
from 18 to 25.
• Personal Values can also change over time.
• The fluidity of the above attributes makes them
less than optimal predictors of important
behaviors
Stable Attributes
• Stable attributes are essential in making long term
predictions. e.g., Adult Intelligence
• Intelligence, although relatively fluid at an early age, is
relatively stable across the majority of adult years.
• Researchers believe that an individual’s personality is
basically set by age 5.
•Broad classes of Interest are also relatively stable.
• Due to the relative stability of measures of ability,
interest, and personality, these three areas are the
primary focus of people using psychological tests to
predict future behavior.
What is Intelligence?
• Intelligence is a construct (i.e, concrete observational
entities), not a concrete object.
• Researchers disagree on what the definition of intelligence
should be.
• Although we may not be able to definitively answer what
intelligence is, we can list behaviors which we feel represent
some level of intelligence.
For Example:
- Crossing a busy street without looking both ways.
- Being able to solve a Rubiks cube
- Being able to get a super low airfare on priceline.com
• Additionally, none of these behaviors alone can be said to
represent the entire range of intelligent behavior.
What is Intelligence (cont.)?
Scientists believe that intelligence is a valid and useful
construct for two reasons :
First, a wide variety of mental processing tasks show
systematic individual variation. An individual who
performs well on one measure of cognitive ability, will
likely perform well on other measures of mental
processing.
Second, this construct is related to success in a wide
variety of life tasks : school performance, training
programs, and work behaviors.
So, since intelligence does exhibit consistent individual
differences and can be used to predict performance in a
number of important areas.
What is Intelligence (cont.)?
Although experts differ on an exact definition of
intelligence most agree that intelligent behavior
has at least two components:
1. The ability to learn from experience.
2. The ability to adapt to the surrounding
environment.
Definition of Intelligence
•(1) The ability to learn or understand or to
deal with new or trying situations : the
skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to
apply knowledge to manipulate one's
environment or to think abstractly as
measured by objective criteria (Webster's)
• The cognitive abilities of an individual to
learn from experience, to reason well, and
to cope effectively with the demands of
daily living.
History of Intelligence
- Relatively modern phenomenon - not until 1890
- Before 1900, psychologists were not able distinguish
intelligence from other human characteristics
- Early development of theories of intelligence and test
construction started in England & France.
- Galton & Cattell looked at individual differences - i.e.,
reaction time, measures of strength
- Classification of mentally retarded - treatment was
inhumane.
History of Intelligence (cont.)
•
- Binet was commissioned by Ministry of Public
Instruction to construct a test that differentiates children
with learning disabilities from non-learning disabled
children.
- Binet-Simon scale was created and contained 30 items
arranged in order of difficulty.
- Most items called for the use of language, reasoning, or
comprehension.
- Binet-Simon scale was revised by Terman (1916) and
renamed Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test - the term IQ is
born.
History of Intelligence (cont.)
Sir Francis Galton
Charles Spearman
General factor (g)
Louis Thurstone
J. P. Guilford
Howard Gardner
The Biological Basis of Intelligence
Galton (1822-1911) - view of intelligence is that it is a single
general factor that is the basis.
G factor
A greater ability to form neural connections which
leads to a better general intellectual performance
(i.e. if we are generally intelligent, we are more likely to
develop strong mechanical, musical, artistic, and other kinds
of ability)
• Better able to learn from experience
• Brain can process information more quickly
Two Factor Theory of Intelligence
Spearman observed that an individual’s scores on any two
cognitively demanding tasks were positively correlated. This led him
to believe that a general intellectual factor (g), was responsible for
this correlation.
Basically His Idea Was:
Different types of problems require different types of abilities. For
example, the abilities needed to fix a car are at least somewhat
different from the abilities needed to do a geometric proof in math
class. But, all types of problems require an ability to see
relationships between things and to manipulate those relationships.
All types of problems require g.
So performance on all tasks are determined by a general factor (g)
which determines the ability to see relationships and manipulate
those relationships and more specific factors (s)
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
Cattell (1963) agreed with Spearman but argued that g
was made up of two types of general intelligence:
Fluid Intelligence - the ability to see relationships, i.e.
analogies and number and digit series completion.
For example : 2 4 8 16 ___
Crystallized Intelligence - an individuals acquired set of
knowledge and skills.
In cognitive psychology, crystallized intelligence is further divided
into:
Declarative Knowledge: Fact based information
Procedural Knowledge: How to do things.
Fluid and Crystallized intelligence measures are correlated, but
Grouping Factors of Intelligence
• Thurstone didn’t believe that the g factor could explain
all variation across cognitive tests.
• Thurstone theorized that there were common group
factors present in different classes of tests.
For example, a reading comprehension test and a
vocabulary test show greater correlation than do a reading
comprehension test and a measure of numerical ability.
• These group factors are independent of one another, but
still related to g.
Grouping Factors of Intelligence (cont.)
Thurstone hypothesized seven primary mental abilities, which
together combined to create g:
1. Verbal Comprehension - vocabulary, reading, verbal
analogies
2. Word Fluency --- anagrams, rhyming tests
3. Number -- mathematical operations
4. Space - spatial visualizations and mental transformation.
5. Associative Memory -- rote memory
6. Perceptual Speed -- quickness in noticing similarities and
differences
7. Reasoning - skill in inductive, deductive, and math problems
Gardner’s Seven Intelligences
Intelligence Core Components
Logicalmathematical
Linguistic
End-States
Sensitivity to, and capacity to discern, logical Scientist
or numerical patterns; ability to handle long Mathematician
chains of reasoning.
Sensitivity to the sounds, rhythms, and
meanings of words; sensitivity to the
different functions of language.
Poet
Journalist
Musical
Abilities to produce and appreciate rhythm,
pitch, and timbre; appreciation of the forms
of musical expressiveness.
Violinist
Composer
Spatial
Capacities to perceive the visual-spatial
world accurately and to perform
transformations on ones initial perceptions.
Sculptor
Navigator
Gardner’s Seven Intelligences
Intelligence Core Components
End-States
BodilyKinesthetic
Abilities to control ones body
movements and to handle objects
skillfully.
Dancer
Athlete
Interpersonal
Capacities to discern and respond
appropriately to the moods,
temperaments, motivations, and desires
of other people.
Therapist
Salesman
Intrapersonal
Access to ones own feelings and the
ability to discriminate among them and
draw upon them to guide behavior;
knowledge of one’s own strengths,
weaknesses, desires, and intelligences.
Person with
detailed
accurate selfknowledge
Measures of Intelligence
Individual Intelligence Tests
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
- The Wechsler Scales
Group Tests
Army Alpha : consisted of 8 subtests measuring verbal,
numerical, & reasoning abilities.
Army Beta : equivalent non-verbal test and used pictorials &
nonverbal instruction
Construction of Intelligence Tests
Mental Age (MA)
Chronological Age (CA)
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
IQ = MA/CA x 100
Ratio IQ
Deviation IQ
Normal distribution
•Because Mental Age doesn’t typically grow after 25, this method
underestimates most adult IQs.
Construction of Intelligence Tests
- On modern tests, a deviation IQ is obtained.
- By comparing your actual score on an
intelligence test to the average score on that test,
we determine whether you are above average,
below average , or average in intelligence.
- We take the raw data from the test (your score,
the average, and the standard deviation) and we
statistically transform the score into a
distribution where the mean is 100 and the
standard deviation is 15.
Characteristics of Good Intelligent Tests
1. Standardization
2. Norms
3. Objectivity
4. Reliability
5. Validity
Importance of Intelligence Scores
• Predicts to some extent how well we will do in life
Predictability of Intelligence Scores
• Many occupations are available only to persons
with college or graduate degrees.
• It takes less time to train persons with higher
intelligence to a high level of job knowledge and
skill.
• Persons with higher intelligence tend to perform
better in complex jobs.
Race-Ethnic Differences
Differences in intelligence and achievement:
•White Americans score 15 points than African Americans
• Asian Americans score higher than White Americans
Gap is narrowing
Definition of Personality
Personality refers to “factors”
inside people that explain their
behavior (MacKinnon, 1944).
The sum total of typical ways of
acting, thinking, and feeling
that makes a person unique.
History of Personality
• Ancient Greeks characterized human character by
excessive influence of bodily fluids: blood, yellow & black
bile, and phlegm.
• Early psychological examinations looked at
psychopathology.
•By the 1930’s researchers started looking at the structure
of everyday behaviour. Came up with universal traits.
The Trait Theory
Many agree that five basic traits provide a
complete description of our personalities. They
are:
Openness - refers to open-minded thinking and interest
Conscientiousness - refers to how organized and persistent we
are in pursuing our goals.
Extroversion - refers to the preference for, and beheviour in
social situations
Agreeableness - refers to how well we tend to interact with
others
Neuroticism - refers to the tendency to experience negative
thoughts and feelings.
Additions to the Big Five? – Honesty, Respect, Integrity,.
How Personality is Assessed
Frank (1939) stated that “an initial difficulty in the study of
personality is the the lack of any clear cut conception of what is to be
studied.
Projective Tests
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Objective Tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
16PF
Myers Briggs Inventory
What Are Projective Tests?
A projective test uses ambiguous
stimuli designed to reveal the
contents of the client’s unconscious
mind.
What Are Objective Tests?
In an objective test, no attempt is
made to subjectively understand
what the person means by answer
to each question.
What Make a Good Personality Measure
Interpretability - Broad vs. Narrow (more
reliable)
Stability - Are tests valid?
- Are they reliable?
- Are they standardized?
Interest Testing
Strong (1943) defined interest as “a response to liking”
• Things that we like elicit positive feelings,
things in which we have little interest elicit little
emotions, and things we have disinterested in
elicits apathy or feelings of aversion
• Interests are different that abilities - just
because you like something doesn’t mean you can
do it well.
• Interests are related to satisfaction, rather than
performance.