Intelligence
What is “intelligence”?
 Why do we measure it?

Myth/Countermyth 1
Intelligence is one thing, g (or IQ)
Or
Intelligence is so many things you can hardly
count them.
Myth/Countermyth 2
Intelligence cannot be taught to any
meaningful degree.
Or
We can perform incredible feats in teaching
individuals to be more intelligent.
Myth/Countermyth 3
We are using tests too little, losing valuable
information.
Or
We’re overusing tests and should abolish
them.
Myth/Countermyth 4
IQ tests measure virtually all that’s important
for school and job success.
Or
IQ tests measure virtually nothing that’s
important for school and job success.
Major Issues
Theoretical vs. Psychometric base
 One, two, or many factors
 Nature vs. nurture
 Individual or group administration
 verbal or non-verbal
 culture bias? Free? Fair?

Historical Perspective
1869 - Sir Francis Galton
“father of intelligence testing”
Hereditary Genius (eugenics)
sensory apparatus
1905 - Alfred Binet
& Theodore Simon


classification of mentally retarded
ability for sound judgments
age related tasks
“IQ”
1916 - Terman revision = Stanford/Binet
1927 - Spearman
Two-factor theory
g = general intellectual factor
s = specific factor
(e = measurement error)
1935 - Thurstone
7 Group factors = primary mental abilities
verbal comprehension
word fluency
number
space
associative memory
perceptual speed
reasoning
1939 - David Wechsler
adult intelligence
act purposefully
think rationally
deal effectively with environment
verbal and performance abilities
(also full scale)
1959 - Guilford
Three faces of intelligence
Operations - what a person does
Content - material it is done on
Products - form in which information is
stored
(apply operation to content = product)
Guilford’s Model
1963 - Cattell
fluid abilities = reasoning (procedural)
crystalized abilities = acquired knowledge
and facts (declarative)
1975 - Gardner
Multiple Intelligences
logical-mathematical
linguistic
spatial
musical
bodily-kinesthetic
interpersonal
intrapersonal
(naturalist)
1980 - Sternberg
“successful intelligence = the ability to adapt to,
shape, and select environments to accomplish
one’s goals and those of one’s society and culture”
(1999)
Triarchic theory
metacomponents (metacognition)
performance components
knowledge acquisition components