Download Intelligence - Morgan Park High School

1
Intelligence
 Intelligence test; a method for assessing and individual’s mental aptitudes and
comparing them with those others, using numerical scores
o Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, decided to develop an objective test to
identify children likely to have difficulty in the regular classes.
o Binet and Simon began by assuming that all children follow the same course
of intellectual development but that some develop more rapidly. Slow children
should perform at the level of their peers below them, and bright children
should perform like children at the same age or older.
o They set out to measure a child’s mental age
o Mental age; a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the
chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of
performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8yo is said to have
a mental age of 8.
o Binet and Simon created questions that might predict school achievement.
o They made no speculations concerning why a child was slow, they usually
just leaned toward environmental factors.
o They made no speculations about what the test was supposed to be measuring
expect it did not measure inborn intelligence, but to identify those French
school aged children that needed special attention.
o He did not want his test to be used as a labeling tool
 The innate IQ
 Lewis Terman revised Binet’s test and deemed it the Stanford-Binet test
 William Stern derived the famous intelligence quotient
 IQ; a persons mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100
 Terman believed intelligence is inherited, thus testing would set apart those that
should and should not reproduce. This would lower the population of those more
prone to commit social ills, or turn out to be unproductive. Intelligence test was also
used to track individuals into certain occupational groupings.
 What is intelligence?
 Intelligence is spoken of so generally, like we all agree on what it is
 Intelligence is a socially constructed concept. Cultures deem intelligent whatever
attributes enable success in those cultures.
 Intelligence; mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve
problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
 However, is intelligence an overall ability, or several specific abilities, and can we
locate and measure intelligence within the brain?
 To test intelligence psychologist (Charles Spearman) use a statistical method called
factor analysis
 Factor analysis; is a procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test used to
identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score.
o For example:
 Verbal intelligence - vocabulary section/ reading comprehension
 Spatial intelligence – spatial geometric problems/ logic or reasoning
problems
2
 Charles Spearman also believed in a general intelligence or g factor.
 Those that score high on a specific factor/ability, will score higher than average on
other factors that an intelligence test offers. There is the notion that different abilities
come in the same package.
o Many abilities have the tendency to be linked such as:
 Pool and math/spatial
 Track and field and math/spatial
 Football and math/memory/verbal/spatial
 Multiple intelligence
o Howard Gardner
 Linguistic; does well with spoken and written words
 Logical-mathematical; good with deductive reasoning and math
 Spatial; generally adept at visual and spatial judgment problems
 Bodily-kinesthetic; generally adept at physical activities
 Musical; works well with music
 Naturalistic; works well with nature, nurturing, and classification
 Interpersonal; can interact with others
 Intrapersonal; strong disposition of oneself
 Autistic savant
 Savant syndrome; a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional
specific skill.
 Gardner breaks his several intelligences into three categories:
o Analytical; academic problem solving
o Creative; adaptability to novel situations
o Practical; multiple solution task that need solving
 Emotional intelligence
 The ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions. Emotionally
intelligent people are self-aware. They manage their emotions without being
burdened by overwhelming depression, anxiety, or anger. They can delay
gratification in pursuit of long term goals and rewards, rather than being impulsive.
Their empathy enables them read others emotions, and handle them skillfully, like
knowing what to say to a grieving friend, encouraging another, and managing
conflicts.
 (MEIS) multifactor emotional intelligence scale assess emotion and its three
components:
o Perceive emotion
o Understand emotions
o Regulate emotions
 Creativity
o Creativity; the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
o There are five components of creativity:
 Expertise
 Imaginative thinking skills
 A venturesome personality
 Intrinsic motivation
 A creative environment
3
 Is intelligence neurologically measurable?
 Post modern brain analyses reveal that highly educated people die with more
synapses – 17% more than their less educated counterparts. This allows to conclude
that there is evidence that highly intelligent people differ in neural plasticity
 Processing speed and intelligence
 Repeated studies have found that their brain waves register a simple stimulus more
quickly and with greater complexity. The evoked brain response also tends to be
slightly faster when people with higher intelligence scores perform a simple task,
such as pushing a button when an X appears on a screen.
 Assessing intelligence
o Psychologist either classify:
 Aptitude; test designed to predict a person future performance, or
capacity to learn
 Achievement; test designed to assess what a person has learned
 For example:
 College entrance exams
 Iowa test
 PSAT
 ACT
 SAT
 Most test, whether labeled aptitude or achievement, assess both ability and its
development.
 The most widely used intelligence test used is the (WAIS) and the (WISC) Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler intelligence scale for children created by
David Wechsler
 WISC yields an overall intelligence score, as well as a separate verbal and
performance scores. This allows for the identification of possible learning problems,
such as verbal, language, reading, and cognitive function.
 Principles of test construction
o Psychological test must be standardized, reliable, and valid
o Standardized; comparing scores with the performance of a pretested group
o The test must be normed
o Scores usually follow a normally distributed curve, a bell shaped curve
 Percentiles
 Reliability
o Test – Retest reliability
o Observer to observer reliability
o Split half test reliability
 Validity
o Content validity
o Criterion validity (predictive reliability)
o Construct validity
 Dynamics of intelligence
o By 4yo, children’s performance on intelligence test begin to predict their
adolescent and adult scores
4







o Moreover, high scoring adolescents tend to have been early readers
Extremes of intelligence
o At one extreme there are those who fall below 70 and are labeled mentally
retarded
o They also have difficulty adjusting to the changes of everyday life
o 1 percent of the population meets both criteria
o Male outnumber females by 50%
o However, they can live a somewhat normal life with help
o At the other extreme there are those who sore above 130 on intelligence test
o Myth that geniuses who attend college at an early age are maladaptive
Influences on intelligence
Genetic influences
o Twins achieve the same IQ test scores
o Twins not raised together have identical test scores
o In twins, brain areas that control spatial, verbal, and mathematical skills are of
the same size, mass, and volume
o Chromosome 6 gene that might contribute to intelligence
o Inserting extra genes in mice – the gene engineers a neural receptor involved
in memory
o We can never say what percentage of an individuals intelligence is inherited.
Heritability refers instead to the extent to which differences among people are
attributable to genes. Heritability never pertains to an individual, only to why
people differ
Environment
o Environmental factors are more predictive of intelligence scores
o Genes and environment correlate – those with a natural aptitude for something
will study and indulge themselves in that something. Thus, they become better
at that something, smarter at that something.
o Early intervention produces better brain pathways – brain plasticity
o HEAD START programs develop emotional intelligence creating better
attitudes toward learning and reducing school dropouts. It increases school
readiness, by giving individual attention to prepare the child
Schooling and cultural effects
o Blacks score around 85 on the bell curve, while whites score around 100 and
above on IQ test
o Due to environmental factors, differences in opportunities, diet, attention to
learning, motivation to learn, and parental involvement
Gender differences
o Girls have better memories
o Girls are better spellers
o Girls are better at math at the elementary age, boys then surpass girls in the
post high school years
o Girls are emotionally hard wired to read others
o Boys have spatial ability
o Boys develop better math skills
Test bias
5
o Stereotype threat