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Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

(7th Ed)

Chapter 11

Intelligence

James A. McCubbin, PhDClemson University

Worth Publishers

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Origins of Intelligence Assessments/Inventories (“Testing”)

Plato: Saw & noted individual differences

Intelligence Test: *Binet (1905 +-) method of assessing

an individual’s mental aptitudes & comparing them to those of others, using numerical scores

Testing Paris school kids to ID those who were low & needed help

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Mental Age measure of intelligence test performance

devised by Alfred Binet, Paris, late 1800’s Why? to ID slower kids in Paris school

system to help them do better chronological age: actual age mental age: if a child does as well as the

average 8-year-old is said to have a of 8 Stanford-Binet: widely used American

revision of Binet’s original intelligence test (1914-15)

revised by Terman at Stanford University Stern designed the intelligence quotient (IQ)

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Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Originally, ratio of mental age (ma) to

chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 IQ = ma ÷ ca x 100 (ma/ca x 100)

on contemporary tests, the avg performance for a specific age is assigned a score of 100

Most intellg. tests (including the Stanford-Binet) no longer compute an “IQ” score (reification: p. 422)

What IS Intelligence? ability to learn from experience, solve

problems, & use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Is determined by a social definition & varies from culture to culture, era to era

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What is Intelligence?

Factor Analysis statistical procedure that identifies clusters

of related items (called factors) on a test ID’s different performance dimensions that

underlie our total score These factors indicate a basic ability level

Eugenics: Terman & others belief that genetics was the predominate factor in IQ

--was a “scientific” sort of racism…no major basis in modern psych…Basically said some races, etc., were genetically better than others.

Who used these ideas?

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Spearman’s G Factor:

Spearman’s General Intelligence (g factor) Spearman & others said one

single factor (a general factor) underlies specific mental abilities

This factor is measured by every task on an intelligence test

g = general

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Most commonly administered intelligence assessments:

WISC-IV: most commonly used IQ test for ages 6-16

WAIS -III is for adults.  WIPPSI-III is for preschoolers. Others also use the Stanford-Binet,

5th edition, or the Kaufman ABC-II battery for children.

NOTE: Roman numerals reflect the multiple revisions of the tests since their original versions.

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Are There Multiple Intelligences? Savant Syndrome

condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill… --often (NOT always..) related to autism Computation Drawing (EX below)

Social Intelligence the know-how involved in comprehending social

situations & managing oneself successfully Emotional Intelligence p.426

ability to perceive, express, understand, & regulate emotions

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Intelligence & Creativity

Creativity: the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas… Those = creative usually have at least

avg. or above avg. g factor Things that make this possible:

Expertise (have knowledge base) imaginative thinking skills (outside the box)

venturesome personality (take chances) intrinsic motivation creative environment

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Brain Function and Intelligence People who can

perceive the stimulus very quickly tend to score somewhat higher on intelligence tests

P. 430: processing speed, perceptual speed & neurological speed are all involved

Stimulus Mask

Question: Long side on left or right?

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Assessing (“Testing”!!) Intelligence

Aptitude Test: designed to predict a person’s future performance looks at abilities…what you should be able to

do aptitude is the capacity to learn

Achievement Test test designed to assess what person has

learned Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

most widely used intelligence test (WWI) 2 subtests 1) verbal 2) performance

(nonverbal)

WAIS-R = revised adult test; WISC-R = revised kids’ test

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Assessing Intelligence: Weschler added Performance Component in 1939 b/c of problems assessing those w/ some verbal disadvantages

Sample Items from the WAIS

From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977

VERBAL response General Info Similarities Arithmetic ReasoningVocabularyComprehensionDigit Span

PERFORMANCE

Picture Completion Picture ArrangementBlock DesignObject AssemblyDigit-Symbol Substitution

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WAIS-R EX’s: Visual Analogies…..block design….. pic sequencing…..WAIS-R performance assessment kit

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Assessing Intelligence

Standardization defining meaningful scores by comparison w/

the performance of a pre-tested standardization group to create a norm

Normal Curve symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes

the distribution of many physical & psych. attributes

most scores fall near the avg, & fewer & fewer scores lie near the extremes

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Study sessions for MARCH

Sat. March 24 12:00 – 1 :30 AP Psy 1.5

Thurs. March 29 3:45 – 5 :00 AP Psy 1.5

Sun. April 1 2 :00 – 4 :00 AP Psy 2.0

Wed. April 4 5:30 – 7 :00 AP Psy 1.5

Sat. Apr.7 11:30 – 1:30 AP Psy 2.0

Sat. Apr.14 1:30 – 3:30 (after ACT) AP Psy 2.0

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Normal Curve: (aka at times as the bell curve

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Kids getting smarter?! Who’d a thunk it… Flynn effect: Consistent worldwide rise in IQ scores, even though achievement scores like SAT dropped …WHY?

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Why Flynn Effect (James Flynn, 1987, 1999) occurs…It’s a mystery…but could be lots of things…

Test sophistication: assessments are better now…more accurately assess

Nutrition: taller, smarter, longer life expectancies

More formal educations for more pplMore stimulating environment b/c of t___?Less kid-diseases that might cause handicapsSmaller families = more parental resources

(time, money, effort) on each kid-------------So....Why are SAT scores down? Probably b/c

more ppl and more diverse ppl taking SAT now instead of just the middle & upper middle class.

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Assessments of Intelligence (aka Testing) Reliability & Validity Reliability: extent to which a test yields

consistent results assessed by consistency of scores in 3 ways:

two halves of the test alternate forms of the test retesting

Validity: How well a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

EX: Does SAT predict success in the 1st year of college? 3 aspects to validity…

Content validity Predictive validity Criterion validity

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Assessing Intelligence: 3 major considerations:1. Content Validity: extent to which a test

samples a behavior that is of interest EX: Driving test that samples driving tasks… DOES it evaluate the content you want to look

at? 2. Criterion validity

Some behavior that a test is designed to predict

EX: Are college grades being predicted by SAT performance? …or...

In driving, do 3 pt. turns, parking, handling the car in tight spaces, etc., represent things you will need to do while driving?

the measure (part of the operational definition) used in defining whether the test does have predictive validity

Criterion is what they are shooting for, trying to do

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3. Predictive Validity success w/ which a test predicts the

behavior it is designed to predict assessed by computing the correlation

between test scores and the criterion behavior (behav. you’re interested in)

aka criterion-related validity This is whether it can give good predictions

RE: the behavior looked at… or not EX: DOES the SAT predict success in

college? Generally, yes. BUT…GRE (graduate record exam)…not

as much b/c all are higher performing…

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Assessing Intelligence: (436) Relating body wt. & success to predict…The larger the sample the better it can predict

As the range of data under consideration narrows (goes from larger to smaller range), its predictive power diminishes

BTW: What is this type of graph called?

Greater correlationover broad range

of body wts. (Lg. #)

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9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Little correlation

w/inrestricted

range (sm. #)

Football linemen’s

success

Body weight in pounds180 250 290

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The Dynamics of Intelligence: The Low extreme of Intelligence:

Mental Challenged (formerly 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…mom’s age…

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The Dynamics of Intelligence: Know this chart! (p. 439)

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Heritability: the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes; variability depends on range of populations & environments studied

Intelligence heritability = about 50%

The most genetically similar people have the most similar scores

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Genetic Influences: Psychologists look at both twin studies plus biological parents vs. adoptive parents studies

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Environmental Influences: The Schooling Effect: IQ’s tend to rise during the school year…& drop

during summer…& drop after schooling stops…So…a good argument for year-round school?...Asian students vs. N. American students?

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What’s wrong with this picture???

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Group Differ. & Environ.Factors: The Seed Analogy:

Group differences & the impact of environment:

Same seeds (genetics) …but different soil…levels of fertilizer…

water….sun these = so a differing environ. Would they grow the same?

Variation within group

Variation within group

Difference within group

Poor soil Fertile soil

Seeds

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Group Differences: Gender

KNOW the general male & female tendencies toward certain abilities… (from info p.448-9) Do these stronger abilities apply to ALL males or females? The Mental Rotation Test : spatial understanding

Which of the other circles contain a configuration of blocks identical to the “standard” fig. (left)?

Standard Responses

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Stereotype Threat Self-confirming concern/belief: negative stereotypes

give us “true” evaluation Relates to “self-fulfilling prophecy” & placebo effect:

believing something IS true increase chance it happens:

“I will probably score low” = scoring lowerStudents told they are at a disadvantage on a test

tend to do worse than those who are told the test should be one they do well on…

EX’s: “You are not likely to do as well on this as usual…” …OR “You should do very well on this b/c it is written in a way that will show your strengths…”

Also Afri.-Amer. or females taking test w/ only that group perform better than in mixed groups

Summary: What you think & believe about YOU affect how you

perform!

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High vs. low extremes of intelligence:

Myth: High IQ kids are mal-adjusted, weird, socially inept….this is NOT TRUE

-There is a high correlation for high IQ & healthy, well-adjusted, academically successful adults…

Most thrive, though some are isolated more as kids b/c they don’t fit in w/ immature other kids

Remember: “giftedness” is a socially defined trait & not a “naturally occurring trait” like eye color or height (what is this called?)

Brain size (relative to body size) IS slightly positively correlated to intelligence

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Big debate: tracking (segregating by ability level): Often = low income & minority put into low levels, which encourages the stereotype threat…

which...tends to widen, not shrink, the gap betwn. lo & hi especially in

elementary schoolBest idea may be, like

China & Japan: Avoid tracking thru elementary

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Theories of Multiple Intelligences (pp. 424-426) Is there 1 kind? …or 2? …or 3? ..or 8? Spearman: 1 basic general intel. (g factor)Gardner: said there are 8: -verbal -movement (kinesthetic) -math -understanding ourselves (emot.) -music -understanding others (emot.) -spatial analysis/visual -understanding our

physical (art) environment (“street

smarts”)Sternberg’s Big 3: -analytical: academic problem solving—1 right

answer -creative intell.: react to novel situations & use novel

ideas -practical intel.: deal w/ everyday problems, come up

w/ multiple solutions

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“Hey, I don’t have time to exercise!!”

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Some review ?’s

How does head size correlate with intelligence? (p. 429)

Can you assess an infant’s possible intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) designing & programming computer systems

to… …do intelligent things …simulate human thought processes (parallel)

intuitive reasoning learning understanding language (272 Baron’s)

Computer Neural Networks computer circuits that mimic brain’s

interconnected neural cells & perform tasks much like humans… learning to recognize visual patterns learning to recognize smells 38

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PPL to know RE: Intelligence & intelligence assessments:

BinetFlynnGardnerSpearmanSternbergTermanWechsler

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Scoring AssessmentsEmotional Intelligence Assess.: On Items 5 28 33 (If put 1, change to 5 2 = 4 3 stays 3 4 =2 5 = 1Then ADD all together…those #’s you changed + #’s you

had at beginning for those NOT changed--------------------------------1. Friday 11. JANE2. PY (silver anniversary) 12. 9:00 PM3. 25 13. b (both grow in ground)4. anniversary 14. a. Alternate #’s go up by

2 & down 1 (from 1 – 10)5. MENSA 15. e: only on not man-made art6. b 16. PARACHUTE7. b 17. 58. b 18. c9.TOM 19. LAND10. HOUSE 20. # of lines goes down

opposite w/ stick & stick alternates lo

L/top R