Intelligence

Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

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Intelligence

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 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

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 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

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

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

“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

Developed 2 intelligence tests: WAIS & WISC.

Greatly improved the normative process.

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Is there a consensus?

No.

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What is intelligence?

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

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

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 Testing1. “One Score Tests”

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

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

Current IQ tests:• Measure nonverbal intelligence as well.

• Patient receives points according to age level completed.

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WAIS tests

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

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)

Evaluate intelligence with respect to normed samples by age.

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

Diagnosis of GT Diagnosis of MR

• Borderline (67-83), mild (50-66), moderate (33-49), severe (16-32), profound (<16)

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

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

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 TestingImportant Issue: Standardization

Standardization: What does this mean?• Lots of people take the test to make sure it’s

reliable and valid.

• Cultural Bias of tests

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Vygotsky

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

Gardner proposes 7 different intelligences:• Lingistic

• Logical-mathematical

• Musical

• Spatial

• Bodily-kinesthetic

• Interpersonal

• intrapersonal

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Linguistic Intelligence

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

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

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

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

Involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

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Interpersonal Intelligence

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

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?

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.

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Peter Salovey – Yale University

Yale University Developed the idea

of EQ or emotional intelligence.

Goleman expanded upon this theory.

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Emotional Intelligence

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:

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

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

The history of studying infant intelligence has seriously underestimated their abilities.

Why?

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How infants learn?

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

Habituation: repeated exposure to something reduces the response, e.g. nursing baby.

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Types of learning

Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

• Positive reinforcement

• Negative reinforcement

• punishment

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Self-righting tendency

Given a favorable environment, infants generally follow normal developmental patterns unless they have suffered severe damage.

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Infant’s Memory

Infant researcher: Carolyn Rouie-Collier: 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?

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

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?

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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