Intelligence

1. Intelligence …the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function… F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. Intelligence • What is intelligence? • The capacity to learn from experience and adapt successfully to one’s environment • Reflects how well we function • Francis Galton • Believed that intelligence was inherited • Based intelligence on: • Muscular strength • Size of your head • Speed at reacting to signals • Your ability to detect slight differences

3. Binet-Simon & Stanford-Binet Scales • Binet-Simon scale (1905) • Assigned mental age based on # items correct • Stanford-Binet • Lewis Terman at Stanford (1916) • Converted scale to a single score • IQ = mental age x 100 chronological age • This doesn’t work for adults & was adjusted

4. The Wechsler Scales • David Weschler • Intelligence is • The global capacity to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment • IQ ratio breaks down as we get older • Deviation IQ • Compares scores to the mean of peer group • WAIS • Measures intelligence for late adolescence through adulthood • Two parts: verbal & performance subtests

5. Ready for another intelligence test? • NO? Oh well…play along. • Take 1000 and add 40 to it. • Now add another 1000. • Now add 30. • Add another 1000. • Now add 20. • Now add another 1000. • Now add 10.

6. Did you get 5000??? ANYONE HAVE A DIFFERENT ANSWER? 4100 Don’t believe me? Take out your calculators.

7. Distribution of IQ scores 68% Intellectual Disability Mentally Gifted 95% 70 85 100 115 130

8. Issues to Consider in IQ Testing • Standardization • The procedure by which existing norms are used to interpret an individual’s test score

9. Issues to Consider in IQ Testing • Standardization • The procedure by which existing norms are used to interpret an individual’s test score • Reliability • Degree to which test gives consistent results • Validity • Does the test measure what it claims to measure

10. Factor Theories of Intelligence • Spearman’s G factor (1904) • Proposed that general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities • Factor analysis • A statistical technique used to identify clusters of test items that correlate with another • Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities • 7 factors which correlate but not enough to represent 1 underlying factor • Verbal comprehension, word fluency, number facility (math), associative memory, perceptual speed for stimulus recognition, reasoning, and spatial visualization

11. Factor Theories of Intelligence • Triarchic theory of intelligence • Robert Sternberg • Analytical • The mental steps of ‘components’ used to solve problems • This is what traditional IQ tests assess • Creative • Intellectual and motivational processes that lead to novel solutions, ideas, artistic forms, or products • Practical • The ability to size up new situations and adapt to real-life demands

12. Sternberg • Sternberg described three graduate students – Alice, Celia, and Phoebe. Alice was smart by conventional criteria and was admitted to Yale as a top pick. She had an undergraduate grade-point average of 4.0, high scores on the GRE, and solid letters of recommendation. Yet Alice did not prove to be a strong graduate student. She did well enough on tests and was a sharp analytical thinker, but she lacked the insight and could not generate creative research ideas. • Celia was different. Her GRE scores and grades were nothing to write home about, but her college professors raved about her insight and creativity. Barbara was not accepted into Yale, but Sternberg hired her as a research assistant and found her exceptional. • Phoebe was the third student. Her grades, GRE scores, and letters were not the best, but they were good enough for admission. Phoebe, however, lacked Alice’s analytical ability and Celia’s creativity. Four years later, however, she was the most successful student on the job market. The reason: Phoebe had practical intelligence, or ‘street smarts’. She did the kind of research that was in demand, sent her papers to the right journals, made the right contacts, and leaned how to satisfy the requirements of her new profession. Like Celia’s creativity, hers was a form of intelligence that does not show up on IQ tests.

13. Gardner’s ‘Frames of Mind’ • Multiple intelligences • There are seven types of intelligence – each linked to a separate and independent system within the brain • Linguistic: verbal aptitude • Logical-mathematical: mathematical aptitude • Spatial: ability to visualize objects • Musical: ability to appreciate the tonal qualities of sound, compose, and play • Bodily-kinesthetic: ability to control movement • Interpersonal: ability to understand people • Intrapersonal: ability to understand oneself

14. Gardner • Gardner used converging lines of evidence to marshal support for his theory. He studied brain structures, diverse cultures, child development, and individuals with exceptional abilities – in other words, not just IQ tests. • existence of prodigies (children who are normal in general but are highly precocious in a specific domain) and idiot savants (people who are mentally retarded yet are extraordinarily talented in some way) tells us that it’s possible to have one kind of intelligence and lack another

15. The Nature & Nurture Debate • Nature’s influence on IQ • Identical twins reared together are more similar than fraternal twins reared together • Siblings who grow up together are more similar than unrelated individuals who grow up in the same house • Children are more similar to their biological parents than to adoptive parents • Nurture’s influence on IQ • Prenatal care, exposure to alcohol and other toxins, birth complications, malnutrition in the first few months of life, intellectual stimulation at home, stress, high-quality education, the amount of time spent in school • Head Start programs (and those like it)

16. Extremes in Intelligence • Intellectual Disabilites • IQ below 70 • Difficulties with: • Self-care • School / work • Social relationships • Four categories • Mild, Moderate, Severe, Profound

17. Causes of Intellectual Disabilities • Cultural-familial • Inadequate mental stimulation • Poor diet, little or no medical care • Genetic defects • Down syndrome • Brain damage • Fetal alcohol syndrome • Hypoxia

18. Mental Giftedness • IQ above 130 • MENSA • Limits membership to top 2% of population • Sidis Fallacy • Contrary to popular belief, geniuses don’t tend to “burn out” at early age