Intelligence

1. Intelligence Presented to you by: Adina Beslagic, Katy Levigne, Sam Hinson, Renee Smith, and Natalie Warren

2. What is intelligence? • The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

3. Gardner's Eight Intelligences

4. Ways of Measuring Intelligence • Achievement Test • A test designed to test what a person has learned • Aptitude Test • A test designed to predict a person’s future performance (aptitude is the capacity to learn) • Intelligence Test • A method for assessing an individuals mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores • Requirements • All psychological tests must be reliable, valid, and standardized

5. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Alfred Binet: Predicting School Achievement • The French government did not trust teachers’ subjective judgments of their children’s learning potential • France’s minister of public education commissioned Alfred Binet and others to study the problem • Binet and his collaborators sought out to find an accurate measurement of a child’s intelligence, they did so by establishing a child’s mental age (“dull” children preform at mental ages less than their real age, and “bright” children preform at ages older than their own )

6. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Lewis Terman: The Innate IQ • Terman took Binet’s assessment and added a few components to extent the upper end of the test’s range from teenagers to “superior adults” • Mental Age/Chronological Age (x100) • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • The WAIS consists of 11 subtests. It yields an overall intelligence score along with separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed

7. Genetic and Environmental Influences • Genetic Influences • Studies of twins, family members, and adopted children together have proven the significance of hereditary contribution to intelligence. • Environmental Influences • Life experiences also have a strong influence on intelligence test performance. Environmental factors such as care giving and nutrition can also affect intelligence. Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores • Like individuals, groups vary in intelligence test scores. In some cases, racial gaps in test scores can be attribute do differences in environment and culture. The Question of Bias • Aptitude tests aim to predict how well a test-taker will perform in a given situation. But, a biased test predicts less accurately for one group than for another. So, experts do not consider the major aptitude tests to be significantly biased.

8. Group Differences in Intelligence Scores • Racial groups differ in their average scored on intelligence tests • High scoring people and groups are more likely to attain higher levels of education and income • The bell curve for Whites is centered roughly around IQ 100; 85 for Blacks, and those that belong in different subgroups of Hispanics fall (roughly) midway between those for Whites and Blacks. *Stereotype Threat: A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

9. Comparing Theories of Intelligence

10. Extremes of Intelligence: RetardationRetardation can be caused by physical incapability, neglect from caregivers, and genetic mutations

11. Gender Similarities and Differences

12. J. McVicker Hunt (1982) • Psychologist who visited an Iranian orphanage to observe the effects of early experience and the importance of caregivers intervention in an infants developmental process • He found that the typical child could not sit up unassisted at age two or walk by age four. Due to the lack of contact, the children developed little sense of personal control over their environment and became passive “glum lumps”

13. Do Twins Really Have Similar IQ’s?

14. Contemporary Intelligence Theories • Analytical Intelligence • The ability to accurately solve problems • Creative Intelligence • The ability to deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills • Practical Intelligence • The ability to adapt to a chancing environment • Emotional Intelligence • Involves the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. Those with a high emotional intelligence are better able to have higher-quality relationships with others.

15. What is Creativity? • Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable.

16. What Influences Creativity? • Expertise • The more images, ideas, and phrases available to us through our accumulated learning, the more chances we have to combine these mental blocks in new ways. • Imaginative Thinking Skills • By making patterns and connections, find ways to expand on our previous experiences • A Venturesome Personality • Preserves in overcoming obstacles and seeks new experiences rather than following pack. • Intrinsic Motivation • People will be the most creative when they are motivated my interest and satisfaction rather than external pressures. • A Creative Environment • Sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.