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INTELLIGENCE. What is it? Difficult to define. Associated with problem-solving ability, speed of processing, large number of items in working memory, learning capacity, logic. One or many?. INTELLIGENCE. Psychometric approach Early attempts at quantification
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INTELLIGENCE • What is it? Difficult to define. • Associated with problem-solving ability, speed of processing, large number of items in working memory, learning capacity, logic. • One or many?
INTELLIGENCE Psychometric approach • Early attempts at quantification • Simon and Binet, France (children) • Concept of intelligence quotient: mental age divided by chronological age x 100. • Adapted for adults in U.S., army selection: Stanford-Binet. Instead of individual testing, group testing. • Fuelled the philosophical current that intelligence is innate. Misuses.
INTELLIGENCE • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): Verbal and Performance Scales Biases: • educational level • SES • culture and subculture
INTELLIGENCE Factors affecting test performance: • health • exercise, fitness • anxiety • motivation • experience with tests • vision and hearing Probably inappropriate for older adults.
INTELLIGENCE Issues in adult intelligence: • One or many? • Increment, decrement or no change? • How much interindividual variability? • Can it be improved? Theories of adult intelligence: • Spearman’s g (factor analysis) • Thurstone: PMAs (primary mental abilities) • Cattell and Horn: fluid and crystallized
INTELLIGENCE Theories of adult intelligence (Cont’d): • Gardner: multiple intelligences • Sternberg: triarchic • Baltes: dual process • Piaget: organismic • Perlmutter: three tier
INTELLIGENCE Gardner’s Theory: Seven different abilities or talents • linguistic • logical-mathematical • musical • spatial • bodily-kinesthetic • interpersonal • intrapersonal
INTELLIGENCE STERNBERG’S TRIARCHIC THEORY: • Componential element: efficiency in information processing, analytic capacity. • Experiential element: approach to tasks, new or old, originality of thinking. Old tasks automatic, leaves more working memory for new tasks. • Contextual element: relationship to environment, social skills, “street smarts”. Knowledge of “unwritten rules”, ability to pick up “what’s going on”. • The last two are not measured by classical IQ tests.
INTELLIGENCE Psychometric Approach to Intelligence Primary Mental Abilities: intelligence is composed of several independent abilities (Thurstone): • number • word fluency • verbal meaning • associative memory • reasoning • spatial orientation • perceptual speed
INTELLIGENCE Secondary Mental Abilities: relationships amongst primary abilities: • crystallized intelligence • fluid intelligence • visual organization • auditory organization • short-term acquisition and retrieval • long-term storage and retrieval
INTELLIGENCE Cattell and Horn: Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence • Fluid intelligence: encompasses the abilities needed to solve problems, e.g. abstract thinking, inductive reasoning. It is high in early adolescence and decreases with age. Thought to be biologically determined. • Crystallized intelligence acquired knowledge, e.g. vocabulary, historical facts. It starts low, but increases with age. Considered culturally determined.
Crystallized Performance Fluid 12 60 Age
INTELLIGENCE Cohort differences: education Declines accounted for by: • perceptual speed • working memory • inability to inhibit actions and thoughts (interference) These three items are correlated
INTELLIGENCE Several factors correlate with intellectual ability in old age: • high standard of living (SES): above average education and income • lack of chronic diseases • engaging in reading, travel, cultural events, educational clubs and professional associations • willingness to change • having a smart spouse
INTELLIGENCE Several factors correlate with intellectual ability in old age (Cont’d): • ability to grasp new ideas quickly • satisfaction with accomplishments • internal locus of control: belief that what people do makes a difference in their lives Even when mental activity shows losses due to disuse, it can be reclaimed through training
INTELLIGENCE Importance of education: seems to increase number and strength of synaptic connections Regular exercise improves blood flow to the brain and maintains good lung function to oxygenate the brain adequately. Brain plasticity: learning and relearning can take place at any age.
INTELLECTUAL PERFORMANCE AND AGE EXCELLENT HEALTH HIGH ILL-HEALTH TERMINAL DROP PERFORMANCE LOW YOUNG AGE OLD CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA LONGITUDINAL DATA