Understanding Intelligence Testing and Mental Aptitudes: A Comprehensive Guide

1. Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 11 Intelligence

2. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Intelligence Test • a method of assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them to those of others, using numerical scores

3. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Mental Age • a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet • chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance • child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8

4. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Stanford-Binet • the widely used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test • revised by Terman at Stanford University

5. Origins of Intelligence Testing • Intelligence Quotient (IQ) • defined originally the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 • IQ = ma/ca x 100) • on contemporary tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

6. What is Intelligence? • Intelligence • ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

7. What is Intelligence? • Factor Analysis • statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test • used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score • General Intelligence(g) • factor that Spearman and others believed underlies specific mental abilities • measured by every task on an intelligence test

8. Are There Multiple Intelligences? • Savant Syndrome • condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill • computation • drawing

9. Are There Multiple Intelligences? • Social Intelligence • the know-how involved in comprehending social situations and managing oneself successfully • Emotional Intelligence • ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions

10. Intelligence and Creativity • Creativity • the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas • expertise • imaginative thinking skills • venturesome personality • intrinsic motivation • creative environment

11. Mask Stimulus Question: Long side on left or right? Brain Function and Intelligence • People who can perceive the stimulus very quickly tend to score somewhat higher on intelligence tests

12. Assessing Intelligence • Aptitude Test • a test designed to predict a person’s future performance • aptitude is the capacity to learn • Achievement Test • a test designed to assess what a person has learned

13. Assessing Intelligence • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • most widely used intelligence test • subtests • verbal • performance (nonverbal)

14. VERBAL PERFORMANCE Picture Completion Picture Arrangement Block Design Object Assembly Digit-Symbol Substitution General Information Similarities Arithmetic Reasoning Vocabulary Comprehension Digit Span From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977 Assessing Intelligence: Sample Items from the WAIS

15. Assessing Intelligence • Standardization • defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group” • Normal Curve • the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes • most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes

16. The Normal Curve

17. Getting Smarter?

18. Assessing Intelligence • Reliability • the extent to which a test yields consistent results • assessed by consistency of scores on: • two halves of the test • alternate forms of the test • retesting • Validity • the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

19. Assessing Intelligence • Content Validity • the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest • driving test that samples driving tasks • Criterion • behavior (such as college grades) that a test (such as the SAT) is designed to predict • the measure used in defining whether the test has predictive validity

20. Assessing Intelligence • Predictive Validity • success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict • assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior • also called criterion-related validity

21. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Greater correlation over broad range of body weights Football linemen’s success Little corre- lation within restricted range 180 250 290 Body weight in pounds Assessing Intelligence • As the range of data under consideration narrows, its predictive power diminishes

22. The Dynamics of Intelligence • Mental 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

23. The Dynamics of Intelligence

24. Genetic Influences • The most genetically similar people have the most similar scores

25. Genetic Influences • Heritability • the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes • variability depends on range of populations and environments studied

26. Genetic Influences

27. Environmental Influences • The Schooling Effect

28. Variation within group Variation within group Seeds Poor soil Fertile soil Difference within group Group Differences • Group differences and environmental impact

29. Standard Responses Group Differences • The Mental Rotation Test Which two of the other circles contain a configuration of blocks identical to the one in the circle at the left?

30. Group Differences • Stereotype Threat • A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype