TESTING & Individual Differences

1. TESTING & Individual Differences

2. Intelligence • Aspects of intelligence: the use of mental images and concepts, problem solving and decision making, and the use of language, • Formally: the global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment. • David Wechsler

3. Intelligence: • Mental ability… • to learn from experiences • Solve problems • Use knowledge t adapt to new situations Socially constructed: Attributes that enable success in a culture.

4. Intelligence • There is considerable disagreement about the nature of intelligence… • How should intelligence be defined? • a single, general ability, or a cluster of different mental abilities? • Should the definition be restricted to the mental abilities measured by IQ and other intelligence tests, or should intelligence be defined more broadly?

5. Intelligence Theories • Charles Spearman • there is a general mental capacity at the core of different mental abilities • g-factor: a common thread in all measures of intelligence. Underlies all intelligent behavior. • (G) is a specific ability or talent. Satoshi Kanazawa (2004): ~solving novel problems *general intelligence: correlates w/ solving novel problems …But not with individuals’ skills in evolutionary familiar situations.

6. Louis (l l) Thurstone there are seven different “primary mental abilities,” each a relatively independent element of intelligence. • associative memory • verbal comprehension • numerical ability • word fluency • spatial visualization • perceptual speed • reasoning

7. Howard Gardner • Expanded on Thurston's idea • Looks at skills and cultural values • societies value diff types of intelligence • (which provides motivation to become skilled in those areas) • Solve problems or create products valued in given culture • Believes that mental abilities are biologically distinctand controlled by different parts of the brain • Diverse set of 8 distinct abilities (independent intelligences)

8. Howard Gardner

9. Argument for Gardner: • SAVANT syndrome • 25 yr old Alice is mentally handicapped and can neither read nor write. However, after hearing lengthy, unfamiliar, and complex musical selections just once, she can reproduce tem precisely on the piano. Conscientious Well-connected Doggedly energetic (stubbornly tenacious)

10. Savant Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqRT_kCOLI

11. Sternberg • 1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having armed guards at school. • 2. Describe what your ideal school would be like. • 3. Describe some problem that you have been facing in your life and then give a practical solution.

12. Robert Sternberg • Sternberg wants you to TRI very hard • Critiques Gardner’s theory: • it is describing specialized talents, whereas intelligence is a more general quality • Proposes Triarchic Theory-successful intelligence involves 3 distinct abilities • Analytic Intelligence • solving problems • Creative Intelligence • novel solutions • Practical Intelligence • Street Smarts

13. Sternberg cont. • Name a course that rely heavily on… • Analytical • Creative • Practical • Any course balanced? • Choose any career and indicate a task that one might have to perform at that job that would require each type of intelligence.

14. What should teachers do? • leave students alone? • all 7 are needed to productively function in society. • therefore all intelligences are equally important. • contradiction to traditional education • (verbal & mathematical which require students to show knowledge in predetermined manner) • recognize and teach to a broader range of talents and skills! • reinforce same material in variety of ways • which will facilitate a deeper understanding.

15. Social Intelligence • Pre-frontal Cortex • Make decisions about how to express emotions • Damage leads to immature decisions and social difficulties • Emotional Intelligence: • Perceive others emotions • Understand their own and others emotions • Manage their emotions • Use their emotions Demo: can you interpret and label others emotions?

16. Emotional Intelligence • Delay immediate pleasure • Impulse control…those who could resist • Socially competent • Personally effective • Less likely to freeze under pressure • More self-reliant • Confident • Pursued challenges even in the face of difficulties • Trustworthy • Dependable • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amsqeYOk--w

17. Brainand Intelligence correlation: • Frontal (more gray matter) • Memory, attention, language • Faster memory retrieval= inc. in verbal intelligence • Parietal • Process math & spatial • Neurological & Perceptual speed • Process info quick to acquire more info

18. Brain and Intelligence Cont. • Genes • Nutrition • Environment • Deprived • Enriched: Neural plasticity – changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior & environment.

19. Assessing intelligence Army Alpha Army Beta What makes a good test?

20. Binet ~ Test to identify children A few modern philosophers…assert that an individual’s intelligence is a fixed quantity, and quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism… Binet, 1909 • All children begin the same but some develop quicker than others. *Your mental age should match the actual age you are. • With practice, training, & above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment & literally to become more intelligent than we were before. • Mental abilities. Test measured reasoning skills ~not accumulated knowledge

21. Terman study:IQ mental/chronological x100 • How does the ‘genius’ level intelligence affect the course of life? • What about profoundly gifted vs. moderately gifted? • cream of the crop in schools vs. eminent adults who make enduring contributions in their fields. • *** Motivation & other personality factors: emotional maturity, commitment to goals, creativity, willingness to work hard are just as important.

22. Eugenics movement • Selective breeding of… • Provide an argument for selective breeding: • Provide an argument against selective breeding:

23. Types of Tests • Achievement • Assess learned knowledge, skill, accomplishment in a particular area • ex. AP test, Chapter Tests • Aptitude • assess a person’s capacity to benefit from education or training—predictive • ex. SAT, ACT

24. What Makes a Good Test? • Standardizing: • Similar testing conditions • Norming: • test given to a large representative sample • graphing results • individual scores interpreted and compared • Reliability • Is it consistent? • Validity • Does it measure what it is supposed to measure?

25. Challenge…

26. Types of Validity • Content validity: • Context representative of the domain (content) • A personality test should measure aspects of personality • Criterion-Related (Predictive) Validity: • correlating subjects’ scores with their scores on an another measure High scores in extraversion should lead to low scores in introversion • Concurrent = same time; predictive = later time • Construct Validity • test measures a particular hypothetical construct • Abstract concepts such as personality, measure introversion….more hypothetical • Measuring validity of a procedure: • Internal: what happened in the study IV has an effect on DV • External validity: can findings be generalized beyond the study. • Population validity: generalized to other populations of people • Ecological validity: generalized beyond present situation

27. Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence • Fluid- basic information processing skills • Crystallized- knowledge accumulated over time. • Lying to Parents Grandparents love crosswords

28. Extremes of intelligence Gifted vs. Intellectual disability

29. The Gifted: • Minimum IQ usually around 130 • Is it only about IQ? • Renzulli’s 3-ring conception: • General vs. specific • Flexibility, originality, openness, risks • motivation., perseverance, fascination

30. Mainstreaming vs. Tracking: • The Gifted: • Gifted child program is criticized for widening the achievement gap (of higher / lower ability) • Self-fulfilling prophecies (un-gifted)

31. FLYNN Effect: • Getting smarter… • Increasingly improved infant and childhood health & nutrition. • Increasing educational opportunities • Reductions in family size • Greater access to technology • Developed new habits of mind- analytical & hypothetical reasoning *Intelligence testing requires up-to-date standardization.

32. Flynn Effect Cont... • Where do we see the rise and why? • Problem solving skills are on the rise • Verbal skills have fallen flat • Fluid Intelligence NOT Crystallized Intelligence • Why? • Students are better “test takers” these days • Video games could help with problem-solving and logic skills

33. Extremes of Intelligence: • “Mental Retardation: Limited Mental Ability (I.Q. < 70)” • “Mental Retardation is accompanied by difficulty adapting: Males outnumber females by 50%.”

34. “mental retardation” replaced with “intellectual disability” • It amends the language in all federal health, education and labor laws to remove that same phrase and instead refer to Americans living with an “intellectual disability.”

35. Normal Curve and IQ Standard Deviation +/- 15 points

36. Measuring Intelligence • Intelligence tests attempt to measure general mental abilities, rather than accumulated knowledge or aptitude for a specific subject or area. • Early tests: • Binet-Simon—focused on elementary mental abilities • Predictor • e.g. memory, attention, similarities and differences • Measured Mental Age • Binet’s test becomes the basis for IQ testing, yet he believed • Intelligence is too complex to measure • wanted to identify slow kids who needed special help. • Believed that intelligence varied from time to time due to individual factors

37. Measuring Intelligence • Stanford-Binet (1877-1956) • Lewis Terman revises Binet-Simon • developed and promoted intelligent Quotient ‘IQ’ • Calculate • mental Age/Chronological Age X 100 • Used for Children

38. Measuring Intelligence • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • Specifically designed for adults • 11 subtests measuring different abilities • Intelligence reflected in effective, rational, and goal-directed behavior • Provides overall verbal and performance scores as well as a global IQ score • comparing an individual’s score to those in his/her age group-scores are statistically fixed at 100 • Today—WAIS-III; For kids—WISC; For Preschoolers—WPPSI • ‘Re-normed’

39. Weschler • Intelligence reflected • Effective • Rational • Goal-directed behaviors

40. Nature/Nurture and Intelligence • Early beliefs: intelligence is inherited • More common now to believe it is both environment and heredity • Environmental factors influence which genes are switched on, or activated. • Individuals inherit a potential range for a trait, and environmental factors determine how close they come to realizing that genetic potential. • The genetic range of intellectual potential is influenced by many genes, not by a single gene. • Twin Studies • The currently accepted heritability estimate for intelligence is about 50 percent for the general population; that is, about 50 percent of the difference in IQ scores within a given population is due to genetic factors.

41. heritability estimates • estimate of proportion • of a trait…due to variations in genetics • limitations • group statistic based on studies of trait variability within a specific group • it cannot be applied meaningfully to individuals • if heritability of int is 80%...does NOT mean individuals intelligence is 80% inherited • may vary from group to group • increase if environmental differences reduced • (all raised same in one particular group)

42. Twin Studies • Identical twins same home = identical IQ • Identical apart = still pretty close • Fraternal = less similar, closer than regular siblings • Similarity of identical raised apart greater than ordinary siblings reared together.

43. Challenge:

44. A scenario… • One day, you go to a class that is really important to you and that you like a lot. The teacher returns the midterm papers to the class. You got a C+. You’re very disappointed. That evening on the way back to your home, you find that you’ve gotten a parking ticket. Being really frustrated, you call your best friend to share your experience but are sort of brushed off.

45. Answer honestly… • What would you think? • What would you feel? • What would you do? • How would you cope?

46. Biases in Intelligence Tests: • Culture Free (fair) Tests: • Who is constructing them? • What language are they using? • What vocabulary are they using? • What lifestyles are they representing? • unfamiliarity w/white middle class culture • cultural differences • motivation -attitude -previous exp.

47. Raven’s Progressive Matrices

48. Within groups vs. Btwn groups • IQ and environment (Scarr & Weinberg) • socioeconomic conditions • environmental conditions • cultural values

49. Gender Differences in Intelligence: • Math: males achieve higher • Spatial Ability: males achieve higher • Verbal: females achieve higher • What if I constantly belittled ‘boys’ in class and said they were not smart or capable in anything? • stereotype threat…

50. Stereotype Threat • "being at risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group" • Anxiety and concern builds up and can negatively impact the performance of individuals who belongs to a negatively stereotyped group. • Knowing your disadvantage can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy • How can you use it to psych out an opponent? http://reducingstereotypethreat.org/definition.html