Intelligence

1. Intelligence What is it? How do we measure it? Are those tests valid?

2. General Intelligence • Charles Spearman believed in general intelligence (g), a common skill set that underlies all our specific abilities • People who score highly in one area also tend to score higher than average in others

3. Multiple Intelligence • Howard Gardner noticed that some savants have extraordinary ability in one area with severe handicaps in others • Gardner came up with 8 areas of intelligence (know these for quiz!) mostly based on case studies • Gardner admits this is not hard science and that his intelligences are very difficult to asses

4. Multiple Intelligence • Robert Sternberg suggested three areas of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical • Analytical is measured in school and tests like SAT • How would you measure the others?

5. Emotional Intelligence • Emotional intelligence is tested on the ability to • Perceive emotions (recognize them in others and in the arts) • Understand emotions (predict them and how they will change) • Manage emotions (know how to express them acceptably in various situations) • Use emotions (to allow for creative thinking)

6. Emotional Intelligence • Emotionally intelligent people are well-balanced, can delay gratification, and are generally in tune with others • Brain damage can impair emotional intelligence • Is this really intelligence, or something else? Does it matter what we call it?

7. Neurology and Intelligence • There is a correlation of +.33 between brain size and intelligence • Some scientists argue that this because of other factors that influence both. What might a scientist say those factors are? • More intelligent people have more synapses at death • There is probably a link between brain plasticity and intelligence

8. Neurology and Intelligence • Most processing during intelligence tests takes place in the frontal lobe • Do smarter people think faster? How could this help? • The correlation between intelligence scores and speed in perception is +.3 to +.5 • Smarter people experience faster and more complex brain activity in response to simple stimuli

9. Intelligence Testing How? Why? Is it fair?

10. History of Intelligence Tests • Francis Galton wanted to test intelligence in order to identify high achievers so they could mate with each other (1884) • His tests were not valid

11. History of Intelligence Testing • Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon created at test to objectively identify special needs students in Paris, 1904 • They used “mental age” as a measure – level of performance typical of a chronological age • Most people have the same chronological and mental ages • Goal: to identify special needs so that they could get more help and be provided with equal opportunities

12. History of Intelligence Tests • Lewis Terman of Stanford edited Binet’s test and created the Stanford-Binet test • Believed only intelligent people should reproduce (supported the eugenics movement) • US military used Terman’s test on WWI recruits and new immigrants (immigrants tended to score fairly low) • Let’s try some of Terman’s military test!

13. History of Intelligence Testing • William Stern used the Binet and Stanford-Binet tests to devlop IQ, the intelligence quotient • Works well for children, not for adults • Today, IQ scores are normalized (put on a bell curve) so they give information about your performance relative to others of the same age

14. Modern IQ Tests • Achievement tests measure what you have learned (test for psychology) • Aptitude tests predict your ability to learn something new (SAT) • Most tests assess both achievement and aptitude to some extent

15. Modern IQ Tests • David Wechsler created the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), made up of 11 subtests • Gives overall score and subscores for processing speed, verbal comprehension, etc. • Most commonly used today

16. Test Construction: Standardization • 1. Give test to a representative sample of people • 2. Compare others’ scores to the previously tested group • 3. Periodically restandardize to make sure the average is 100

17. Test Construction: Normal Curve

18. Test Construction: Reliability • On a reliable test, people’s scores will be consistent • A. If someone takes the same test twice, their scores should be similar • B. Someone’s scores on one half of the test should correlate to their scores on the other half

19. Test Construction: Validity • A valid test measures what you intend it to measure • Most course exams have content validity – they ask questions about what is covered in class • Intelligence tests should also have predictive validity - they should predict future performance

20. If a test asks questions about the content but uses higher-level sentence structure and vocabulary, what might be wrong with it? • If a student’s scores on the odd-numbered questions are 40% higher than their scores on the even-numbered questions, what might be wrong with a test? • What are some qualities of bad tests? • What can be done to make bad tests better?

21. Bias • A test would be scientifically biased if it accurately predicted results only for some types of people(ie whites but not blacks), but major American aptitude tests are not biased • Tests do pick up on differences in past experiences that depend on race/culture

22. Intelligence and Culture • Different cultures value different skills and include those abilities in their definitions of intelligence • Africans and Asians tend to include social skills • A smart child is a respectful child