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Unit 6: Testing & Individual Differences. Module 31: Introduction to Intelligence. What is Intelligence?. IQ: Intelligence quotient Intelligence: mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
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Unit 6: Testing & Individual Differences Module 31: Introduction to Intelligence
What is Intelligence? • IQ: Intelligence quotient • Intelligence: mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. • Intelligence is a concept, not a thing • Intelligence is whatever attributes enables success within a culture.
What is Intelligence? • Reification: viewing an abstract concept as if it was a concrete thing • To reify is to invent a concept, give it a name, and convince us that it exists. • We treat IQ as a thing that someone has rather than a score someone attains on a test.
What is Intelligence? • In the end, intelligence is whatever intelligence tests measure! • Two controversies: • 1. Is intelligence a single overall ability or several abilities? • 2. Can we locate and measure intelligence within the brain?
What is Intelligence? • Clusters: Groups of skills that comprise an intelligence factor. • Ex. Verbal, mathematical, spatial… • General Intelligence (g): a general intelligence factor that is in every specific mental ability. (Spearman) • Spearman’s “g” was a single intelligence score!
What is Intelligence? • Thurstone identified 7 clusters of primary mental abilities: • Word fluency • Verbal comprehension • Spatial ability • Perceptual speed • Numerical ability • Inductive reasoning • Memory Multiple abilities!
What is Intelligence? • Savant Syndrome: a person with one exceptional ability, but limited mental ability in the others. • Found in some people living with autism. • This led Howard Gardner to conclude that we do not have a single intelligence, but that we have multiple intelligences.
What is Intelligence? • Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences: • 1. Linguistic • 2. Logical-mathematical • 3. Musical • 4. Spatial • 5. Bodily-kinesthetic • 6. Intrapersonal • 7. Interpersonal • 8. Naturalist
What is Intelligence? • Robert Sternberg’s Three Aspects of Intelligence: • Analytical: academic problem solving. Measured on IQ tests. • Creative: generating new ideas • Practical: “street smarts”, required for everyday tasks where multiple solutions exist. • Agreed with Gardner, but a simplified version.
Theories on Intelligence Summary: • Spearman – g (general intelligence). • Thurstone – Primary mental abilities (7 factors/clusters). • Gardner – 8 independent intelligences. • Sternberg – 3 areas that predict success.
Emotional Intelligence • Emotional Intelligence: the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. • Perceive: recognize emotions in faces, music, and stories. • Understand: to predict them & how they change and blend. • Manage: to express them in situations. • Use: to enable them.
Emotional Intelligence • Emotionally intelligent people enjoy better relationships with people of both sexes and avoid depression, anxiety, or anger. • Often succeed in career, marriage, and parenting.
Intelligence • Research says: • Intelligence tests do predict both occupational status and job performance. • Intelligence gets you the job, other things (emotional intelligence) helps you keep the job and be successful.
Creativity • Creativity: The ability to produce novel (new) and valuable ideas. • Ex. How many ways can you use a brick? • People who do well on intelligence tests do well on creativity tests. • Creativity led to technology: iPods, Post-it notes, etc.
Creativity • Five Components of Creativity: • Expertise: well-developed base of knowledge. • Imaginative thinking skills: to see things in new ways. • Venturesome personality: tolerates ambiguity and risk. Seeks new experiences rather than follow old. • Intrinsic motivation: internally driven. • Creative environment
Intelligence & the Brain • Does brain size and intelligence correlate? • Some geniuses had small brains, while some dumb criminals had large brains. • There is, however, a +.4 correlation between brain size and intelligence. • Learning produces bigger brains (mice in enriched environment).
Intelligence & the Brain • Highly intelligent people differ in neural plasticity. • Neural plasticity: ability during childhood to adapt and grow neural connections. • Higher intelligence linked to more gray matter (neural bodies) in brains. • Otherwise, slight correlation between size and intelligence.
Intelligence & the Brain • Highly intelligent people perceive information more quickly. (Quick witted) • They also have faster neurological speed. (Process it quicker.) • So highly intelligent people see and process information quicker than others.