Unit 11: Testing & Individual Differences

1. Unit 11:Testing & Individual Differences

2. Unit Overview • What is Intelligence? • Assessing Intelligence • The Dynamics of Intelligence • Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.

3. What is Intelligence?

4. What is Intelligence? • Intelligence • one aptitude or many? • A concept; not a “thing” • abstract NOT concrete • IQ (intelligence quotient) is concrete • a socially constructed concept revealing a cultures values • Controversial: 1) Can it be located; 2) measured in the brain? • Has many correlations

5. What is Intelligence? portalintro-to-intelligence.html Intelligencemental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, & use knowledge to adapt to new situations. Intelligence test method of assessing an individual's mental aptitudes & comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

6. What is Intelligence? How do individual abilities relate to one another Procedure: FACTOR ANALYSIS 11-3

7. Is IntelligenceOne General Ability or Several Specific Abilities? • Spearman’sGeneral intelligence(g)general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman & others, underlies specific mental abilities & is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. • Factor analysis statistical procedure that i.d’s clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to i.d. different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score. • Comparison to athleticism g

8. Is IntelligenceOne General Ability or Several Specific Abilities? • Thurstone’s counter argument • Opposed Spearman’s single intelligence • i.d’d 7 CLUSTERS of primary mental abilities (word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning & memory • Tendency for those who excelled on one of the seven clusters to score well on the others LENDING SOME EVIDENCE to support a g Factor

9. Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?Theories of Multiple Intelligences • Gardner’s Eight Intelligences • Linguistic • Logical-mathematical • Musical • Spatial • Bodily-kinesthetic • Intrapersonal • Interpersonal • Naturalist

10. Gardner’s Evidence Studied people with exceptional abilities, especially those with exceptional abilities in only one area • Savant syndrome condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing. 153_Savant_Art.mp4

11. Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?Theories of Multiple Intelligences Psychology 101 - Cognition Part (4_14) - Multiple Intelligences.flv

12. Gardner’s Critics • Theory is difficult to research because there are no real tests to measure each Intelligence • Question whether it makes sense to “lump” all sorts of abilities under the concept of Intelligence …. Intelligence is MENTAL ability • Intelligence is Mental ability vs. the “talents” we could live without

13. Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?Theories of Multiple Intelligences • Sternberg’s Three Intelligences Triarchic Theory • Analytical (academic problem-solving intelligence • Creating intelligence • Practical intelligence

14. Sternberg’s Three Intelligences Triarchic Theory • Analytical (academic problem-solving intelligence): assessed by I-tests; testing well defined problems with single answers • Creating intelligence: demonstrated by reacting adaptively to novel situations & generating novel ideas • Practical intelligence: required for everyday tasks, which are frequently ill defined, with multiple solutions

15. Comparing Theories of Intelligence

16. Comparing Theories of Intelligence

17. Comparing Theories of Intelligence

18. Comparing Theories of Intelligence

19. Comparing Theories of Intelligence Resource: Discovering Psychology Intelligence testin

20. Connecting Intelligence Tests with REALITY • College grades are only a modest predictor of later work achievement • High aptitude people are “not, by a wide margin, more effective… in achieving better in relationships, health, etc. • So… what is the “other” possible element

21. Emotional Intelligence • Emotional intelligencethe ability to perceive, understand, manage, & use emotions. IOW’s the “know how” involved in comprehending social situations & managing yourself in them • Perceive emotions • Understand emotions • Manage emotions • Use emotions for adaptive or creative thinking

22. Measurable? … YES • Emotionally Intelligent people are • Self Aware • Ability to perceive emotions • Ability to understand emotions • Ability to mange emotions • Ability to use emotions to enable adaptive or creative thinking

23. Hallmarks of Emotionally Intelligent People • Score higher in relationships • Avoid overwhelming emotions • Read others emotions • Better job performance • Delay gratification Higher career success, marriage success, & parenting success, than academically intelligent people

24. Gardner Critics this Intelligence • He does not see this as AN intelligence. He thinks it is going too far… stretching too far • IMPORTANT but DIFFERENT

25. Intelligence & Creativity • Creativity- the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable • A certain level of aptitude is necessary but not sufficient for creativity • Generally people who do well on Intelligence tests do well on creativity Tests. • CREATIVITY SUGGESTS 5 COMPONENTS BEYOND APTITUDE: expertise, Imagination, venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, creative environment • Stimulates Left Brain-Convergent thinking & Frontal lobe- Imagination Psychology 101 - Cognition Part (5_14) - Creativity and Divergent Thinking.flv

26. Emotional Intelligence Appraisal & expression of emotion in self & others Regulation of emotion in self & others Utilization of emotion in solving problems Not regarded as a separate “intelligence” by many Psychologist (eg Gardner) Many people who score high on IQ tests do NOT score high on Social Intelligence Tests

27. Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?Brain Size & Complexity • Brain size studies– Inconclusive • Weight, density, convolutions, gray matter, size relative to body • Evidence: pretty minimal

28. Brain SIZE • Brain size and Non Verbal test scores decline together • Highly educated people die with 17% more synapses • Evidence suggests that intelligent people differ in their neural plasticity (ability to adapt & grow neural connections in response to the environment) • Small study connected higher intelligence scores with more gray matter (neural bodies vs dendrites & axons) in some specific areas involved in memory attention & language • More growth in specific areas

29. Brain Function Frontal lobe areas are active when people THINK while taking an Intelligence Test Left- verbal Both sides – spatial considerations Frontal Lobe functions as a “Global Workspace” for organizing & coordinating thinking

30. Brain Function • Perceptual speed- how much stimulus inspection time is needed. Speed of taking in perceptual • Neurological speed – brain register is quicker and with greater complexity C:\Users\mburt\Desktop\AP Psych\Learning\Fastest Brain on earth_ World Record in Speed Cards.flv

31. Brain Function • Faster Neurological Perception is correlated with higher IQ scores…. WHY? • May allow more info to be acquired over time • Accumulation of info with faster processing

32. Assessing Intelligence

33. The Origins of Intelligence TestingPsychology 101 - Cognition Part (2_14) - History of Intelligence Testing.flv • What is an Intelligence test? • What makes it credible? • Whey were they created? • How are they used? In Short: Seeking to know how and why people differ in mental abilities

34. The Origins of Intelligence Testing • Alfred BinetC:\Users\mburt\Desktop\AP Psych\Intelligence and testing\Intelligence testing.mp4 • The WHY? Indentifying French school children in need of assistance • Mental age- measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the ave. 8-yr-old is said to have a mental age of 8 • Chronological age

35. The Origins of Intelligence TestingLewis Terman: The Innate IQ • Stanford-Binet Test - widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test. • Intelligence quotient (IQ) -originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca X 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. portal.com/academy/lesson/intelligence-testing-and-types.html • IQ = (mental age/chronological age) X 100 • IQ of 100 is considered average • World War I testing

36. Modern Tests of Mental Abilities • Achievement tests- tests designed to assess what a person has learned. Reflect what you have learned, usually recently. • Aptitude tests- tests designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn. Predict ability to learn a new skill. Thinly disguised Intelligence test

37. Modern Tests of Mental Abilities • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. • Wechsler Intelligence Scale was developed for Children (WISC) & later Pre School Age Children • Overall Score = verbal & performance scores. Striking differences btwn the two may indicate a learning problem or brain disorder

38. Wechler Adult Intelligence Scale

39. Principles of Test Construction • StandardizationWAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. -portalusing-standard-deviation-and-bell-curves • Normal curve (bell curve)

40. Normal Curve

41. Normal Curve

42. Normal Curve

43. Normal Curve

44. Normal Curve

45. Normal Curve

46. Normal Curve

47. Principles of Test ConstructionStandardization-process of creating a norm w/ a pretest group • Flynn effect- ave. person’s Intelligence test has been rising over the last 80 years. Why?

48. ????? • Better nutrition • Increases in education • Better environments • Less child disease • Smaller families • Increased parental investment • Hybrid vigor- Global Mixing

49. Principles of Test Construction -portalissues-in-psychological-assessment-reliability-validity-and-bias • Reliabilitythe extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting. portalreliability-coefficient-and-the-reliability-of-assessments.html • Consistency measures • Scores correlate • Test-retest reliability • Split-half reliability

50. Principles of Test Construction • Validity= the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. portalvalidity-in-assessments-content-construct-predictive-validity.html • Content validity- test taps the pertinent behavior being tested for. Course exams, driving tests etc • Criterion agreement -independent measure of what the test aims to assess/ eg. Future performance • Predictive validity- predict future achievement