hannah anees, maria sabillon, josie mayorga and mikhail d’mello
TRANSCRIPT
INTELLIGENCEHannah Anees, Maria Sabillon, Josie Mayorga and Mikhail D’Mello
The Origin of Intelligence Testing Alfred Binet : Predicting school achievement
- Created an intelligence test to help the government in France.
- Used it to figure out if a child was “dull” or “bright”.
- Also used it to find a child’s mental agei. Mental Age : The chronological
age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance
- His test did help find kids who needed help but didn’t explain why
- He didn’t wan this test to measure intelligence, just to identify which kids needed help
Lewis Terman: Innate IQ- - Terman made an edited version of the Binet test and
renamed it the Stanford-Binet test.- With the test he calculated the intelligence quotient,
or IQ - Terman was alot more judgemental based on the
tests than Binet
What Is Intelligence?Intelligence is not something concrete, but a
conceptWhen we think education is concrete, we reify
it- Reify : to invent a concept and give it a
name.Intelligence is a social concept
- Cultures deem intelligence whatever attributes enable success in those cultures
Two Major ControversiesIs intelligence a single overall ability
or several specific ability’s?
With the tools of modern neuroscience, can we now measure intelligence as the brains information-processing speed?
Overall ability or specific ability ?
To determine this, researchers use factor analysis- Factor Analysis : enables researches to identify clusters of test items that measure a common ability
Charles spearman believed there is general intelligence which is a factor that underlies the specific factors
Which means that people have certain ability’s that stand out.
The idea of a general mental capacity expressed by a single intelligence store was controversial at the time, and it still is
One of his major opponents was L.L Thunderstone he did not rank his subjects on a single scale of general aptitude
Since the mis-1980s some psychologist have sought to extend the definition of intelligence as much more than academics
People with Savant Syndrome tend to score less on intelligence tests
Howard Gardner states that we do not have an intelligence but instead have multiple intelligences each independent of the others.
Robert Sternberg agrees with Gardners theory of multiple intelligences but he distinguishes it among 3 factors.
- Analytical intelligence- which is academic and the results come from tests which have a single right answer
- Creative intelligence- reacting adaptively to novel situations and general novel ideas
- Practical intelligence- required for everyday tasks, and involve multiple solutions
Emotional IntelligenceNancy cantor and John
Kihlstrom believe in social intelligence which is the know how involved in comprehending social situations and managing oneself successfully.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions.
Howard gardener believes that concepts such as emotional intelligence and moral intelligence stretch intelligence too far
Is Intelligence Neurologically measurable?Fran Gall realized
human intelligence was greater than animal intelligence
Wondered if intelligence depended on the size and structure of the brain – it did not
Brain Glucose ConsumptionR. J. Haier and Randolph Parks have done
PET scans while people of high or low abilities perform cognitive tasks.
High performers brains are less active they guzzle less glucose energy
Earl hunt found that verbal intelligence scores are predictable from the speed that people access information from their memories.
Perceptual speed
Those who perceive quickly tend to score higher on intelligence tests, based on perception rather than problem solving.
Neurological SpeedStudies have found that people who have
quicker perceptions have brain waves that register a simple stimulus more quickly and with greater complexity.
Brain response also tends to be quicker with people on a higher intelligence compared to a low one.
The neurological approach to understanding intelligence is still on a stand still.
Assessing Intelligence
Aptitude tests- A test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn (college entrance test)
Achievement tests – a test designed to assess what a person has learned(subject tests)
Aptitude tests predict future performance and achievement tests predict current performance
WAISMost widely used
intelligence test is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and was created by psychologist David Wechsler who was an immigrant from East Europe
The WAIS consists of 11 subtests which yields not only an overall intelligence score but also separate verbal and performance (nonverbal) scores
Principles of Test Construction
For any psychological test to be widely accepted, it must meet 3 criteria
1. Standardization2. Reliability3. Validity
StandardizationScores would have no meaning if you had
nothing to compare them to.Standardization : Defining meaningful scores
by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group”
Typically form a normal distribution Flynn Effect : Over time our aptitude scores
have been improving
ReliabilityReliability: The extent to which a test yields
consistent results.We measure reliability by repeating the test
or splitting up the test and seeing if the results correlate
High correlation means that the test is reliable – Both the Stanford-Binet test and the WAIS have a correlation of +9
ValidityValidity : the extent to which a test measures
or predicts what it is supposed to Content Validity : The extent to which a test
samples the behavior that is of interestPredictive Validity: The success with which a
test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict
- assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and criterion behavior
Stability or Change?Intelligence tests before the age of 3 do not
predict much, but those after age 3 can be very predictive of their adolescent and adult scores.
Children who learn how to read at a younger age ( 4 or 5) tend to score higher.
At about age 7, intelligence test scores start to stabilize
The Extremes of IntelligenceOne way to see the validity of a test
is to compare its two extremes – the low extreme and the high extreme
These extremes should, and do, vary noticeably
The Low ExtremeThose whose intelligence scores are below 70
and are labeled as having mental retardation- Mental Retardation : Both a low score
and difficulty adapting to normal demands of independent life
Down Syndrome : A condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by extra chromosome
Options for those with mental retardation has fluctuated over the last two centuries
The High ExtremeTerman found, contrary to popular belief, that
high scoring children were healthy and well adjusted to life.
Critics question the “Gifted Programs” implemented in schools
Tracking for gifted students can cause a whole arrat of problems
One thing is agreed upon - Children have differing gifts
Creativity and IntelligenceCreativity : The ability to
produce ideas that are both novel and valuable
Creativity varies by cultureResults from tests of
intelligence and creativity suggest that a certain level of aptitude is necessary to but not sufficient for creativity.
Five Components of CreativityExpertise: Well developed base of knowledgeImaginative thinking skills: ability to see
things in new waysVenturesome Personality: perseveres and
takes risksIntrinsic MotivationCreative Environment Amabiles experiments demonstrated that
creative environments also free people from concern about social approval.
Genetic Influencesdo genes interpret intelligence?
Sometimes yes.- Fraternal/ Identical
twinsThe heritability of Intelligence is
about 50%.But that is not always the caseEnvironmental differences are
more predictive of Intelligence scores of kids and low- educated parents which can be from any place in the world
environment and heredity interact with each other.
Environmental Influences
Environment isn’t everything- Ex: smart school ≠ smart people
Psychologist J. McVicker Hunt’s Experiment
- Showed effects of bad early experiences with children
If a kid from an impoverished environment is exposed to higher education/ care = high intelligence
Schooling Effects
Schooling itself has a dramatic effect on IntelligenceExs: Length, drop outs, Summer, Birthdays
Group Differences in Intelligence Test ScoresEthnic differencesRacial groups differ in average scores on
intelligence testsHigh scoring people/groups will get a higher Therefore:
- Group differences are genetic, but they are mostly affected by the environment
Gender DifferencesStereotypes and actual differences are based
on genetics and culture
Group differences deal with both environment and genetics.
It’s not that some groups are more dumber, groups just have their own rise and falls over time
It is also based on the advantages each group has
The Question of Bias
Do intelligence tests discriminate?
Yes & NoYes :
- The purpose of tests IS to discriminate. They serve to distinguish among individuals.
No :- Test also reduce
discrimination by reducing reliance on subjective criteria for school
and job placement (race, charisma, ect.)