Intelligence

1
Intelligence

• Module 22

2
Intelligence

• Includes
• capacity to learn from experience
• ability to solve problems
• capacity to reason clearly
• Robert Sternberg, 1997, intelligence is...the
  mental abilities needed to select, adapt to, and
  shape environments.

3
Alfred Binet

• commissioned in 1904, by the French government to
  study the problem of determining childrens
  intelligence.
• collaborated with Theodore Simon
• set out to measure mental age, a chronological
  age typical of a childs performance at a certain
  level
• was successful in creating a series of questions
  to discern intellect

4
Lewis Terman of Stanford University

• revised Binets intelligence test
• adapted some of the original and added others
• established new age norms
• extended the upper range from teenagers to
  superior adults
• called it the Stanford-Binet

5
What is an IQ?

• Its an idea developed by German psychologist
  William Stern
• IQ ___mental age_____ X 100
• chronological age
• Average IQ score 100
• Thus, if a 8 year old child tests with a mental
  age of 10, her I Q would be 125.

6
Factor Analysis

• This is a way of identifying clusters of test
  items that measure a common ability.
• Examples verbal, spatial, reasoning, social,
  leadership ability

7
Robert Sternberg -Three aspects of Intelligence

• Analytical academic problem-solving, a single
  right answer
• Creative novel ideas, reacting to novel
  situations
• Practical required for everyday tasks, need
  multiple solutions

8
Creativity - Sternberg

• The ability to produce ideas that are both novel
  and valuable.
• Five components of creativity
• Expertise base of knowledge
• Imaginative thinking skills ability to see
  things in a new way.
• Venturesome personality tolerance for ambiguity
  and risk
• Intrinsic motivation internally motivated
• Creative environment - support

9
Howard Gardner

• intelligence comes in different packages
• accounts for the savant syndrome (low score on IQ
  tests, high ability, even brilliance, in one
  area).
• we have multiple intelligences

10
Mental Retardation
11
Test Construction

• Terminology
• Standardization comparing scores to a
  pretested, representative group
• Reliability test-retest constancy
• Validity the test must measure what it says it
  will measure
• Content validity measuring the specific
  pertinent behavior

12
Emotional Intelligence - Gardner

• The ability to perceive, understand, and manage
  emotions.
• Self awareness empathy
• Delay gratification handle others
• Self-control

13
Assessing Intelligence

• WAIS Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
• WISC Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
• Created by David Wechsler
• Gives a Verbal and Performance score, great
  differences between the two may indicate a
  learning disability or other problem/

14
Test Construction

• Criterion what the test is designed to predict
• Predictive validity - the tests ability to
  predict future achievement (also called
  criterion-related validity)

15
How well do aptitude tests predict success?

• They are highly predictive in the early grades,
  but not as we get older.
• The best predictor of future grades is past
  grades!!
• The best predictor of future behavior is past
  behavior.

16
Genetics and Environment
17
Genetic Influences on IQ

• Identical twins have almost identical IQ scores -
  raised apart or together.
• The gene on chromosome 6, is found in about 2/3
  of children with very high IQ scores.
• Smarter mice have been produced by injecting an
  extra gene into fertilized eggs.
• Adopted children resemble their adopted parents
  less and less with age.

18
Environmental Influences on IQ

• Fraternal twins score more alike than other
  siblings.
• Genes and environment interact to shape the
  brain.
• Severe disadvantage deeply harms children.
• Programs like Head-Start have immediate positive
  effects that are reduced over time.

19
Education

• Education and intelligence enhance each other.
• It pays off in increased earnings later in life.
• IQ scores rise during the school year and fall
  during the summer.

20
Ethnic Similarities and Differences

• In the U.S. there is a gap in average IQ scores
  between whites, blacks, and Hispanics.
• Other countries also have IQ score differences
  among different ethnic populations.
• Differences may be due to the environment.

21
Gender Similarities and Differences

• No overall difference in gender IQ scores
• Girls are better spellers.
• Girls are more verbally fluent.
• Boys are more often in special education.
• Boys talk later, stutter more, have difficulty
  with reading more often.
• In high school, boys underachieve more often then
  girls by a 21 ratio.

22
What about math?

• In math grades the typical girl equals or
  surpasses the average boy.
• Females have the edge in computation.
• Males have the edge in problem solving.
• Males can quickly rotate 3D objects in their
  minds.
• More western males score at the top, but females
  score equally in the east.
• Exposure to male hormones increases spatial
  ability.

23
What about emotion?

• Women are better emotion detectors than men
• Myers speculates that because women need to read
  the emotions of their infants and would-be
  lovers, they have developed more empathy.

24
Bias

• IQ tests are biased in the sense that they detect
  genetic differences and cultural, environmental
  factors.
• Gender and racial bias are also factors in
  teaching and testing.
• Sometimes IQ tests are wrongly used to
  discriminate.