Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik Module 13: Intelligence Module 13 Intelligence.

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod PlotnikModule 13: Intelligence

Module 13

Intelligence


DEFINING INTELLIGENCE

• Two-factor theory– Psychometric approach

• measures or quantifies cognitive abilities or factors that are thought to be involved in intellectual performance

– Two-factor theory, • by Charles Spearman • says that intelligence has two factors:• general mental ability factor “g”• represents what different cognitive tasks have in

common• specific factors which include specific mental abilities

such as mathematical, mechanical, or verbal skills “s”


DEFINING INTELLIGENCE (CONT.)

• Multiple-intelligence theory– Gardner’s multiple-intelligence theory

• Howard Gardner• instead of one kind of general intelligence, there are

at least seven different kinds which include:• verbal intelligence• musical intelligence• logical mathematical intelligence• spatial intelligence• body movement intelligence (to understand oneself)• intelligence to understand others


DEFINING INTELLIGENCE (CONT.)

• Triarchic theory– Robert Sternberg

• says that intelligence can be divided into three different kinds of reasoning processes1. uses analytical or logical thinking skills that

are measured by traditional intelligence tests2. uses problem-solving skills that require

creative thinking and the ability to learn form experience

3. uses practical thinking skills that help a person adjust to, and cope with, his or her sociocultural environment


MEASURING INELLIGENCE

• Earlier attempts to measure intelligence– head size and intelligence

• Francis Galton– noticed that intelligent people often had intelligent

relatives and concluded that intelligence was, to a large extent, biological or inherited

– low correlation between head size and intelligence

– using head size as a measure of intelligence was abandoned in favor of using skull or brain size


p284 BRAIN SIZE


MEASURING INELLIGENCE

• Earlier attempts to measure intelligence– Brain size and intelligence

• Paul Broca• claimed there was a relationship between size

of brain and intelligence• larger brains indicating more intelligence• later reanalysis of Broca’s data indicted that

measures of brain size proved to be unreliable and poorly correlated with intelligence


MEASURING INTELLIGENCE (CONT.)

• Earlier attempts to measure intelligence– brain size and achievement– enormous variation in brain size and achievement– brain size, sex differences, and intelligence– women’s brains weigh about 10% less than men’s– little or no difference in intelligence between men

and women– larger size of men’s brains does not result in

higher IQs



• Binet’s breakthrough– Alfred Binet

• believed that intelligence was a collection of mental abilities and that the best way to assess intelligence was to measure a person’s ability to perform cognitive tasks, such as understanding the meanings of words or being able to follow directions

• Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale• contained items arranged in order of increasing

difficulty• measured vocabulary, memory, common

knowledge, and other cognitive abilities



• Binet’s breakthrough– mental age: measure of intelligence– Binet and Simon revised their intelligence scale to

solve several problems in their original scale– mental age– method of estimating a child’s intellectual

progeress by comparing the child’s score on an intelligence test to the scores of average children of the same age



• Formula for IQ– Intelligence quotient

• computed by dividing a child’s mental age (MA), as measured in an intelligence test, by the child’s chronological age (CA) and multiplying the result by 100


p285 FORMULA FOR IQ



• Wechsler Intelligence Scale– most widely used IQ tests– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III), ages

16 and older– Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III)

for children ages 3-16– both have items that are organized into various

subtests.– verbal section– performance section– verbal and performance combined give a single IQ



• Two characteristics of tests– Validity

• means that the test measures what it is supposed to measure

– Reliability• refers to consistency: score on a test at one

point in time should be similar to the score obtained by the same person on a similar test at a later point in time


DISTRIBUTION & USE OF IQ SCORES

• Normal distribution of IQ scores– Normal distribution

• refers to a statistical arrangement of scores so that they resemble the shape of a bell and, thus, is said to be a bell-shaped curve


p288 IQ CHART


DISTRIBUTION & USE OF IQ SCORES (CONT.)

• Mental retardation: IQ scores– Mental retardation

• refers to a substantial limitation in present functioning that is characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, along with related limitations in two of ten areas, including communication, self-care, home living, social skills, and safety.

• borderline mentally retarded: IQs from 50 to 75• mildly/moderately mentally retarded: IQs from 35 to

50• severely/profound mentally retarded: IQs from 20 to

40



• Mental retardation: IQ scores– Causes

• Organic retardation– results from genetic problems or brain

damage• Cultural-familial retardation

– results from a greatly impoverished environment.



• Vast majority: IQ scores– about 95%, have scores that fall between 70 and

130• Gifted: IQ scores• Moderately gifted

– usually defined by an IQ score between 130 and 150

• Profoundly gifted – usually defined by an IQ score around 180

or above


NATURE-NURTURE QUESTION

• Definitions – asks how nature-hereditary or genetic factors-

interacts with nurture-environmental factors-in the development of a person’s intellectual, emotional, personal, and social abilities

• Twin studies– Fraternal twins

• like siblings (brothers and sisters), develop from separate eggs and 50% of their genes in common


NATURE-NURTURE QUESTION (CONT.)

• Twin studies– Identical twins

• develop from a single egg and thus have identical genes, which means that they have 100% of their genes in common

– Interaction of nature and nurture• when researchers report that genetic factors

influence intelligence (IQ scores)• mean that genetic factors influence cognitive

abilities to varying degrees, depending on the environment



• Adoption studies– children with limited social-educational

opportunities and low IQs were adopted by parents who could provide increased social-educational opportunities

– studies show that children with poor educational opportunities and low IQ scores can show an increase in IQ scores when they are adopted into families that provide increased educational opportunities



• Interaction: nature and nurture– Heritability

• number that indicates the amount or proportion of some ability, characteristic, or trait that can be attributed to genetic factors (nature)

– Reaction range• indicates the extent to which traits, abilities, or

IQ scores may increase or decrease as a result of interaction with environmental factors

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Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik Module 13: Intelligence Module 13 Intelligence.

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