Chapter 10 - Intelligence

Question 1

Gain vs lose frame?

Not everyone exhibits the framing effects. What are their brains doing differently?

Answer 1

gain: pos outcomes of a choice
lose: negative outcomes of a choice

ppl who resist framing show stronger activation in the prefrontal cortex

ppl who are more influenced by framing have greater activation in the amygdala

Question 2

When you make a risky decision, which two parts of your brain are activated? What are there roles?

Answer 2

Prefrontal cortex: evaluates and integrates cognitive and emoitional info (ex: “wait, these two choices are the same”)

Amygdala: assigns value to decisions (ex: “this option feels bad..”“this option feels better..”)

Taxing prefrontal cortex (going with emotions, speeded version of the task) causes STRONGER framing effects

Question 3

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC)
-what would damage to this part of the brain cause?

Answer 3

helps you connect emotions with decisions (emotion-logic bridge), takes feelings (guilt, fear, reward) and uses them to guide your decisions

heightened activation when making moral judgements

Individuals with damage to the area
show poor moral decision making (but
not non-moral decision making)
* In the trolley problem, damage to
vmPFC lead people to treat the two
conditions similarly

Question 4

Behavioral genetics

Answer 4

field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate individual differences in behavior

is how related genetically you are to
someone linked to how similar you
are in behavior?

Question 5

twins reared apart

Answer 5

identical or fraternal twins separated early in life and raised in different environments

study of Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart found similarities in personality, intelligence, habits, showing significant genetic component for these traits, also shows that environmental factors have a greater impact on differences than shared family environments

Question 6

Why do we have IQ tests?
What is…
1. Predictive validity
2. IQ predicts
3. Correlation between IQ and health

Answer 6

1. the extent to which
   a score on a scale / test predicts some outcome measure of interest
2. IQ predicts:
   * Academic achievement
   * Job Success
   * Salary and wealth
   * Happiness
   * Health and longevity
   * …
3. Higher IQs —> higher proportion surviving

Question 7

Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence
Who proposed it

Answer 7

Charles Spearman said that all mental abilities (math, reading, etc) are made up of two parts (g factor and s factor)

1. different IQ subtests were positively correlated, argues to be driven by general intelligence
   -ppl who did well on one kind of test (like math) usually also did well on others (like reading or memory)
   -suggested common mental ability across all tasks
2. g-factors come from s-factors (math problems require your g + s (math-specific skill), vocab requires language-specific skill)

Question 8

general intelligence (g factor) and specific ability (s factor)

Answer 8

1. g factor (general intelligence)
   -overall mental ability, how well your brain works across all kinds of thinking tasks
   -strength behind doing well in different subjects, types of problem solving
2. s factor (specific ability)
   -skill in particular area
   -each task/subject has its own “s”

Question 9

What are middle-level intelligences?
Describe crystalized and fluid intelligence, and how these change with age

Answer 9

m= Middle-level intelligences
-analyses suggested something more complex than two factors (s and g):

1. Crystalized: ability to apply knowledge that was acquired through experience (vocab, facts)
   -increases with age
2. Fluid intelligence: ability to problem solve and reason about novel problems
   -decreases with age

Question 10

Neural correlates for fluid intelligence

Answer 10

Fluid:
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DL-PFC)
damage to this area impares gf not gc
recent theories stress connection between frontal and parietal areas (parieto-frontal integration theory)

Question 11

Parieto-frontal integration theory

Answer 11

explains where intelligence happens in the brain

says intelligence isn’t just in one spot, it’s in the network connecting the parietal and frontal regions (understanding (parietal) and reasoning (frontal) parts of the brain)

Question 12

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DL-PFC)

Answer 12

upper part of pfc
thinking and control center
helps you stay focused, plan ahead and make logical decisions instead of impulsive ones

Question 13

Neural correlates for crystalized intelligence

Answer 13

Crystalized:
less obvious neural correlate (likely more distributed across the neocortex)
alzheimer’s disease is more likely to impair gc before gf

Question 14

which type of intelligence is Alzheimer’s disease likely to impair first

Answer 14

gc (crystalized)

Question 15

Order of correlation in IQ between identical vs fraternal twins that are reared together vs apart

Answer 15

Highest to lowest:
Identical reared together
Identical reared apart
Fraternal reared together

Question 16

Three Laws of Behavior Genetics and What They Mean

Answer 16

Law 1: All human behavioral traits are heritable (influenced by genetics, no known exception)

Law 2: The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes (for most traits (69%) twins are similar mainly bc of genetics)

Law 3: Huge portion of variation in traits is NOT accounted for by genes or families (other environmental effects–even identical twins are not identical)

Question 17

Heritability

Answer 17

measure of variability in behavioral traits among individuals that can be accounted for by genetic factors

ex: “IQ has heritability coefficient by .5-.7” means 50-70% of difference in intelligence is due to genetics (NOT that 50-70% of intelligence is genetic)

Question 18

Flynn Effect and what accounts for it?

Answer 18

steady rise in average IQ scores over time across countries

-unlikely genetic
-differences in nutrition, health, schooling, environmental quiality
-increase reliance on “analytical thinking”

Question 19

Birth order effect on IQ and why

Answer 19

older siblings reliably score higher on IQ tests

-unlikely genetic
-differences in parenting, stimulation, resources
-role of teaching the younger siblings

Question 20

Genetic nurture effects

Answer 20

correlations between parent genes that are not inherited by the child and children’s educational success

simple:
your parents’ genes shape the environment they give you which then affects you too

Question 21

Genetic amplification effect

Answer 21

small genetic effects early in development are magnified over time

as kids grow, they shape their own experiences partly based on their genes

Question 22

role of the environment on high-IQ children

Answer 22

1. role of environment lasts longer in the lives of high-IQ children
2. having higher-IQ prolongs sensitivity to the environment, openness to experience

Question 23

genetic influences on IQ are ____ for those in higher-SES (socio-economic status) environments than lower-SES. WHY

Answer 23

stronger

why…
1. there is a minimum environment for full genetic potential to be developed
2. facilitated environments provide people (and their genes) more opportunities to select their environment
-supportive environments give people more chances to shape their surroundings

Question 24

people with ___ intelligence have better romantic relationships, are happier and are more satisfied with their lives

Answer 24

emotional intelligence

Question 25

cognitive enhancers that help attention and memory

Answer 25

adderall, modafinil, ritalin

Question 26

in the early 1900s, two researchers named _____ developed the first recognized test of intelligence to identify schoolchildren in need of educational assistance

Answer 26

Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon

Question 27

Most people have IQs between ____ and _____

Answer 27

85 and 115

Question 28

What is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)? What is it NOT designed to assess?

Answer 28

WAIS is a widely used, individually administered test of adult intelligence. It is not designed to assess an adult’s achievement or specific knowledge—its focus is on general cognitive ability, not learned skills or educational attainment, recall general knowledge

Question 29

For severe intellectual disability, the IQ range is generally ___ to _____

Answer 29

20 and 34

Question 30

according to ___ intelligence is largely inherited

Answer 30

Francis Galton

Question 31

heritability coefficient

Answer 31

statistical measure that indicates how much people's IQ scores differ due to differences in their genetics