intelligence
- ability to learn from experience, solve problems, use knowledge to adapt to new situations
- in research situations, intelligence is whatever the test measures
- a concept, not a thing
error of reification
treating intelligence as a real entity that exists in a concrete fashion (rather than as a concept)
Henry H. Goddard
- formal classifications of intelligence (“moron, imbicile, idiot”)
- purponent of eugenics due to book about Kallikak family, who started out intelligent but then went downhill after the offspring of one “feeble-minded” member
- none of his work was really accurate
Charles Spearman
concept of “G” = general intelligence
Robert Sternberg’s concepts of intelligence
- analytical intelligence
- creative intelligence
- practical intelligence
Howard Gardner’s 8 aspects of intelligence
show is that intelligence can be measured in multiple different ways and can measure pretty much any ability we find useful
emotional intelligence (Peter Salovey)
- ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
- is it really intelligence?
creativity
- ability to produce valuable and novel ideas
- correlates somewhat with intelligence, but not enough to say that it’s part of intelligence
brain size and intelligence
moderate correlation between larger brain size and higher intelligence
processing speed and intelligence
small correlation between people who can process/complete tasks quickly and people with higher intelligence
intelligence tests
assesses an individual’s mental aptitudes and compares them with others using numerical scores
Alfred Binet
developed questions to predict children’s progress in school
Stanford-Binet test (developed by Thurman)
- first IQ test
- IQ = mental age/chronological age x100
- 100 is average score
aptitude vs. achievement
- aptitude: ability
- achievement: what you’ve learned
Weschsler Intelligence Scales
- most commonly used
- assesses overall intelligence and gives score AND assesses several sub-domains and gives scores for those as well
principles of test construction
- standardization
- reliability
- validity
standardization
establishing a normal distribution of scores on a tested population
reliability
- 4 types:
- split-half reliability (both halves should be consistent in measuring intelligence)
- alternate forms (if you give an alternate version of the test, scores should still be consistent)
- test-retest reliability (scores should be consistent if you retake the test another time - intelligence scores stabilize after age 7)
- inter-rater (no matter who gives the test, results should be consistent)
validity
- 2 types:
- content validity: is the test covering everything it’s supposed to cover without measuring irrelevant things?
- predictive validity: does the test predict things about other areas of your life
validity evidence
school grades, years of education, high-prestige occupations, and income all have a moderate correlation with intelligence
Flynn effect
- in the past 60 years, intelligence scores have risen by an average of 27 points
- challenges whether we’re correctly measuring intelligence - doesn’t make sense that intelligence would jump that much as it’s a stable trait
- psych is unsure why this happened
group differences
- men and women have similar intelligences
- males better at visual-spatial tasks
- women better at verbal tasks
extremes of intelligence
contrary to popular belief, people with high intelligence scores have shown to be well-adjusted, healthy, and unusually successful academically
twin data
- identical twins who share genetics and environment have very similar intelligence scores
- identical twins who share genetics but not environment (raised apart) still share very similar intelligence scores
- unrelated individuals raised together don’t show very similar intelligence scores
- therefore, intelligence is more strongly influenced by genetics than environment… about 60% genetics and 40% environment
