1
Q
OVERVIEW: Definition of Intelligence
A
- we need an operational definition of intelligence –> easier said than done
- Edwin Boring provided on straightforward definition
–> Intelligence is wtv intelligence tests measures
2
Q
Stephen Wiltshire
A
-renowned for his artistic ability and near-perfect visual memory. He frequently draws a detailed landscape from memory after seeing it only once. –> ex, from a 30min helicopter ride drew London
- Stephen is commonly considered a prodigy & a genius –>but his IQ has been measured @ only 52.
–> Historically, IQs under 70 met the criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability.
- People like Stephen r called “autistic savants”= someone with autism who displays exceptional ability in a limited field
–> The average IQ of an autistic savant is 71—much lower than the average IQ score of 100 - The discrepancy between an autistic savant’s “island of genius” & their low IQ score provides insight on what is means to be intelligent & how we come to define intelligence.
3
Q
Diff psychs definition of Intelligence
A
- Psych Alfred Binet= “the tendency to take & maintain a definite direction; the capacity to make adaptations for the purpose of attaining a desired end, & the power of auto-criticism”.
- J.P. Das, a Canadian educational psychologist had more simple def= “the ability to plan & structure one’s behaviour with an end in view”.
- One straightforward definition—and the one we will be using in this class—was given by Robert Sternberg.
4
Q
In broadening our definition of intelligence, psychologists make 2 assumptions:
A
1) intelligence involves the ability to perform cognitive tasks
2) the capacity to learn from experience & adapt
- Sternberg combined these to 2 viewpoints in his operational definition
5
Q
Sternberg Operational definition of intelligence
A
- Intelligence is the cognitive ability of an individual to learn from experience, reason well, remember important information, and cope with the demands of daily life
-Sternberg (1999) argued that there r 3 aspects of successful intelligence: analytic intelligence, creative intelligence, & practical intelligence. - not everyone agrees upon an operational definition for intelligence, which can have important implications
6
Q
Analytic Intelligence
A
- refers to the components of intelligence that r used when we analyze, evaluate, judge, or compare & contrast
- type of intelligence can also be described as academic problem solving & computation
- We might apply our analytic intelligence when we complete a math problem or writing a comparative essay.
7
Q
Creative Intelligence
A
- describes how well someone can cope with relative novelty & is associated with people who are good storytellers, innovators, & have a knack for art
- This intelligence requires u to use existing knowledge to find new solutions.
- While creative intelligence may seem like something you must be born with, research by Sternberg & Williams (1996) has demoed that it can be taught.
8
Q
Practical Intelligence
A
- aka “street smarts” or “common sense knowledge”
- involves individuals applying their abilities to the sorts of problems that face them in every-day life.
- This aspect of intelligence is captured in our definition of intelligence through being able to “cope with the demands of daily living”
9
Q
@ a general level, there r 2 ways to approach solving a problem: List Them
A
- Inductive Reasoning
- Deductive Reasoning
10
Q
Deductive Reasoning
A
- working from ideas & general info to arrive at specific conclusions
- Textbook: using a general theory to arrive @ a specific conclusion
- Ex, Michelle is a highly organized person, therefore I would expect that her dest is spotless & free of clutter
11
Q
Inductive reasoning
A
- moving from specific facts & observations to broader generalizations & theories
- Textbook: Using a specific fact to arrive @ a general theory or conclusion
- Sarah’s desk has scattered papers & coffee stains, therefore I think Sarah is disorganized
12
Q
Deductive & Inductive reasoning r @ the heart of the scientific method
A
- the arc of knowledge= A model which illustrates how deductive & inductive reasoning work together to guide the scientific method.
- base of arc= facts or observation of the world
- top of arc= theories about how these facts r related in a general way
- In science, we can start with general theory of the world & use DEDUCTIVE reasoning to generate a specific, testable hypothesis about the data we expect to get
- through experimentation, we collect data facts at bottom of arc & use INDUCTIVE reasoning to relate it to our general theory in some meaningful way
- scientists r always cycling through this process
13
Q
Arc of Knowledge: Fun Fact
A
- Sherlock Holes is praised as a “master of deduction” –> but he never used deductive reasoning
- he solves crimes by making many detailed observations about the scene, & then using these to construct his theory about how the crime was committed.
–> In other words, he is going from specific observations to general conclusion–> he only uses inductive reasoning
14
Q
Functional Fixedness
A
Our difficulty seeing alternative uses for common objects
15
Q
Kaplan & Simon said, “Good problem solvers are …
A
… good noticers”
- most psychologists would agree that problem solving ability is a trait worth mentioning in our operational definition
16
Q
A well-defined problem is
A
a problem in which the starting position, allowable rules, & end goal r clearly stated.
- Ex, the The Tower of Hanoi
17
Q
An ill-defined problem is
A
a problem in which the starting position, allowable rules, & end goal r not clearly stated.
–> Most problems encountered in daily life r ill-defined.
- Ex, How can we solve world hunger? Or save enough money for university?
- To solve them, the best strategy is to break the problem into smaller, more manageable subgoals, creating a series of well-defined problems that lead u closer to ur goal.
18
Q
2 important qualities of a test: List them
A
Reliability & Validity
- goal of any test is to be both reliable and valid
- a test can be reliable but not valid & vice versa
19
Q
Reliability is
A
the measure of the extent to which repeated testing produces consistent results
–> A reliable test produces the same results if 1 person takes it multiple times
–> EX, if a student take a quiz with random questions drawn from a word bank, & they get relatively consistent results
- especially important for intelligence tests cuz psychs assume it’s an static internal quality
20
Q
RELIABILITY: test-retest method
A
- A measure of reliability that examines the consistency of scores on the same test taken @ multiple diff points in time.
- the participant takes the same test multiple times, & researchers examine whether the results r the same each time
–> If scores r consistent, the test is said to have high reliability - not always the best way to test reliability.
- Sometimes, a test-taker’s score will increase not cuz the test is poor, but simply cuz they r getting better @ the test with practice
–> Luckily, test-retest reliability is not the only way to measure reliability.
21
Q
RELIABILITY: Interrater reliability
A
- The degree of agreement between multiples observers witnessing the same event. If there is a high degree of agreement, the measure is considered reliable.
–> Ex, an observational study that rates aggressive behaviour on a scale.–>u can increase ur reliability by having many experimenters observe the participant & rate the aggressive behaviour.
–> Later, u can compare ratings between experimenters. –> If the experimenters consistently rate behaviours in the same way, u have strong interrater reliability, & the test is said to have high reliability.
22
Q
Validity is
A
a measure of the extent to which a test is actually measuring what the researcher claims to be measuring
- A valid test measures the trait it’s designed to be measuring
- some tests may be measuring ur ability to memorize info, or ability to answer certain types of questions well through training, than acc course mastery
23
Q
VALIDITY: predictive validity
A
- The extent to which a score on a test can be used to predict future behaviour.
- Predictive validity tells u if the scores on a test actually predict later behaviour.
–> Ex, does an Intelligence test actually predict how well u perform in a situation that requires intelligence? If it does, the test is said to have high predictive validity.
24
Q
Example of test that’s reliable but not valid
A
- uncalibrated coffee scale is reliable cuz same amount of coffee gives u the same # but cuz it’s uncalibrated, the mass it gives isn’t the acc mass of just the coffee
25
Example of test that's valid but not reliable
- on an off-day when a normally nice teacher is mean, student's are given a teaching evaluation.
- even though the test is valid cuz it is a measurement of teaching, it's not reliable cuz had that test been administered again later on or previously several times, it wouldn't match up
26
Early Intelligence Testing: Francis Galton
- 1 of the 1st intelligence tests by Francis Galton (late 1800s)--> aka father of intelligence testing
- attempted to measure intelligence by measuring participants' reaction time
--> While this test had high reliability (since reaction time is relatively stable), it did not capture the construct of intelligence, & is thus considered to have low validity
- coined term “nature vs. nurture”, & argued that intelligence resulted from one’s genetics.
--> Galton went as far as to advocate for eugenics.--> believed that intelligent people ought to marry other intelligent people & have many children, while those who are less intelligent should not have children.
--> Thankfully, this view is no longer held by modern psychologists.
27
Early Intelligence Testing: Alfred Binet
- created an intelligence test that more closely resembles tests commonly used today.
- Binet’s test was meant to identify children with learning disabilities & assumed that intelligence develops with age but that one’s relative standing among peers remains stable.
- focused on judgement, reasoning, & attention.
- It included 30 short tasks related to everyday life.
--> children were asked to name parts of the body, compare lengths & weights, name objects in a picture, & define words.
- few years later, scientist from Stanford University, Lewis Terman, further adapted the test, & it was renamed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence test, which is still in use in some form today.
--> This test computes a child’s mental age, & then compares this age to their true age.
- The ratio (or quotient) between a child’s mental age & their true age made up the final score for this test. --> It is from this quotient that we get the name “Intelligence Quotient”, or “IQ”.
28
Most popular intelligence tests today
- r the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) & the Weschler Intelligence Scale for children (WISC)
- if u've ever taken an intelligence test, it's likely 1 of these
--> This test includes several subtests, including tests on short-term memory, verbal comprehension, processing speed (a measure of how long it takes someone to perform a mental task), & perceptual reasoning (ability to organize visual information).
--> When u take 1 of these tests, u e given a score for each subtest as well as ur overall IQ score. --> this way, scores r given for both specific types of intelligences & general intelligence.
- they are modelled on a scale developed by Alfred Bennet, which we now know an IQ or Intelligence Quotient
29
How does IQ scoring work?
- these scales are stardarized to produce an IQ for each individual
- IQ scoring is based on the results of large samples of individuals who have taken the test
--> tests r standardized so that someone who achieves a mean score based on that large sample of individuals will be assigned an IQ of 100
- IQ scores surrounding the mean r a perfect distribution with a stdev of 15 --> thus, ur specific IQ is relative to the performance of the rest of the population
30
Charles Spearman
- a firm believer in the idea of a single type of intelligence
- observed that most people who performed well on classical intelligence tasks performed well on all kinds of tasks --> Ex, vocabulary, math, special abilities, & so on.
- reasoned that this was cuz there is 1 generalized intelligence. He named this measure "g"
- Spearman was passionate about the concept of 'g', & it revolutionized the thinking of the time.
--> Later, Spearman advocated that only individuals with a minimum level of 'g' should be allowed to vote, & that only individuals with a base 'g' level should be allowed to reproduce.
--> Though influential, the concept of 'g' remains as controversial today as it did then.
31
g is
A measure of general intelligence that underlies specific types of intelligence.
- This measure was coined by Spearman.
32
Challenge to traditional IQ testing
- best known challenge to IQ testing comes from Howard Gardner in 1980s
- he proposed a multiple intelligence theory & intelligence test
- stated there r 8 diff types of intelligence & that each type of intelligence is independent from the others
- while it was appealing to the public, critics stated that there's a lack of convincing evidence for multiple intelligence & that the theory ignores findings that people who do well in 1 type of intelligence test r very likely to do well on others (Spearman's findings) --> we have to be careful of premature applications
--> just like the popularity of diff learning styles & how learning should be catered towards someone's preferred style --> no hard data backing this up
33
What were the 8 types of Intelligence that Gardner stated
- Verbal (linguistic)
- Mathematical (logical)
- Musical (rhythmic)
- Spatial (visual)
- Kinesthetic (bodily)
- Interpersonal
- Intrapersonal
- Naturalistic
34
Today, many modern psychologists believe that intelligence is hierarchical. Explain
- A hierarchical model of intelligence recognizes that there are specific types of intelligence, but also recognizes that these types of intelligences is related to a general, underlying intelligence (“g”).
TEXTBOOK IMAGE
- basically g on top and then points out to short-term memory, verbal comprehension, processing speed, & perceptual reasoning
35
Does a person's intelligence come from their genes or environment?
- question may be flawed & pose a false dichotomy
--> it's like asking does the area of a rectangle come more from its length or width --> a question u could ask is whether the diff between a Group of rectangles results from diff between length of width
- U can ask, do the individual diff in human IQ come from genetic or environmental diff
36
ANSWERING:do the individual diff in human IQ come from genetic or environmental diff
--> can use correlation studies
- 1 approach: compare identical twins (100% same genes) to fraternal twins (50% same genes)
--> using this method, researchers found that IQ measures between twins showed a positive correlation of +0.8, significantly greater than the +0.6 for fraternal twins
--> suggests a role of genes in intelligence development
--> +0.6 is still greater than that of fraternal twins raised in diff homes--> suggests environmental factors also play a role
- scientists can also evaluate environmental role by correlating the IQ of identical twins raised in diff homes, like in adoption cases
--> the mean correlation is still high, about +0.73
--> while this suggests a strong role of genetics in intelligence, like all correlational studies, there a limitations to what can be concluded --> it's impossible to account for all similarities & diffs in the 2 homes
- it's most accurate to say that both genes & environment play a role, & the relative influence is TBD
37
Twin studies is
A research method in which the similarities between monozygotic (identical) & dizygotic (fraternal) twins r compared to assess the degree of genetic influences on a particular trait.
38
Adoption studies is
A research method in which an adopted child is compared to their biological parents & adopted parents to assess genetic & the environmental influences on a particular trait
--> If a trait has a higher correlation between the child & their biological parents, then that trait may be more influenced by genetics.
--> Conversely, if a trait has a higher correlation between the child & their adopted parents, then the trait may be more influenced by the environment.
39
Adoption Studies results
- In a 2021 (I think) adoption study looking at IQ, the correlation of adoptees & their biological parents was +0.42, whereas the correlation between adoptees & their adopted parents was only +0.1
- this does not necessarily mean that genes r more important than environments when it comes to intelligence.
--> like all correlational studies, there r many limitations to adoption studies, & 1 cannot infer causality --> Ex, adoption agencies will try to match children to adoptive parents on a # of factors, & thus adoptive parents r oftentimes quite similar to biological parents
--> Thus, contribution of genes & the environment is TBD, & it's most accurate to say that both genes & the environment play a role in determining one’s intelligence.
40
The Flynn Effect
the observation that raw IQ scores have bee on the rise since 1932 (since it was 1st measured)
- made by James Flynn
- the mean IQ for the population is always 100 but the raw score that corresponds to an IQ of 100 has been increasing @ rate of 9-15 points every 30 years
--> Textbook: r increasing by roughly 3 points every 10 years
--> means that IQ tests need to constantly be updated, so that the average IQ score remains 100
41
What causes the Fynn Effect?
- Flynn argues that increasing school quality & duration plays a large role --> those who don't attend school score lower on IQ tests, so as more children spend more time in school, the average IQ score will increase. --> also children who attend school may be more familiar with test-taking and the testing environment, which may also be contributing to higher IQ scores.
- Another factor could be increased access to info & ideas through books, TV & internet
- others suggest increased nutrition & health, access to tech, multimedia, & even video games
- no one can say fs & it remains to be answered
--> However, 1 clue comes from the fact that the largest increase in IQ score comes from the lowest range in scores. --> the Flynn effect is more pronounced for low IQ scores than high IQ scores.
- This suggests that factors such as nutrition & access to health care r improving for the most disadvantaged groups, leading to improvements in average IQ scores. --> this suggests that environment plays a role in determining IQ score
42
Piaget
- eminent psychologist who developed 1 of the most influential theories of intellectual development
- his fundamental idea was that children r active learners --> by manipulating & exploring their environments, they incorporate new info into what they already know (schemas?)
- Piaget proposed that cognitive. development proceeds in 4 basic stages called the sensory, motor, preoperational, concrete operational & formal operational stages
--> each stage is characterized by specific abilities & limitations --> child must undergo some change in their schema before moving on to next stage
--> even though it can happen in diff rates, the stages must be in the same sequential order, & no stages can be skipped
43
Schema
A mental framework for interpreting the world around us
- schemas definitely how u interpret the world
--> Ex, if Greg frowns, u use ur schema to interpret that he must be unhappy & u can act accordingly
44
Assimilation
Incorporating new info into existing schemas
- the challenge is for a child to incorporate new info into schema through assimilation --> they must manipulate incoming info so that it makes sense with existing schema
45
Accommodation
Modifying existing schemas to fit incompatible info
- when new info is incompatible with existing schema, the child must more drastically alter their schema for new info to make sense
46
Sensorimotor stage
- ages about 0-2
- child begins to recognize that he can affect change to his environment
- begins to purposely engage with the world & act with intention --> he can move about, pill a string to move immobile, rattle a toy for a sound, & cry to get parental attention
- major milestone that comes at the end of this stage is object permanence --> after mastering it, child is officially past sensorimotor stage & can enter preoperational stage
47
Object permanence
Realization that objects continue to exist when no longer visible
- even when he can't see them anymore, his parents still exist when they leave a room
48
Preoperational Stage
- ages about 2-7
- challenges to master are egocentrism, seriation, reversible relationships, & conservation
- mastery of these tasks can be achieved in any order throughout the preoperational stage but once the child has overcome all 4, they r considered to be in the concrete operational stage
49
egocentrism
- proportional child is egocentric, meaning that he has difficulty understanding the world from a perspective other than his own
- if I want to play now, surely my mother wants to play now too.
- seen in Piaget's 3 mountain task --> the child sees a display of 3 mountains & is to choose from a series of pics what the display looks like from the perspective of someone across the table --> they are unable to see they display from the POV of anyone else
50
Seriation is
the ability to logically order a series of objects
--> ex, if a preoperational child was asked to place these 5 sticks in oder from shortest to longest, they won't know how to --> they would organize them randomly
51
Reversible Relationships
- preoperational children have difficulty with reversible relationships--> Ex, u ask Rachel if she has a brother, she would say yes I do Mathew, but if u ask her if her if Mathew has a sister, she may say no
52
Conservation
- preoperational child has trouble with conservation tasks
- Piaget examined many conservation task but as ex, look at fluid conservation
--> In a fluid conservation task, the child would see 2 identical glasses and understand that they have the same amount of fluid, but if u pour the milk from 1 glass into a narrower one & ask which has more fluid, they will choose the taller one, even if they saw u pour the fluid and thus the volume has been conserved
53
Concrete Operational Stage
- ages about 7-12
- called concrete cuz the child's schemas r still concrete & based on their experiences with the world
- the child struggles to think in abstract terms or reason based on hypotheses
- this is why more abstract subjects r taught after the age of 12
54
Formal Operational Stage
- children have mastered the ability to think in abstract terms, work with hypotheses, & do everything else that makes up the range of adult cognitive thinking
--> this is the stage where many children begin to develop an interest in games, books, & shows involving fantasy & role playing
- @ this stage they can truly understand the theoretical world in which these games take place
55
Piaget's theories r not without their flaws
- Development of skills out of order (Decalage) --> Piaget noted this himself
- some researchers have argued that the very tasks Piaget used to formulate his hypothesis rely heavily on the Child's language skills --> Ex, asking the child which container has more liquid in the fluid conservation task may be mistaken for which container is taller --> may be particularly confusing from a language perspective rather than an intelligence development perspective
- despite these flaws, his theory remains highly influential today
56
Conformation Bias
- our tendency to seek out information that supports our hypothesis
--> Ex, the A4J7 cards thing --> ur acc supposed to pick A & 7 to acc test ur hypothesis--> the best way to show that u r right is look for evidence that u r wrong
57
A heuristic is
a mental shortcut
- used to solve a problem quickly & usually correctly
- useful cuz they reduce effort & simplify decision making --> it would be a dry on ur cognitive resources if u had to intensely focus on every decision across ur day
- can lead to errors
--> While the errors that arise from our heuristics highlight the mechanisms behind them, it’s important to rmr that if heuristics didn’t usually lead to accurate judgements, we wouldn’t ever use them!
58
Availability Heuristic
Our tendency to make decisions based on the info that is most quickly available to us
- used when we make judgements about the frequency with which an event occurs
--> based on info we recently heard or saw --> my note
59
Representative Heuristic
Our tendency to assume that what we r seeing is a representative of the larger category we have in mind
- tendency to measure the likelihood of a current example by comparing it to an existing PROTOTYPE in our mind of what we consider to be the most relevant, TYPICAL ex of a particular category
--> Ex, ur flipping a coin, & cuz the last 7 flips were heads u think this one has to be tails --> however this isn't the case cuz each coin flip is independent of the others
60
Representative Heuristic: Kahneman & Tvesky classic study
- 1973
- Participants read description of a person named Tom --> They had to judge Tom’s likely university major.
- Result: Over 95% said Tom was a computer science major rather than a humanities or education major.
- Context: Participants knew there were far more humanities & education students than computer science students at this institution
- Reasoning: Participants based their judgement on how much Tom’s description matched their mental image (prototype) of a computer science student.
- Concept: This demonstrates the representativeness heuristic — judging likelihood based on similarity to a stereotype rather than actual statistical probability (base rates).
61
Availability Heuristic VS Representativeness Heuristic
AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC
- useful if u want to judge the FREQUENCY that an even occurs
- which we can estimatee by relying on the relative frequency of examples that come to mind --> aka how easily examples come to mind
- errors can occur since many factors impact how readily examples come to mind like how recently a particular example was experience
REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTIC
- useful when we r making judgements about probability --> the probability that an event belongs to a larger category
- we rely on the resemblance between the event & the other events in the category
- errors can occur cuz not all category members r the same
62
SLIDES: bounded rationality
Cognitive limitations prevent humans from being fully rational
- like biases= mistakes that influence judgement
63
SLIDES: anchoring
The bias to be affected by an
initial anchor, even if the anchor is arbitrary.
- Anchoring sets a ceiling for the
highest price u will pay.
64
SLIDES: are the functional fixedness problem, the pick a door problem or Louisiana Literacy test (1964) reliable and/or valid?
FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS TEST
-reliable: maybe, requires more testing
--> there is some research that says that if u do well in one functional fixedness scenario, u r likely to do well in another
- valid: not for overall intelligence but yes for functional fixedness
PICK A DOOR
- reliable: not enough data --> we would need to see if Claire continues to switch doors
- valid: not for overall intelligence, maybe for being able to work out the math
LOUISIANA LITERACY TEST (1964)
- reliable: yes, everyone fails--> if u failed once, u will fail again
- valid: hell na
65
SLIDES: opt-in & out organ donation
- 1 organ donor can save 8 lives
--> if it's an opt-in policy, 4%-44% will be organ donors
--> if it's an opt-out policy, 85%-99% will be organ donors
Psych 1X03
flashcards
Decks in class (13)
# Cards
-
Research methods 1107
-
Textbook: Intro: foundations of psych11
-
Classical Conditioning82
-
Instumental conditioning69
-
Problem Solving & Intelligence65
-
Language82
-
Categories & Concepts57
-
Science of learning22
-
chapter 7 textbook: Attention0
-
Attention!73
-
Influence of others oney158
-
Forming Impressions (HEHE)69
-
Memoryyyyyyyyyyyyy106
