Psych - intelligence

Question 1

Francis Galton

Answer 1

1. First person to look at intelligence scientifically
2. Influenced by ideas of evolution
3. Book called, “hereditary genius” which claims that people do differ in intellect and intelligence is inherited

Question 2

Alfred Binet

Answer 2

1. Focused on special education
2. Came up with the idea of mental age
   (mental age=chronological age), mental age>chronological age (advanced), mental age <chronological age (special ed)

Question 3

Stanford-Binet Test (Terman)

Answer 3

(mental age/chronological age)*100

Example: if you have a mental age of 6, real chronological age is 4, then you have a 150

Test became the standard, many later IQ tests were “validated” by comparing it to the Standard-Binet Test

Question 4

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS, WISC)

Answer 4

1. Single set of subsets suitable for all ages.
2. “Deviation IQ”

Question 5

What is the Deviation IQ?

Answer 5

Score is determined by the number of items correct relative to the “expected” (average) number for people of the same age.

IQ=(actual score/expected score)*100

Example: if expected score is 50, and you get a 40, IQ=80

Question 6

Properties of IQ’s

Answer 6

Not an absolute score. No absolute zero (like for height or weight) - not a ratio scale. Reflects relative performance

Question 7

What is the ordinal scale (property of IQ)?

Answer 7

Ranking people from lowest to highest.

Question 8

Standardization

Answer 8

The process of making the test uniform, or setting it to a specific standard.

Question 9

Reliability

Answer 9

The extend to which a test yields consistent results over time or using alternate forms

Example: IQ on tuesday=100 and on thursday=150, not a good test

Question 10

Validity

Answer 10

Extent to which a test measure what it’s supposed to measure

Question 11

Predictive validity

Answer 11

Future outcomes of the IQ test

Question 12

Do IQ scores predict success in school?

Answer 12

For the most part yes, higher IQ and they did better in school

Question 13

Do IQ scores predict job performance?

Answer 13

Correlations are lower than for academic measures

Question 14

Spearmen’s single factor model (G=general intelligence)

Answer 14

1. Give lots of people a variety of intelligence tests–> find positive correlations
2. People who do well on one test, tend to do well on most or all of the tests
3. People who do poorly on one test, tend to do poorly on most or all tests

Question 15

So if “g” (general intelligence) exists, what is it?

Answer 15

Researchers have looked for all sorts of physiological correlates of “g”
1. Reaction Time
2. Inspection time
3. Brain size
4. Brain activity
5. Brain waves, EEG patterns, etc.
However this brought modest correlations with “g”

Question 16

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory

Answer 16

Linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal

Question 17

Williams Syndrome

Answer 17

1. Number of physical and intellectual effects
2. Lead to mental retardation
3. Good at language, music, social skills
4. Poor at number and spatial skills

Question 18

Autistic Savants

Answer 18

1. People who have low intellectual ability but excel in one or few domains
2. Many mono-savants have autism (most people with autism are not savants)
3. But, about 10% of people with autism have some exceptional skill

Question 19

What can autistic savants have impressive skills in?

Answer 19

Music, visual arts, memory, math calculation, calendar calculating, model building

Question 20

What are autistic savants bad at?

Answer 20

Language/communication, standard IQ scores, social skills, lack theory of mind, practical activities, unusual obsessions

Question 21

Modern Data of IQ

Answer 21

1. Galton’s basic ideas still stand
2. People look at iQ scores in different people

Question 22

Nature’s influence on IQ

Answer 22

The greater the genetic similarity between two individuals, the more similar are their IQ scores. This suggests a genetic component to intelligence

Question 23

Nurture’s Influence on IQ scores

Answer 23

All other things being equal, two individuals raised together will have more similar IQ scores than those raised apart. This is evidence that the environment shapes intelligence in important ways

Question 24

What can we say about nature/nurture of intelligence?

Answer 24

There is evidence for both genetic and environmental influences. Heritability of intelligence (as measured by IQ tests) is fairly high, most experts believe its about 60-75%