What is intelligence?
A multifaceted capacity that includes the abilities to:
a. acquire and apply knowledge
b. reason logically, plan effectively, and infer perceptively
c grasp and visualize concepts
d. find the right words and thoughts with facility
e. cope with and adjust to novel situations
Can the definition for intelligence given be set in stone?
No, because intelligence is not limited to the list above and should be considered as a reminder of one’s personal definition for intelligence
Definition of intelligence?
- Done by Sternberg
- look at intelligence in two parts:
a. motivation (experts lean towards this)
b. interpersonal motivation (lay persons lean towards this)
Lay person’s: Seigler and Richards (1980)
- asked develop. psych students to list behaviors of intelligence as associated with the developmental stages (infancy, adolescence, adulthood)
- hard to measure intelligence in infancy
Lay person’s: Yussen and Kane (1980)
- intelligence begins to appear as early as first grade
- Younger children: emphasize interpersonal skills
- Older children: emphasize academic skills
Experts: Galton (1883)
- believed that intelligence could be seen through sensory abilities
- first person to publish that intelligence is heritable
- used sensory and perception-related tests as a form of measure for his definition on intelligence
Experts: Alfred Binet
- Viewed that intelligence comprised of various components including: reasoning, judgment, memory, and abstraction.
- Criticized Galton’s work and felt that intelligence was more complex ways of measuring it.
- Intelligence was one unit and required many complex measurements to determine it.
Experts: Weschler (1958)
- we have skills that are qualitatively different, don’t overlap, verbal- or performance-based in nature
- The Weschler Bellevue (W-B) Scale provided the calculation of a Verbal IQ and a Performance IQ (FIRST DRAFT)
Experts: Piaget
- Piaget thought intelligence was based on where they are in Piagetian Stages of Development
- none of his theories corporated into what we use for intelligence
(Psych majors should know what schemas, assimilation, and accommodation are. Ask Macalister if you don’t know lol)
Factor-analytic theories of intelligence
Focus on identifying what abilities comprise of intelligence
Factor analysis
a statistical technique used to find the relationship between sets of variables
Factor Analysis: Spearman
- made up the terms general intellectual ability (g) and specific factors of intelligence (s)
- Blended “s’s” to get “g”
- modified Weschler’s ideas with what we know now about Spearman’s “g”
Between s or g, which one had the best prediction prediction of overall intelligence?
- G
- G is also best measured through abstract-reasoning problems
What are group factors?
the middle class factor, common to all groups, but not all
Multiple-factor models: Gardner (still under factor analysis)
- developed a theory of seven intelligences (or skills)
- depending on where your intelligence is depends on what career you fall in
- no relation to intelligence tests
- can be related to overall intelligence, but not necessarily
Horn and Cattell developed which two major types of cognitive abilities?
- Crystallized intelligence: we acquire information from the world around us (ex. who is the president of the United States during the civil war)
- Fluid intelligence: nonverbal, relatively culture-free, and independent of specific instruction
-tend to keep crystallized intelligence as we age versus fluid
Information-processing theories
depends on how much active energy needs to be focused on
PROBLEM: we think we can multi-task, but we can’t
two types: simultaneous and successive
Simultaneous (parallel) processing:
process everything all at once
Successive (sequential) processing
process information individually and in a sequential order
Sternberg’s triarchic theory
Three elements
- metacomponents: planning actions, self-eval, self-monitor
- Performance components: how do we use meta-components to move, act
- Knowledge-acquisition components: involved in “learning how to do something in the first place”
Sternberg’s successful intelligence
one effectively adapts, shares, shapes, and selects environments in a way that conforms to both personal and societal standards of success
- intelligence is defined by society
- our definition of intelligence is limited
Why is the negative issue(s) associated with Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
It would not be used because it is difficult to measure intelligence
