intelligence
reification
psychologists belive that intelligence is a concpet and not a real thing
intelligence - one vs. many controversy
the big debate about intelligence is whether intelligence is one thing or many things
spearman’s general intelligence theory
summary: intelligence is 1 thing. known as general intelligence or the 6 factor. used factor analysis: taking many scores and averaging into 1 score
strengths: many abilities do tend to overlap
weakness: humans abilities are too diverse to give 1 score
thurstone’s primary mental abilities theory
summary: thought intelligence was many things (7) but those things were still all “book smart” abilities
strengths: gives much more information about a person’s abilities than a single score
weakness: those 7 scores all tend to be around the same value from person to person, suggesting that there may be 1 single intelligence score
gardner’s multiple intelligences
summary: intelligence is many things (8-9). stretches intelligence the furthest into things like music and sports, also including, standard “book-smart” intelligence
strengths: includes the largest number of abilities so it is the most inclusive theory
weakness: many argue that things like music or sports abilities are talents, not intelligence (taking intelligence too far)
sternberg’s triarchic theory
summary: intelligence is 3 things:
1. analytical: (“book smarts”)
2. creative: generating new ideas, adapting to new scenarios
3. practical: (“street smarts”)
strengths: seen by many to be the best of both worlds, not too many, not too few intelligence
weakness: newest theory (2003), so much more research is needed to prove it’s validity
emotional intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
things needed to be creative
intelligence & the brain
alfred binet
lewis terman
in the us, took the ideas on binet and created the stanford-binet intelligence test possibly ever created
stanford-binet intelligence test
created by lewis terman
david wechsler
mental age
what you perform on the test
chronological age
your actual age
how to measure iq
aptitude test
achievement test
standardization
involves administering the test to representative sample of future test takers in order to establish a basis for meaningful comparison
step 1: give your test to a group that is similar to the group you are interested in
step 2: establish the normal distribution (bell curve)
step 3: give the test to your actual group
step 4: base your scores off of the normal distribution
one criteria of the 3 criteria for an acceptable test
normal distribution / bell curve
reliability
your test is consistent (gives the test taker a similar or same score each time they take it)
split half reliability: dividing the test into 2 equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are (maybe odds and evens)
different forms: use 2 forms of the test and assess how consistent the scores are
test-retest: use the same test twice to measure consistency
one criteria of the 3 criteria for an acceptable test
split-half reliability
dividing the test into 2 equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are (maybe odds and evens)
validity
the test measures what it is supposed to measure
construct validity,
predictive validity