Chapter 10: Intelligence notes PDF

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Fall 2017 Intro Psych with Dr. Rollins
Textbook: Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2015). Psychology, 11th edition. Worth Publishers. ISBN: 1-4641-4081-2...

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Chapter 10: Intelligence 

What is intelligence? o In our culture an IQ test measures intelligence  An IQ test tests the ability to do well in school o Definitions vary (two examples)  Possession of knowledge and ability to use it adaptively in different environments  Ability to master info and skills needed to succeed in particular culture  Highlights the fact that different skills and knowledge sets are needed to succeed in different environments  Cultures tend to define intelligence differently because of the different skill and knowledge sets needed  Collectivist and individualist cultures o African and Asian cultures say social skills are part of intelligence more than western cultures o Because their cultures focus more on group harmony – collectivist  The group is more important than the individual  More likely to marry someone selected by your family, select a career path that would bring honor to family o Western culture tends to be more individualist  More of a focus on individual fulfillment  The Kpelle people of Liberia o Because cultures differ so much in how they define intelligence, it is often inappropriate to apply one culture’s intelligence test to another culture o A psychologist was living among the Kpelle and tried to apply a western test to them  They gave the answer that was “correct” (by western standards) when asked to sort the items the way a stupid person would  Problem-solving skills, ability to adapt to new situations and learn from everyday experiences  Skills seen as intelligent cross-culturally (common, but not universal) o Further debate: One general ability or several specific abilities?  General Intelligence (g) – intelligence is one general ability  One general mental ability underlies all specific mental abilities

Multiple Intelligences – there are many dimensions of intelligence that are relatively unrelated to each other  Different types are independent of each other  There are different intelligences that rely on different mental capabilities  Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences – linguistic, logicalmathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist o Believes in many types  Sternberg’s Triarchical View o Believes there are three types o Analytical – measured by IQ tests  School smarts o Creative – ability to use knowledge in novel ways  The ability to come up with novel and useful ideas o Practical – ability to solve real-world problems  Street-smarts Testing Intelligence o History of Intelligence Tests  Began in 1904 when France contacted Alfred Binet to develop a test that would identify kids who would need extra help in school  Binet-Simon Scale  Reasoning, thinking, problem-solving skills  Provided an estimate of a child’s mental age  Mental age – level of performance associated with a particular chronological age  Binet’s concerns o When Binet and Simon first developed their test they gave it to children of various ages and averaged them to get an estimate of an age group’s mental capacity o He had concerns from the outset  People would assume that a kid’s results on an intelligence test reflected their innate intellectual ability  Then this would be used to label kids and limit their opportunities  This happened ^^  Stanford-Binet  Developed by Louis Terman  Adapted the Binet-Simon scale for the US o Translated, adapted, and added 

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adult intelligence o Added a way to measure adult intelligence Intelligence quotient (IQ) o MA/CA X 100 o Used this to provide a score o Where the term IQ comes from o 100% was considered normal Misuse o Used in war recruiting on soldiers o Used to test immigrants  Scored lower because they were unfamiliar with English o People were sterilized based on IQ scores

o IQ tests today  Stanford-Binet  Still widely used, but not the most common  No longer use the MA/CA x 100 formula  Wechsler scales (WAIS, WISC, WPPSI)  most widely used  different ones for different age groups  WAIS – Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale  WISC- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, ages 6-16  WPPSI – Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, below age 6  Overall score plus sub-scores (verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, processing speed, etc.)  They both provide an overall IQ score + scores in more specific domains  Verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, processing speed, ect. o Principles of Test Construction  Calculating IQ  Representative samples o Your performance on the test is compared with others in your age group to formulate a score o Test administrators have to know how other people in your age group perform  When an IQ test is updated it is given to wide representative samples of people of different age groups  Norms – descriptions of frequency of scores

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o The scores from these samples provide norms for the test o Norms: descriptions of the frequency of scores/how many people in the sample get each possible score on the test  Normal distribution o Bell-shaped curve o How many people in the sample get each possible score  Average IQ = 100 o Whatever the average is for a particular age group is assigned a score of 100  score reflects relative standing compared to others of the same age  Extremes of IQ o giftedness  Above 130 (top 2%) are considered gifted o Mental retardation/intellectual disability  Bottom 2%, IQ of 70 or below, may be considered intellectually disabled  IQ and adaptive functioning  To be intellectually disabled, must have IQ 70 or below AND have deficits in adaptive functioning (being unable to live on your own)  Not the same as learning disability  Learning disability: Process information differently than other people  May have a problem with certain types of cognitive tests o Performance on most other tests is normal/above normal  But overall IQ score is normal or above  Better called a learning difference  Intellectual disability – poor performance on most types of cognitive tests and low overall IQ Reliability - stability of scores over time  Measurement should not show wild fluctuations  IQ tests become more reliable with age o Very stable after the age of 7

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o Not very stable before the age of 4 o Take when 10 and 50 and get very similar scores o But not if 3 and 20  Validity – authenticity  Does test measure what it claims to measure?  Do IQ test really measure intelligence?  People can’t agree on the definition of intelligence Genetic and environmental influences o Genetic Influences  People are more genetically similar have more similar IQ scores  Correlation higher in closer relatives  Identical vs fraternal twins o Identical have more correlated scores  They have the same DNA o Environmental Influences  Identical twins raised together vs apart  Together: more similar IQ scores  Fraternal twins vs non-twin siblings  Twins have more similar IQs  Because they are the same age at the same time they have more similar experiences than regular siblings  adoption  Two unrelated children growing up in the same home have more similar IQs than siblings raised apart  Kids taken out of impoverished homes and raised in a better environment show higher IQs  Interaction of heredity and environment  IQ is a house  Genes are the materials to build the house  The environment assembles those materials into a house  Most people are born with the materials for a really nice house  But some people end up with a shack because they couldn’t use all the materials o This is what happens to kids who grow up in poverty Group Differences o Though genetics play a role in IQ differences among individuals, this does not necessarily mean that genetics explains the differences among groups in average IQ scores  Similar environments – differences due more to genetics  Dissimilar environments – differences due more to environment o Groups much more similar than different

When comparing groups on IQ tests there are many more similarities than difference  But the differences get much more attention  Differences often assumed to be due solely to genetics o Ethnicity and IQ  Small differences in group averages  Can’t predict IQ/intelligence based on ethnicity  Can’t assume differences innate  People with similar skin color are not necessarily more genetically similar than people with different skin color  No relationship between degree of European genes and IQ  Socioeconomic factors  Cross-cultural comparisons o High income communities vs low income communities of the same ethnic make-up  These IQ gaps exist regardless of anyone’s ethnicity o Privileged vs disadvantaged groups around the world o Wealth gap and IQ gap  More of a gap in average IQ score when there is a bigger wealth gap  Poverty o Factors associated with poverty  Lower nutrition  Pre-natal  Stress  Worse heath care  Pre-natal  Less time for parenting  Poverty is one of the biggest threats to healthy brain development  Affects development of the prefrontal cortex  Affects ability to do well in school  IQ gap decreasing o Gender comparisons  Average scores  Small differences in specific areas  Females o Many verbal tasks, some nonverbal tasks (i.e., math calculations, spatial positions of objects) 

o Average for females slightly higher than average for males on many but not all verbal tasks  Males o Many nonverbal tasks, some verbal tasks (i.e., verbal analogies) o Higher average on many nonverbal tasks  Environmental factors  Parents and society o If people are handed a baby and told it’s female they’re more likely to talk to it; more likely to play with it if told it’s male o Parents seem to be more encouraging of their sons in math and science o Girls more encouraged in topics like English  Activities and toys o Boys more encouraged to excel in athletics which require visual-spatial skills o And toys with construction and moving parts o Video games mostly marketed to males  Differences decreasing o Less pronounced in more gender-equal populations and highly educated populations o The role of stereotypes  Stereotypes can influence our performance, attitudes, and selfconfidence  Stereotype threat  Anxiety that your performance on a task will confirm a stereotype about a group to which you belong  Anxiety about confirming stereotype leads to poorer performance o Added pressure can lead to poorer performance  Self-fulfilling prophecy  When people are asked to mark their race on a test, those in negatively stereotyped ethnicities perform worse than when they didn’t have to mark their ethnicity  Same thing with gender  Women do worse on a test if: o Participants are wearing swimsuits o Had to watch a sexist commercial before o These things remind them of their gender o Overall…  Cannot predict individual’s performance based on group membership

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 Ex. Ethnicity or gender More similarities than differences  So can’t make group predictions What it takes to be successful  IQ can predict academic and career success to some extent but cannot predict special distinction  The people at the top are not necessarily the people with the highest IQ scores  Doesn’t take into consideration: social/emotional intelligence, creativity, work ethic, being well-connected, born into it, opportunities in your environment, selfdiscipline  Self-discipline is a better predictor of success than IQ score  People who are successful tend to be well-connected, energetic IQ not a measure of personal worth  Takes a lot more than an IQ to be successful...