Intelligence - PSYCH1010 PDF

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WEEK 6 – INTELLIGENCE Intelligence refers to the application of cognitive skills and knowledge to learn, solve problems and obtain ends that are valued by an individual or culture. • is multifaceted and functional, and directed at problems of adaptation. Part 1 - The Mismeasure of Man • The History of investigating Intelligence; – With a hope that we  Learn from the mistakes of the past  Recognise that we are likely still making them Part 1a – Getting a head • Gall: Phrenology – Early 1800’s – Systematic study of anatomy including the skull – Shape of the skull determined by dominant brain regions related to abilities Historical • Vaught: Applied Phrenology – Early 1900’s – Systematic study of face and head type – Manual for identifying your friends “TYPE”  Both Personality and Intelligence The SCIENCE of Intelligence in 1800’s • Political Agenda • Social Agenda • Racial Agenda Assumption 1: Skull shape/size = brain size = Intelligence Comparing races: 1868 Nott and Gliddon, scale of human races and lower relatives. - Comparing African human to newly discovered Chimpanzee. 

Assumption 2: Brain size = Intelligence

Samuel Morton measured 100’s of skulls including 600 American 1 st Nations peoples skulls.

Re-analysis show = FAKE (measurement BIAS)

Australia 1916 • Based on such BIASED studies, the scientific community held strong beliefs about Intelligence of races. • National Geographic (Dec 1916) – “The aborigines of Australia are the lowest in intelligence of all human beings.” – “There is general agreement that the "black fellow" is on the lowest rung and perhaps at the very bottom of the ladder of civilization." – “Cranial capacity is 75” Assumption 3: Brain PART size = intelligence • BUT by 1900, analysis of actual Brain size showed no consistent results… so

Front Most white brains

Most black brains Back

BEAN (1909) focused on 1 specific brain part The Corpus Callosum (CC) – Not the whole CC • 2 sub-parts – Genu (FRONT) – Splenium (BACK) – Bean’s data shows • FRONT > BACK = More FRONTAL brain connections (HIGHER Intelligence) • FRONT < BACK = Less FRONTAL brain connections (LOWER Intelligence)

Mall (Bean’s supervisor) Re-measured all of the same brains BUT… Used BLIND measurements • Re-analysis shows = FAKE (There was no difference between black and white people brain, female or male) •

Part 1b - Intelligence testing Psychometric instruments – tests that quantify psychological attributes such as personality traits or intellectual abilities – to see how people differ from and compare with each other on psychological ‘scales’. • Psychometric approach (Intelligence tests): devise tests to measure a person’s cognitive level relative to others in a population. – First popularised by Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) His purpose • To use primitive Intelligence tests to show British Aristocracy most advanced. – Thought Intelligence was inherited – Thought school wasted on lower class – His Results did not show anything Binet (1857-1911) • 1904

French government wanted to establish schools for intellectually disabled children – How to measure this to identify those in need? Intelligence testing • Binet and Simon devised a test to measure intellectual development in children. • Devised mental age concept: MA = average age at which children achieve an actual score. – Like “milestones” for physical development –

Binet’s scale • Believed that a true measure of intelligence is an individual’s performance on complex tasks of memory, judgement and comprehension. Less interested in comparing intellectual functioning in adults than in measuring intellectual potential in children. • 58 ‘items’ (questions/problems) ordered from easiest to hardest (e.g. follows moving objects with eyes, name objects in pictures, repeat a sentence of 15 words..) • Test ‘standardised’ on 300 normal children aged 3 to 13 years. • From this found the average score by age • Mental age = number correct compared to the sample children. E.g – If 23 correct then mental age=6 – If 45 correct then mental age = 10 Intelligence quotient = IQ • To allow for comparison of test scores among persons, Terman (at Stanford University) devised the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ): IQ = (MA/CA) x 100 • MA = mental age • CA = chronological age • Now called Stanford-Binet IQ test Terman’s ideas closer to Galton • If we would preserve our state for a class of people worthy to possess it, we must, as far as possible, prevent the propagation of mental degenerates • He is saying that scientists should identify the ‘useless &stupid’ and find some way of preventing them having children.  Methods of determining Intelligence become more “test” based  Instrument refined  IQ is mathematical… can’t argue with numbers! Part 1c - What is Normal? • To get a sense of what a “normal” intelligence is you must compare 1 person to a VERY LARGE group • Binet’s tests administered one on one – Very time consuming • Yerkes and Terman convince US army to test Millions!!!! US Army test (around WW1) • Three types of tests • The Army Alpha - a written test taken by literate recruits

– Eight parts - fill in the missing number - unscramble a sentence, etc •

The Army Beta - a pictorial test – For the illiterate or those who failed the Alpha – This test had 7 parts • Including 'picture completion tasks

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The third test was a spoken test – Supposed to be administered to those who failed the Alpha and the Beta – These tests said to measure NATIVE INTELLECTUAL ABILITY – In other words intelligence which was unaffected by culture or educational opportunities – BUT was HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE

3 “Facts” from Terman’s IQ testing 1) “OH NO” Terman says… “The average IQ of the American Male was 13”. These men were 18-25 year olds. • Also writes (summary below) – Eugenicists predicted doom and lamented our declining intelligence, caused by the unconstrained breeding of the poor and feeble-minded, the spread of Negro blood through interracial breeding, and the swamping of an intelligent native stock by the immigrating dregs of southern and eastern Europe. 2) IQ based on country of origin – Highest = Northern Europe (England, France, Germany, Scandinavia) – 2nd = Slavic nations and Southern Europe (Italy, Greece) – Lowest = Blacks 3) IQ lowest for Blacks – But interestingly…Also related to how dark their skin was – Almost all Blacks given the ORAL test • Remember week 1 lecture – Maze dumb VS Maze smart rats – Teachers expectancy study – Their data most strongly related to the opinions of white officers overseeing the testing…  Their Results used to justify Racist Policies What about the Jews? • Carl Brigham (Yerkes colleague) – Father of The SAT • Explained the differences in terms of racial superiority • Jews IQ same as eastern Europeans • “We notice the Einsteins of the world BECAUSE they are exceptional for their Jewish race” • His views led the US government to restrict immigration from certain parts of Europe based on the IQ data of Terman’s testing – Immigration act 1924 limited JEWS – After WW2 rules weakened but still discriminatory against Jews (until 1960’s) 1920-1945

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Intelligence is assumed to be 100% hereditary with racial and class distinctions (even following Medelian rules of inheritance) IQ tests commercialized in 1921. Educational Institutions using them. Eugenics Movement: IQ + Darwinism + Racism + Elitism 1930’s becomes central position of Nazi philosophy  IQ becomes part of western culture  IQ testing used for SOCIAL and POLITICAL purposes

Part 1d – Eugenics Movement advocated: those with the richest genetic inheritance should mate and reproduce while those "born to be a burden to others" should be discouraged or prevented from having children. In Europe • 60,000 people subjected to sterilisation in Sweden between 1935 and 1976. Most were women, and the majority were labelled as mentally defective. • The period between 1930 and 1936 marked the high point of the sterilisation campaign in Britain. But never made into law. Germany: Phase 1 • Between 1934-37 the ‘health courts’ ruled on almost 225,000 patients, ordering compulsory sterilisation for around 90%. Between 1934 and 1945 300,000 people were sterilised. • Germans with genetic disorders or disabilities were only given permission to marry if they volunteered for sterilisation. Germany: Phase 2 • From the 1920’s they wanted to use Euthanasia but feared public backlash. Hitler (1936) said.. “Wait until wartime”. • Sept 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland and also signs document allowing Euthanasia. “Action T4” launched to clear hospitals of mentally disabled. • Between 1939-1941, 100,000 were killed. In Australia • Aimed at Australian Aboriginal population – Especially the half caste children of white men and Aboriginal women (removed from Indigenous communities) – Continued into the 1970’s (long after Eugenics declined in most other countries) – Eugenics Society of Victoria operated until 1961. • Mental Deficiency Bill (1939) – “The bill aimed to institutionalise and potentially sterilise a significant proportion of the population - those seen as inefficient. Included in the group were slum dwellers, homosexuals, prostitutes, alcoholics, as well as those with small heads and with low IQs. The Aboriginal population was also seen to fall within this group.”  Social and Political movements become more sinister  Leads to Atrocities and Genocide (not just in Germany)

 USA 1936-1942: American Industrialist (e.g. Bush Family) invests in concentration camps in Germany (e.g. Auschwitz). Seen as good investment with no labour costs.  1939-1945: 12 million Europeans became slaves. Not just in concentration camps but across Germany in all industry.  Ford and GM supplied cars, trucks and planes to Germany during the war.  USA 1934: Bush and other bankers and industrialists plot to overthrow US government and replace with Hitler style leadership. Part 1e – Inherited IQ • Cyril Burt studied the heritability of intelligence (as measured in IQ tests) using twin studies – Monozygotic twins = identical = same genes – Dizygotic twins = fraternal = similar genes – Claimed to have studied 53 pairs of identical twins who had been separated at birth. Outcome; • British School system changed to “Streaming” • "Academic", "technical" or "practical" • Screening based on IQ test outcomes BUT: – Burt claimed his 40 years of research proved a child's intelligence was mainly inherited from its parents and that social circumstances played only a minor role. – His research formed the basis of British education policy for half a century-from the 1920s until the 1970s. – A year after his death in 1971, evidence began to emerge that Burt was a fraudster who had simply invented results to fit his theories about the hereditability of intelligence.    

IQ IQ IQ IQ

tests tests tests tests

were badly constructed were badly administered were badly used for social policy likely didn’t even measure intelligence…

Wechsler intelligence scales • Attempted to remove the biases associated with earlier intelligence tests (i.e. bias toward native English speakers). • IQ is measured on a number of subtests which distinguish between: – Verbal intelligence – Nonverbal intelligence. • Wechsler scales allow psychologists to identify areas of strength and weakness within individuals.

Frequency distribution of IQ scores Extremes of intelligence - intellectual impairment • Significantly below average general intellectual functioning. • IQ less than 70. – Deficits appear in more than one domain. – Can be genetic in origin: Down syndrome. – Can be biological in origin: phenylketonuria. – Can be environmental in origin: • Exposure to teratogens (e.g. foetal alcohol syndrome). • Educational opportunities – Severe Neglect Giftedness and creativity • Can reflect academic, musical, social or athletic ability. • Often associated with an IQ of over 130 (in Western countries). • Creativity: the ability to produce valued outcomes in a novel way; moderately correlated with IQ. • Creativity may be measured through divergent thinking: the ability to generate multiple possibilities in a given situation. Validity and reliability of IQ tests • Validity reflects a test’s ability to assess the construct it was designed to measure. – IQ test scores predict ability to succeed in school (valid use). • Reliability reflects a test’s ability to produce consistent results. – Tests of intelligence have high reliability (e.g. even over three-year periods during childhood WISC-IV scores remain stable). • E.g. the Marlin IQ test… Criticisms of IQ tests • Lack of a theoretical basis (no underlying construct was used to devise tests). – Focus on cognitive domains while ignoring creativity, working memory etc. – Does not measure practical intelligence. • Cultural bias. – Scores depend on language, cultural experiences. – Biased towards Western, white, middle-class education system. • Try the Koori IQ test. Eliminating cultural anomalies in intelligence testing • ‘Culture free’ tests have been explored in relation to intelligence. • A ‘culture fair’ test was attempted to include items that would measure common skills and knowledge across cultures. • Limited success (cultural backgrounds of test developers, as well as those of test takers, would always have an influence). • Intelligence tests need to be considered within a culture. Approaches to intelligence • Psychometric approach: tries to identify groups of items in a test that correlate highly with each other in order to discover underlying skills or abilities. • Information-processing approach: examines the mental processes that underlie intelligent behaviour.

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Contemporary approaches: argue that intelligence is a function of multiple systems.

The psychometric approach Spearman 1927 • Statistical approach in which test items are examined using factor analysis. – Looks for items that correlate together (are a common factor). • How many factors? – Spearman proposed one factor: • g: general intelligence – BUT it is made up of s: specific abilities. The psychometric approach Cattell 1957 • The Gf-Gc theory is a hierarchical model with specific factors embedded in more general factors: – GF = fluid intelligence refers to mental processes used in processing information and approaching novel problems rather than specific information (declines with age) – GC = crystallised intelligence refers to a person’s knowledge base (increases with age). [Intelligence is 2 things] The information-processing approach • Examine the processes that underlie intelligent behaviour rather than quantify basic abilities. – Speed of processing: how rapidly a person can perform a mental task; strongly correlated with IQ. – Knowledge base: information stored in long-term memory. – Ability to acquire and apply mental processes: or “Flexibility” can a person acquire and use new mental strategies? Contemporary approaches • Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence [intelligence is 3 things] – Creative intelligence: coping with novel situations and learning new responses. – Practical intelligence: judging the most effective approach in the given context. – Analytical intelligence: ability to put together the mental processing components needed when problem- solving. • Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences [intelligence is many things] – Musical – Bodily/kinaesthetic – Spatial – Verbal/linguistic – Logical/mathematical – Intrapersonal (self-understanding) = Emotional IQ – Social. Summary:

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Intelligence is the application of cognitive skills and knowledge to learn, solve problems and gain access to things valued. Intelligence tests are psychometric instruments that aim to assess cognitive ability. IQ tests are highly correlated with educational success but are critiqued for a lack theoretical underpinning, cultural bias and limited scope....