Learning Curve 10a Wechsler Intelligence task PDF

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Learning Curve 10a: Wechsler Intelligence task

1. In the mid-1900s, psychologist David Wechsler developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), which is now the most widely used individual intelligence test. 2. In designing this test, Wechsler made an important distinction between verbal ability and performance(nonverbal ) ability, and devised separate tasks to measure each type of ability. Scores on these individual tasks were then combined to produce an overall IQ score. 3. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) contains six verbal subtests. These tasks measure a person’s ability to understand and remember words and numbers, and to solve problems involving words. 4. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) contains five performance (nonverbal) subtests. These tasks measure a person’s ability to understand and remember visual information, and to solve problems involving pictures and objects. THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE 1. All humans share some fundamental similarities in cognition- perceiving the environment, learning and remembering information, thinking solving problems, and using language. Yet there are differences among people in the effectiveness of these processes, and the concept of intelligence is used to describe individual differences in cognitive abilities. 2. Most people talk about intelligence as though it were a single thinking, somewhat like water in a bucket. We consider “bright” individuals as having lots of it-a full bucket- and “dull”, people as having less. This common-sense view is challenged by the fact brain damage may diminish one specific ability but not others, and by savant syndrome a condition in which a person of very limited overall intelligence has a single ability that is truly exceptional, such as an amazing memory for music, numbers, or spatial relationships. 3. Research by psychologist Charles Spearman supported the view that intelligence is a single general ability. Spearman administered many different tests of mental abilities, then used a statistical procedure called factor analysis to identify clusters of similar results, with each cluster defining a “factor” such as mathematical reasoning spatial abilities, or verbal fluency. 4. Spearman called these intelligence clusters factors because each indicated a specific ability. However, Spearman noted that people who were high on one factor tended to be high on the others, and those with low scores on one test tended to have low scores on all of them. Spearman argued that underlying all mental abilities was a single g factor, or general intelligence. 5. Psychologist Louis Thurstone, who also used factor analysis, initially argued that the g factor does not exist. Instead, he claimed that humans have seven s factors, which he called the primary mental abilities: world fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, number facility, associative memory, reasoning and perceptual speed. However, later in his career, he proposed a compromise position. Stating that

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intelligence consists of both a general component based on overall brain functioning and several specific components (such as verbal and mathematical skills) that can be influenced by education and practice. Psychologist Howard Gardner built on Thurstone’s view to propose that humans have eight or nine multiple intelligence, each type relatively independent of the others, and each controlled by a different part of the brain. In addition to the widely accepted distinction between verbal and mathematical abilities, Gardner identified distinct aptitudes for musical accomplishment, for spatially analyzing the visual world, for mastering movement skills ( as in dance or sports), and for insightfully understanding ourselves,others, our natural environment, and the meaning and purpose of our lives. Psychologist Robert Sternberg argued that Gardner’s multiple intelligences could be reduced to three basic forms of intelligence. Sternberg’s triarchic theory p  roposes that people differ in their analytical intelligence(academic problem solving), their creative intelligence (generating original ideas), and their practical intelligence (accomplishing real-life tasks in their natural context). Other researchers emphasize intelligence as effective functioning in our social environment, Social intelligence is our ability to understand and interact with the other people around us. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive, express, understand and regulate emotions. Those who are socially and emotionally “smart” can not only manage their own emotions but also assess other people’s emotions and react appropriately. Psychologists now agree that intelligence is a social construct, a concept invented to describe individual differences in cognitive ability. As a result, there is no universally accepted definition of intelligence.Each culture defines intelligence in a slightly different way, emphasizing the characteristics that help people function effectively in that particular environment. In other words, a culture’s definition of intelligence is a reflection of what that culture values in a human being.

LEARNING CURVE 10B: Where Does Intelligence Come From and Who Is Most Intelligent? 1. As adults get older, does their intelligence increase or decrease? The earliest studies (conducted between 1920 and 1960) found that intelligence peaks in young adulthood. And then drops substantially during middle and later adulthood. 2. However, these early studies used the cross-sectional research design, testing different age groups of people (called cohorts) in the same year. For example, the 70-year-old individuals tested in 1950 had been born in 1880, before compulsory public education existed in the United States. We now realize that the cross-sectional approach fails to consider generational differences in education and other life experiences, so it exaggerates the negative impact of aging. Time of Birth

Time of Measurement

Cohort

1950

1880

Age 70

1890

Age 60

1900

Age 50

1910

Age 40

1920

Age 30

1930

Age 20

3. Later research using longitudinal studies, which retested the same group of people (same cohort) over many years, produced different results. Intelligence held steady across the adult years, or even increased slightly! 4. However, we now realize that the results of some longitudinal studies are overly optimistic. Within the distribution of scores at the first time of testing, the individuals with the lowest scores tend to drop out at later testing times. This could artificially inflate the average score at later testing times. 5. In addition, researchers now believe that even if overall intelligence doesn’t change much across adulthood, it has two subcomponents that do change as we age- in different ways. Fluid intelligence quick, flexible, abstract thinking) seems to decline in later life, while crystallized intelligence accumulated knowledge and skills) tends to increase in healthy middle-aged and older adults. CONCEPT PRACTICE: REACTION TIME AND INTELLIGENCE 1. Researchers define intelligence as the mental capacity to learn from experience and adapt effectively to a particular environment. Intelligence is usually measured with standard intelligence tests that include questions or problems that assess verbal abilities (such as this question), spatial abilities, mathematical reasoning and memory 2. Intelligence may also be estimated by testing the speed of thinking. Highly intelligent people are often called “quick witted”, and that may be literally true. Researchers have

focused on two aspects of speed in relation to intelligence. The first, perceptual speed, i s the speed at which people can make perceptual comparisons (for example, whether these two pictures match). Smarter people seem to be faster at extracting information from brief visual presentations- whereas less intelligent people need to have the information displayed for a longer time interval in order to interpret it. 3. The second research focus has been on neurological processissing speed . EEG studies (which record electrical activity of the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp) have found that a stimulus, such as flash of light or a sound, is registered faster in the brains of highly intelligent people. 4. Both types of speed are involved when participants are given a test that measures reaction time (RT). In an RT task, a stimulus event or object is presented, and then participants press a button to respond. In simple reaction time tasks, there is only one type of response. As soon as the stimulus appears, the participants respond. In a choice reaction time task, there are two response options, so the participant needs to make a decision. Perceptual speed i s roughly the same on both tasks, but neurological processing speed  takes longer on a choice reaction time task. 5. Researchers are not sure why speed of thinking is related to intelligence, especially when you consider that many standard intelligence tests are not timed. However, computer technology provides a possible clue: Computers that process information faster can process more i nformation per day. 6. All of us are exposed to an overwhelming number of stimulus events every hour. Perhaps people with speedy brains are able to acquire more information during their daily life experiences, and therefore have more information to draw upon when answering questions on an intelligence test. CONCEPT PRACTICE : STUDYING INTELLIGENCE IN TWINS AND ADOPTED CHILDREN 1. Studies that compare the intelligence test scores of identical twins, fraternal twins, and adopted children with the scores of other family members have been very useful in exploring the influences of nature vs. nurture (heredity vs. environment) on the development of intelligence. 2. In general, twin and adoption studies support the idea that heredity makes a significant contribution to intelligence. The most genetically similar people have the most similar Intelligence test scores. As the genetic similarity of pairs of individuals decreases, the correlation between their intelligence test scores also decreases. 3. But these studies also provide evidence for the influence of the environment on intelligence . The intelligence test scores of fraternal twins reared are more similar than scores on non-twin siblings reared together. 4. Although fraternal twins are no more genetically similar than any other siblings, the fact they are the same age makes their environment (including the prenatal environment more similar than for different-aged siblings. 5. Also, the intelligence test scores of identical twins raised apart and reunited in adulthood are less similar than those of identical twins raised together. Even with identical twins, the environment plays a role in the development of intelligence....