Ch. 11 - Intelligence

What is intelligence?

Varies by culture Western cultures focus on cognitive tasks

Is “IQ” nature or nurture?

IQ and genetic effects

Is “IQ” nature or nurture?

IQ and birth parents

One general ability or several specific abilities? Factor analysis

Used to determine if intelligence is one or a cluster of traits

Clusters: verbal, mathematical, spatial, reasoning abilities

General intelligence “G” factor A general capacity that underlies all specific mental

abilities

Savant Syndrome

Incredible ability in one area Numbers, drawing, music, memory

Emotional intelligence

Ability to express, understand, and process emotions

Being very empathic

Beginnings of intelligence testing

Originally designed to measure cognitive aptitude Alfred Benet

Predicted school achievement with mental age Eg. A 9 year old child has a mental age of 9

Lewis Terman (From Stanford University) Created the American revision of Binet’s original

intelligence test Developed the “Stanford-Binet” IQ test

Intelligence Quotent (IQ)

Mental age divided by chronological age X 100 E.g. 15 divided by 15 X 100 = 100 10 divided by 8 X 100 = 125 Worked well for children but not adults Today’s IQ tests compare the person’s

performance to others of his own age (100 is average)

Measuring intelligence

Aptitude tests - Predicting ability A test of your capacity to learn College entrance exams ( SAT & GRE exams)

Achievement tests - Measure what has been learned Calculus test

Specific intelligence tests WAIS

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale WISC

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

Creating tests

Standardization Validity Reliability

Standardization

Scores relative to a pretested group

Based on a normal curve The Bell shaped

curve

Ave. a score of intelligence test = 100

Validity

Measuring what it is supposed to measure Content validity

College exams Driver’s license exam

Criterion validity Test compared to criterion group

(e.g. depressed patients) Predictive Validity

SAT & GRE exams

Reliability

Consistent results Internal consistency

Odd v.s. even questions