“Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man.”

Henry Murray and Clyde Kluckhohn (1948) in Personality in Nature, Society, and Culture

“Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man.”

Small group discussion— Find something that your whole group has is

common, something some of you have in common, something that makes each of you unique.

What kind of differences have you observed (or would you expect) in a typical classroom?

Individual Differences

Intelligence

Personality

Interests

Importance of physics class

Unimportant Slightly Neutral Slightly Important unimportant important

Entire physics class

Group differences in importance

Unimportant Slightly Neutral Slightly Important unimportant important

Other non-majors

Engineering majors

Physics majors

Personalized system of instruction

Group differences in PSI

Aptitude theory Aptitude-Treatment Interactions (ATI)

Adapting instruction to meet students’ individual characteristics improves outcomes

Intelligence

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Mental age/chronological age x 100 Mean is 100, 68% of population between 85

and 115, only 16% above 115

Correlates with academic achievement r=.50

Spearman’s theory

g

S S S S S

Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities Verbal comprehension Word fluency Number facility Spatial visualization Associative memory Perceptual speed Reasoning

General Intelligence

Gc(Crystallized)

Gf(Fluid)

Verbal Comprehension

NumericalAbility

Word fluency

SpatialRotations

PerceptualSpeed

Reasoning

Crystallized intelligence• Volume, depth and

breadth of knowledge in various domains

• Content knowledge specific to domains

• May be product of Gf• Efficiency in well-

practiced domains• Stable or increases with

age

Fluid Intelligence• Analytic problem-solving

abilities

• General ability applicable to new situations

• Efficiency in new domains

• Decreases with age

Gc and Gf tests

What month comes right before December?

What is the capital of France?

Who was Mark Twain? What's the difference

between a civil and criminal court trial?

When is Gf or Gc more important?

What does intelligence predict? School achievement (r=.50) Verbal intelligence scores predict reading

achievement (r=.83) General intelligence predicts career success (r=.41) Work evaluations (r=.50)

Occupational status, changes in occupational status, acquisition of knowledge in occupational settings, and income

Aptitude-Treatment Interactionswith Intelligence Speed of learning and amount of practice required Amount of structure needed, scaffolding

Personality traits Enduring tendencies to behave in a certain way

across situations Big Five personality traits

Example personality questions

Rate each of the adjectives below as they apply to you on a scale 1 to 9, extremely inaccurate to accurate

TalkativeSympatheticOrderlyEnviousDeep

Openness to Experience

Conservatism

Big Five Personality Traits

Imaginative, intellectual, variety-seeking

Down-to-earth, prefers routines

Openness to Experience

Conscientiousness

Conservatism

Spontaneity

Big Five Personality Traits

Organized, planful, dependable

Pleasure-seeking, undependable

Extroversion

Openness to Experience

Conscientiousness

Introversion

Conservatism

Spontaneity

Big Five Personality Traits

Talkative, sociable, assertive

Quiet, solitary, reserved

Extraversion

Openness to Experience

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Introversion

Conservatism

Individualism

Spontaneity

Big Five Personality Traits

Warmhearted, trusting,compassionate

Skeptical, self-serving

Emotional Stability Neuroticism

Extraversion

Openness to Experience

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Introversion

Conservatism

Individualism

Spontaneity

Big Five Personality Traits

Calm, even-tempered Emotional, anxious, irritable

Work performance interaction

Adapting instruction to personality Grouping extroverts and introverts What personality dimension would relate to

having high test anxiety? Encouraging students to explore other cultures

or perspectives Social skills training Homework and project reminders

Interests Enduring preferences for certain activities, hobbies,

or occupations. Holland’s vocational “personality” or interest types Individuals may have many or few interests

Example interest questions Check Yes/No Are you...

Mechanical? Persuasive? Friendly?

Can you... Start projects? Play a musical

instrument? Lead a group?

Do you like to... Perform experiments? Do volunteer service? Work in groups?

Realistic

Conventional

Enterprising

Social

Artistic

Investigative

Occupational interests and environments

Architect, Firefighter

Accountant, Librarian

Journalist, Stockbroker

Nurse, Teacher

Musician, Writer

Scientist, Engineer

Anyone preparing to teach: How might individual differences affect your instruction? Pick a specific example of how you might have to adapt to differences in intelligence, personality, interests, or cultural backgrounds.

Anyone interested in measurement: Do individual differences ever act as construct-irrelevant sources of error on tests? Consider personality and interest traits.

Anyone interested in health care: how do individual differences in patients affect how you interact with them?

Anyone interested in counseling: What kind of assessments have you given clients to better assess their counseling needs? How could you use the traits we talked about today for career counseling? Marriage counseling? Occupational counseling?

Areas of controversy Heritability of traits All traits are influenced by experience

Take away messages

General intelligence is an important predictor of learning and life outcomes.

Intelligence is a hierarchy of general and specific abilities that help us to adapt to a variety of situations.

Personality is an important contributor to success in life beyond intelligence.

Interest help us understand why individuals with the same level of intelligence choose different paths in life.

Individual differences are important to adapting instruction in the classroom to optimize learning.