PSYC 10,11

• Define intelligence: ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experiences to engage in a various forms of reasoning and to overcome obstacles
• who was the founder of psychometrics?

  Sir Francis Galton
• what is psychometrics?


  an area of psychology concerned with objective measurement of mental abilities and other attributes
• what are somethings affiliated with Sir Francis Galton:

  • coined the phrase 'nature vs nurture'
  • believed intelligence was genetic
  • believed 'idiocy' was associated with sensory and perceptual deficits
• what was the goal of the eugenics movements?

  traits that 'hinder' survival will die off because nobody with "bad genes" can reproduce.
• define eugenics: the idea of selectively breeding humans in order to improve the species (this was also known as the "good genes")
• what did the eugenics movement lead to:

  • forced sterilization
  • alberta sexual sterilization act (1928-1972)
• what did alfred binet & theodore simon discover in their tests?

  mental age
• if mental age was above the average of the corresponding age, this meant that the individual had a higher IQ.
• if mental age was below the average of corresponding age, this meant that the individual had a lower IQ.
• the three things to note with Alfred Binet & Theodore Simon:

  • assumed intelligent children behaved cognitively mature like older children
  • devised 30 tasks ranging from simple to difficult
  • this was used to determine which children need to bring their mental age up to their chronological age
• the three things to note with Lewis Terman:

  • adapted Binet's test for use in the USA
  • still widely used today but no long measures mental age
  • this was the beginning of using an intelligence quotient (IQ)
• IQ = (mental age / chronological age) x 100
• IQ distribution has a set mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15
• contemporary stanford-binet intelligence scales are now one of the most commonly used intelligence scales for children. It tests individual performance on a statistically normal curve
• what test is most commonly used for adolescents and adults?

  Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
• the weschler adult intelligence scale (wais) was originally developed by david weschler in 1939 (as the weschler-bellvue test)
• in the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), intelligence is scored by two scales:

  1. general ability index (gai)
  2. cognitive proficiency index (cpi)
• once race was brought into IQ controversy, it further reinforced the idea that IQ is genetics
• white individuals tended to score higher than black individuals
• Ravens Progressive Matrices:

  • created by John Raven as a more 'fair' and 'culture-free' test
  • based on pictures, no words
  • assesses ability of deductive reasoning (extract important info) and reproductive reasoning (applying to new situations)
• Ravens Progressive Matrices was still not free of racial bias:

  first place: asian

  second place: white

  third place: black
• define social identity threat: occurs when negative stereotypes about a group cause group members to underperform on ability tests
• define factor analysis: a statistical technique that examines correlations between variables to find clusters of related variables or "factors"
• charles spearman was the first to suggest that there is a general intelligence factor
• based on factor analysis, developed a two-factor theory of intelligence:

  • general intelligence factor (g)
  • specific intellectual abilities (s)
• having language ability meant you were good at: vocabulary, reading, comprehension, verbal reasoning
• having math ability meant you were good at: algebra, geometry, calculus
• Raymond Cattel suggested that general intelligence can be divided into:

  • fluid intelligence
  • crystalized intelligence
• define fluid intelligence: ability to think logically and adapt to new situations without relying on previous knowledge
• define crystalized intelligence: a type of intelligence that draws upon past learning experience
• what is a limitation to general intelligence theory?

  it does not explain why people with lower IQ can be experts at playing an instrument
• what did Robert Sternberg create?

  The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
• The triarchic theory of intelligence consists of 3 categories:

  1. analytical (verbal/mathematic problem solving aka book smart)
  2. practical (address real-world problems aka street smarts)
  3. creative (generate new ideas and solutions aka creativity)
• the augmented theory of successful intelligence consists of 4 categories:

  1. creativity (generation of new ideas)
  2. analytic ability (ability to evaluate ideas)
  3. practicality (ability to implement ideas
  4. wisdom (ability to ensure ideas serve common good)
• what did howard gardner come up with?

  the theory of multiple intelligence
• what is the theory of multiple intelligence?

  a model claiming that there are seven (which has since been updated to 9) different forms of intelligence, each independent from the others
• what are the 9 intelligences in the theory of multiple intelligences:

  • verbal/linguistic
  • visuospatial
  • bodily/kinesthetic
  • musical/rhythmical
  • interpersonal
  • self/intrapersonal
  • naturalist
  • existential
• whats an issue with Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence?

  it's not clearly testable
• verbal/linguistic intelligence: the ability to read, write and speak effectively