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• Army Alpha


  • Designed for general routine testing
  • Consisted of 8 verbally loaded tests: following oral directions, arithmetical reasoning, practical judgment, synonym-antonym pairs, disarranged sentences, number series completion, analogies, information
• Information provided by group testing for army recruits

  • Rejection or discharge from military service
  • Assignment to different types of services
  • Admission to officer-training camps
• Group Testing picked up dramatically during World War I

  1917
• Phrenology


  • Development of specific brain areas associated with certain personality characteristics and mental disorders
  • Method developed by Franz Joseph Gall involving observing and feeling the skull to determine psychological attributes
• Alfred Binet


  • Emphasized judgment, understanding, and reasoning in intelligence assessment
  • Intelligence is an attribute of behavior, not a person
  • General intelligence emerges from the sum total of a person's performance
• Variations in cognitive abilities during adulthood

  • Depend on the kinds of experiences relevant to test performance a person has during these years
  • People who remain intellectually active show less decline in intelligence tests than those who fail to continue in academic-type pursuits
• Graphology


  • Personality analysis by studying handwriting samples
  • Describing aspects of handwriting such as direction of lines, space between words, slant, body image, pressure, among others
• Edward Lee Thorndike


  • Measurement of intelligence involves quantitative evaluation of mental productions in terms of number, excellence, and speed
  • Intelligence should emphasize what a person can do, as well as how
• Robert Sternberg


  • Ability to adapt to a changing and uncertain world; ability to motivate oneself to accomplish tasks efficiently
  • Believed traditional intelligence tests are effective but there should be better measures for practical problem-solving and motivation
• Intelligence Quotient is often a shorthand designation for intelligence, not identified with a particular type of score on a particular test
• Individual/Group Differences in Mental Abilities

  • Age changes
  • Demographic variables
  • Biological factors
• Occupational Status

  • More highly intelligent people can enter occupations demanding higher ability
  • Higher intelligence may lead to better-paying jobs
• Demographic Variables affecting intelligence

  • Family size and birth order
  • Occupational status
  • Socio-economic status
  • Urban vs. rural residence
  • Teacher Expectations
• Urban vs. rural residence

  • Lower IQ of those coming from rural areas
  • Access to better education and modern technology
• Intelligence involves judgment, understanding, reasoning, abstract thinking, adaptability, motivation, practical problem-solving, and dealing effectively with the environment
• Sex differences in intelligence

  • Females - verbal fluency, reading comprehension, clerical skills
  • Males - mathematical reasoning, visual-spatial ability, speed and coordination
• Physiognomy


  • Determining one's temperament & character from external features of the body, especially the face
  • Associating any feature of the face and head with personal characteristics
• Arthur S. Otis prepared the group intelligence test and turned it over to the army
• Lewis Terman


  • Intelligence is the ability to do abstract thinking
  • Criticism: definition is too narrow, abstract thinking is important but not the only aspect of intelligence
• Intelligence is manifested by performance on a variety of tasks and can be measured by responses to a sample of those tasks
• Understanding intelligence as a construct: Intelligence should be regarded as a descriptive rather than explanatory concept
• Army Beta


  • Non-language scale used with illiterates and foreign-bred recruits unable to take a test in English
  • Consisted of various visual-perceptual and motor tests such as tracing a path through mazes and visualizing the correct number of blocks depicted in a three-dimensional drawing
• Age-related Declines


  Less likely to be found in vocabulary knowledge and similar skills highly dependent on lifelong learning than in performance on unfamiliar problems of logic and other skills requiring new learning
• David Wechsler

  • Intelligence is the aggregate capacity of the individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment
  • Intelligent behavior must reflect more than sheer intellectual ability
• Instead of formulating a universally acceptable definition of intelligence, alternative terms like general mental ability, scholastic aptitude, academic ability can be used
• Robert Yerkes, a psychology professor at Harvard, was appointed by the American Psychological Association to assess army recruits
• Socio-economic Status

  • High IQ children found among higher social classes
  • Positive relationship between IQ and SES
• Family size and birth order

  • Intellectual ability declines as family size increases
  • High achievement often associated with first-born children
  • More favorable parental treatment given to first-borns
• Terminal Drop: Deterioration in cognitive functioning, sensorimotor abilities, personality characteristics during the last few months or years of life
• Theories of Intelligence

  • Charles Spearman - Two-factor theory
  • L.L. Thurstone - Multiple-factor theory
  • J.P. Guilford - Structure-of-Intellect model
  • Philip Vernon - Hierarchical model of mental abilities
  • Raymond B. Cattell - Fluid and crystallized intelligence
  • Robert Sternberg - Triarchic Model of Intelligence
  • Howard Gardner - Theory of Multiple Intelligences
• Teacher Expectations

  Looking glass theory - people tend to adapt their behavior and self-perceptions to how they believe they are perceived by other people