Intelligence 1

• Intelligence tests

  Only measure the ability to take intelligence tests, not meaningful
• Intelligence research is one of the most rigorous areas in psychology and intelligence tests are some of the most scrutinised and validated in psychology. These tests are tapping into something, even if there is debate into the structure of intelligence
• Intelligence tests are biased against X type of people

  Largely false: A huge amount of work has gone into creating culturally neutral measures of intelligence, although previous exposure to intelligence tests could influence some results
• The idea of "intelligence" is meaningless because there are lots of different types of intelligence


  Partially false/debatable: Although there are different facets of intelligence, they tend to correlate pretty strongly with each other, suggesting a higher factor (g) or factors Gf, Gc, etc
• Intelligence

  Genetically determined or largely influenced by the environment?
• Increasing intelligence

  Through enriching childhood environment? Can we increase intelligence in adulthood?
• Sex differences in intelligence

  Overall intelligence? Specific facets of intelligence?
• Differences in intelligence across human populations

  Are there differences across populations? Are these environmental or genetic?
• Intelligence linked to many life outcomes such as mortality, crime and poverty
• Correlation is not causation: these relationships could be bidirectional or caused by other variables (e.g. poverty might lead to lower intelligence from low nutrition and education, and might also be linked to crime)
• Intelligence


  • Capacity to judge, reason and comprehend well (Binet 1916)
  • Capacity to form concepts and grasp significance (Terman 1916)
  • Ability of an individual to adapt well to new situations in life (Pintner 1921)
  • Capacity to inhibit instinctive response, imagine a different response, and realise the response modification into behaviour (Thurstone 1921)
  • Ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience (Gottfredson 1997)
• Galton


  • Began to study heredity of intelligence (Darwinʼs cousin)
  • One of the first to try and study individual differences in intelligence
  • Higher intelligence seemed to run in families. Suggested children inherit intelligence from parents
  • Studied The Times obituaries
  • Number of eminent relatives was higher in 1st than 2nd, higher in 2nd than 3rd
  • Issue of causation...intelligence running in families or effects of class?
  • Suggested looking at twins and adoptions...laid the framework for future studies into nature and nurture
• Alfred Binet


  • Designed first widely used intelligence test (Binet-Simon)
  • Aimed to identify children that were falling behind
  • Binet believed that IQ could be increased by education
  • Used the tests to categorise people in school and in the armed services
  • Physical Tasks
  • Memory Tasks
  • Comprehension and Judgment Tasks
  • Reasoning Tasks
  • Verbal Tasks
• Louis Terman


  • Collected normative data on a large sample of American children to recalibrate the test scores
  • Provided a more reliable standardisation, allowing the test to better reflect the abilities of American children
  • Extended the age range of the test to include adults
• Stanford-Binet 1916


  • Added 40 new items
  • More comprehensive: larger number of items, addition of many non-verbal items
  • Tested: Verbal Reasoning, Abstract/Visual Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Short-term Memory, General Knowledge and Comprehension
• Robert Yerkes


  • Contribution of psychology to the war effort (World War I)
  • Assessing recruits to determine how they might be best used
  • Stanford-Binet too detailed and resource intensive/ Needed a way to do group administration rather than 1 on 1 testing
  • Army Test: Alpha Test, Beta Test

  
• Ravenʼs Progressive Matrices


  • Aim is to "test a persons ability to form perceptual relations and to reason by analogy"
• Weschler Tests


  • Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) for ages 16-75 was first developed in 1939 and still existed today (has been continually updated)
  • Wechsler Scale for Children (WISC) for children between 5 and 16 years
  • New method for calculating IQ for adults that was not dependent on "mental age"
• Charles Spearmanʼs G


  • Noticed correlations between different measures of intelligence
  • Positive manifold refers to the fact that scores on cognitive assessment tend to correlate very highly with each other, indicating a common latent dimension that is very strong
  • Developed the concept of g (general intelligence) which underpinned why specific abilities (e.g. mathematical, verbal, spatial reasoning) tend to correlate
  • His model is a two factor model: g and specific abilities
• Cattell and Gf/Gc Theory


  • Gf = fluid intelligence: Fluid intelligence refers to the capacity to reason quickly and think abstractly
  • Gc = crystallised intelligence: Crystallised intelligence is the ability to use skills, knowledge, and experience
  • Gf typically peaks in 20s and begins a slow decline, Gc tends to peak later

  
• Cattell, Carroll, Horn (CHC) Theory


  • Combines Carrols three level model, with additional broad and narrow abilities identified by Cattell and Horns extended Gf Gc Theory