Theories of Intelligence

Defining Intelligence Like any concept in psychology one of the principal challenges is defining intelligence In the face of this challenge there are many working definitions of intelligence proposed Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 2

Defining Intelligence Binet – “ the tendency to take and maintain a definite direction; the capacity to make adaptations for the purpose of attaining a desired end, and the power of auto criticism” Spearman – The ability to educe either relations or correlates Gardner – The ability “to resolve genuine problems or difficulties as they are encountered” Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 3

Defining Intelligence There are many definitions and each tends to p ortray a general theory followed by the researche r Three independent research traditions in the stu dy of intelligence – Psychometric – elemental structures of a test – Information processing – learning and problem solvi ng – Cognitive Approaches – adaptation to real-world de mands Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 4

Socioeconomic backgrounds and IQ The topic of intelligence testing arouses strong feelings and sometimes strong personal biases, even among experts. There is a correlation between socioeconomic background and scores on all standardized intelligence tests. Many people have charged that intelligence tests are biased, especially against ethnic minorities and the poor. Ironically, intelligence tests were initially developed to eliminate subjectivity in the evaluation of children’s ability. Cal State Northridge - Psy 4275

Three children Roberto, a Mexican American, had Spanish-speaking parents, neither of whom finished high school. His father spent most of his life working as a farmer. Fred, an African American, came from a family of five children. As with Roberto, neither of Fred’s parents completed high school. Although Fred’s father worked long hard hours as a machine operator on an assembly line, the family was poor. Maria’s parents, by contrast, had a combined income of $300,000 per year and were well educated. Her mother was a clinical psychologist, her father an attorney Cal State Northridge - Psy 4276

Binet’s principles of test construction Age differentiation – One can differentiate older children from younger children based upon their mental capacities. – Older children have greater skills than younger children – Mental age If a 6-year-old completed tasks that were appropriate for the average 9-year-old, then the 6-year-old had demonstrated that he or she had capabilities equivalent to those of the average 9-year-old, or a mental age of 9. Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 7

General Mental Ability – No identifying each element or independent aspect of intelligence. – Tried to measure only the total product of the various separate and distinct elements of intelligence, that is, general mental ability. – Just selected tasks with high correlations with the total score. Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 8

General Mental Ability Proposed by Galton, Binet, and Spearman The concept of general intelligence implies that a person’s intelligence can best be represented by a single score, g, that presumably reflects the shared variance underlying performance on a diverse set of tests. Cal State Northridge - Psy 427 9

Spearman’s g ‘g’ acts like a single general factor The higher some scores on g the higher they ar e on the specific intelligences Cal State Northridge - Psy S = verbal ability, math ability, visual spatial relations, vocabulary, etc.

The analogy of a central power station To understand how a single general factor can underlie all intelligent behavior, consider the analogy of a central power station for a large metropolitan city. The same station provides the power for lights of all sizes and types. Although some lights may be brighter or better than others, all depend on power from the central power source. Reducing the output from the central source affects all of the lights. Cal State Northridge - Psy 42711

The gf-gc Theory of Intelligence According to gf-gc theory, there are two basic types of intelligence: fluid (f) and crystalized (c). – Fluid intelligence can best be thought of as those abilities that allow us to reason, think, and acquire new knowledge. – Crystallized intelligence, by contrast, represents the knowledge and understanding that we have acquired. Cal State Northridge - Psy 42712

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children KABC(1984), KABC-II (2004) Two strong theoretical backgrounds – the neuropsychological model of brain functioning ‘the theory of split brain functioning (U.S. Nobelist Roger Sperry)’ – the theories of information processing (Neisser). Cal State Northridge - Psy 42713

sequential-simultaneous A major distinction between two types of higher brain process Sequential processing refers to a child’s ability “to solve problems by mentally arranging input in sequential or serial order." Simultaneous processing takes place in parallel. It refers to a child’s ability to “synthesize information (from mental wholes) in order to solve a problem” Cal State Northridge - Psy 42714

Good! Smaller (approximately 8 points) differences between African Americans and whites than either the Wechsler or Binet scales(15 points) Strong theoretical orientations, Separate intelligence and achievement scales, Separate nonverbal scale Limited oral instructions & responding Colorful and interesting items Sociocultural norms Cal State Northridge - Psy 42715

Bad! Underestimate the scores of gifted children Poor predictive validity for school achievement Less effective measurement of ‘g’ comparing to the Wechsler and the Binet. Mismatching between subtests and theoretical definitions…… A least, the test has a theoretical structure! Cal State Northridge - Psy 42716

Group activity What is your own definition of intelligence What theory is your definition based on? Is it multi-dimensional or uni-dimensional? Cal State Northridge - Psy 42717

Questions What does ‘g’ mean in defining intelligence. What is gf-gc theory. Explain it using examples Explain sequential and simultaneous in KABC If scores of a IQ test underestimate gifted children, what does it mean? Select one best thing about KABC and explain the rationale. Cal State Northridge - Psy 42718