Intelligence A concept, not a “thing.” Intelligence – Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Intelligence Testing Intelligence test – A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores.

General or Specific Intelligence? Spearman’s General Intelligence (g) Factor – A general intelligence factor, that underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

General or Specific? - Savant Syndrome Condition in which a person with limited mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as computation or drawing.

General or Specific? Sternberg’s Multiple Intelligences Analytical (academic problem-solving) Intelligence Creative Intelligence Creativity – The ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable. Practical Intelligence 8 year old selling gum on the streets of Tijuana, Mexico may have a high level of Practical Intelligence, and very little Analytical Intelligence.

General or Specific? Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Practical Intelligence – The ability to cope with the environment. AKA – “Street Smarts”

General or Specific? Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Analytical Intelligence – The ability measured by most IQ tests; includes the ability to analyze problems and find correct answers.

General or Specific? Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Creative Intelligence – The form of intelligence that helps people see new relationships among concepts; involves insight and creativity.

General or Specific? Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Linguistic Logical – Mathematical Musical Spatial Bodily Kinesthetic Intrapersonal (self) Interpersonal (other people) Naturalist

Extremes Low Extreme Mental Retardation – Low test scores and difficult adapting to normal life demands. Lower 2% of IQ Range, 30 points below average. Down Syndrome – Retardation coupled with physical disabilities caused by extra copy of chromosome 21. High Extreme Giftedness – Upper 2% of the IQ Range, 30 points above average. Sho Yano Played Mozart by age 4 Aced SAT at age 8 Graduated Loyola University with honors at age 12, and started Ph.D. and M.D. at age 13.

Types of Test Objective Tests – Tests that can be scored easily by machine, such as multiple choice tests and selected- response tests. Subjective Tests – Tests in which individuals are given an ambiguous figure or an open-ended situation and asked to describe what they see or finish a story. Inter-rater reliability – A measure of how similarly two different test scorers would score a test.

Intelligence Testing Binet and Simon – Introduced intelligence testing in the early 1900s to evaluate school children’s mental age. Mental age – The average age at which normal (average) individuals achieve a particular score. Chronological age – The number of years since the individual’s birth.

Intelligence Testing in the U.S. Standford-Binet intelligence scale / test invented by Lewis Terman Today the Wechsler intelligence test is considered to be a little more modern. From it comes the term IQ Intelligence Quotient – A numerical score on an intelligence test, originally computed by dividing the person’s mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.

Assessing Intelligence Many different Intelligence Tests IQ Tests: Defined originally as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100. Contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. Most intelligence test can be translated into IQ scores.

Validity Validity – A property exhibited by a test that measures what it purports to measure. Face Validity – Measures whether a test looks like it tests what it is supposed to test. Content Validity – A property exhibited by a test in which each item is representative of the larger body of knowledge about the subject the test covers. Criterion Validity – A property exhibited by a test that accurately measures performance of the test taker against a specific learning goal.

Reliability Reliability – A property exhibited by a test that yields the same results over time. Test-retest Reliability – A property exhibited by a test on which people get about the same scores when they take the test more than once. Split-half Reliability – A measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual’s scores on both halves are compared.

Standardization and Norms Standardization Means: The administration and scoring guidelines are the same for each subject taking the test. The results of the test can be used to draw conclusion about the test takers in regard to the objectives of the test.

Standardization and Norms Normal Range – Scores falling near the middle of a normal distribution.

Raymond Cattell’s Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence Crystallized Intelligence – The knowledge a person has acquired, plus the ability to access the knowledge. Fluid Intelligence – the ability to see complex relationships and solve problems.

Bigger Brain = More Intelligence? Many studies done. No evidence to show consistent connections between brain size and intelligence.

Factors that Influence Intelligence Environment School Gender Ethnicity Heredity Self Fulfilling Prophecies??? Eugenics???