Intelligence

Who is the most intelligent individual pictured here?

Is intelligence one general ability, or several specific abilities? Different cultures deem “intelligent” as whatever attributes enable success in those cultures Is a talented artist who can’t do math “unintelligent”? Is a brilliant scientist who can’t follow a road map “unintelligent”?

What is “Intelligence”? Intelligence – mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

What is Intelligence? Intelligence - The global capacity to profit from experience and to go beyond given information about the environment.

What is Intelligence? Intelligence - the ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations

While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects within psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes 'intelligence.' Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability, while other believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills and talents.

General Intelligence Charles Spearman Intelligence is defined as a single measure of general cognitive ability (g), such as an IQ test score, your SAT score, or your DSTP scores. Primarily measures only academic prowess.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner Linguistic Logical-Mathematical Body-Kinesthetic Spatial Musical Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist Existential*

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences How Intelligent Are Animals? Boosting Brain Power

Linguistic – A person's ability to construct and comprehend language Journalists, poets, novelists, storyteller

Logical-Mathematical – Our ability to work with numbers, to mentally process logical problems and mathematic equations Scientists, accountants, navigator, surveyor

Body-Kinesthetic - To possess control of movements, balance, agility and grace. Athletes, dancers, craftsperson

Spatial – How we comprehend shapes and images in three dimensions. Artists, cab drivers, architects, chess player

Musical - The ability to perform and compose music. Pianist, Composers, Singer

Interpersonal – The ability to interact with others, understand them, and interpret their behavior known as interpersonal intelligence. Social skills. Politicians, clergy, talk show host, salesperson

Intrapersonal – Intrapersonal intelligence allows us to reflect and understand our own well being - who we are, what feelings we have, and why we are this way.

Naturalistic – experiencing and understanding in the natural world, plant and aquatic life Rangers, Guides, Environmentalists, Zoologists, Archeologists, Geologists

Existential Intelligence Existential Intelligence*- Individuals who pose and ponder questions about broad themes such as life, death, justice Philosophers and Thinkers, Human Rights Activists

Emotional Intelligence Salovey and Mayer Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences PLUS: Emotional Intelligence – superb social skills, manages conflicts well, and has great empathy for others

Triarchic Theory of Multiple Intelligences Robert Sternberg -Analytical -Creative -Practical

Analytical – Assessed by intelligence tests, which present well-defined problems having single right answers; academic intelligence. Commonly referred to as “book smarts”.

Practical Intelligence – the ability to adapt to the environment, reflecting was is commonly called “street smarts”.

Creative Intelligence – the ability to effectively deal with novel situations by drawing on existing skills and knowledge.

Intelligence Anomalies Savant Syndrome – a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing; some people are mentally handicapped in almost every aspect except for one very specific ability. Prodigies – an individual with otherwise normal abilities except for a single exceptional talent

Savant Piano Savant Drawing Basketball Prodigy Piano Prodigy Art Prodigy

Assessing Intelligence

Two Types of Intelligence Tests Achievement Test – a test designed to assess what a person has already learned Aptitude Test – a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Stanford-Binet – the most widely used written intelligence test Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Factor Analysis – a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score Along with your score on a test, there is a breakdown of your performances on individual sections of the test – 600 Verbal, 700 Math on a total SAT score of 1300

How do you determine IQ? Step 1 Mental Age – the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. A child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

How do you determine IQ? Step 2 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to the chronological age (ca), multiplied by 100. (MA / CA) X 100 An 8-year old student that takes an IQ Test scores as well the average 10-year old. 10/8 = 1.25 X 100 = 125 IQ

IQ Scale Over 140 - Genius or near genius 120 - 140 - Very superior intelligence 110 - 119 - Superior intelligence 90 - 109 - Normal or average intelligence 80 - 89 - Dullness 70 - 79 - Borderline deficiency Under 70 - Definite feeble-mindedness

The Flynn Effect – The average IQ of people has generally risen over the last century. This doesn’t mean that people have necessarily gotten “smarter”. Schools have gotten better, technology has gotten better, access to education has gotten better…….the environment has helped to increase general IQ, not a natural increase in brain power.

When you take any test, you have to consider…. Is it a standardized test? Is it reliable? Is it valid?

Establish A “Standard” Standardization – defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group” The “control” test group (a representative sample of the entire population you are comparing scores to) scored an average of 1000 on the SAT. You scored a 1200 on the SAT. You are “above” the standard.

Is The Test “Reliable”? Reliability – the extent to which a test yields consistent results, and how well it can be replicated

Checking Reliability Split-Half Reliability – Half of the students answer all of the odd questions, the other half answer all of the even questions on a test. The scores should be similar if the test is consistently testing the same knowledge throughout. Equivalent Form – Students who receive Form A of a test should score similarly to those students who received Form B regarding the same information.

Is The Test “Valid”? Validity – the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Content Validity – the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest If a test is supposed to test your knowledge of mathematical principles, the questions should be on math, not history or writing skills

Predictive Validity – the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior Is a test is designed to measure mechanical aptitude, people who receive high scores should ultimately prove more successful in mechanical jobs than people that scored low

Reliability and Validity It is possible to have a test that is reliable, but not valid. Such a test consistently measures something, but not what it is intended to measure. IE. A vocabulary test given in math class is reliable as far as testing vocabulary, but is not a valid measure of a student’s mathematical intelligence.

Reliability and Validity It is impossible to have a test that is valid, but not reliable. If individual scores fluctuate wildly, then they cannot consistently correlate with other scores, whatever those scores may be. Tests cannot be accurately measuring a given set of material if scores on those tests vary wildly. On multiple tests of a single mathematical principal you score an 89, 34, 56, and a 99, the tests cannot have been consistently testing the same material, nor can they be good indicators that you know or don’t know the material.