INTELLIGENCE Issues Concerning the Nature, Assessment and Development Of Intelligence PSYCH 521, Aylin Küntay: Meeting 6

What is Intelligence? Robert Sternberg defines intelligence such as: “the mental activities necessary for adaptation to, as well as shaping and selecting of, any environmental context” But how come we have simpler tasks to measure cognitive performance? E.g., Digit span task used by TEÇGE Based on psychometric and info processing approaches

Psychometric approach Virtues Concurrent correlation with school performance Predicts school success Dangers Cognitive functioning is boiled down to 1 score Culturally biased

Info processing approach to intelligence Lower level Speed of processing Working memory Higher level Strategies Knowledge base

Triarchic theory of intelligence (Sternberg) 3 aspects of intelligence Analytical (componential subtheory) Similar to IQ tests Creative (experiential subtheory) Novel situations Practical (contextual subtheory) Everyday life… adapting to, shaping and selecting environments

Theory of multiple intelligences Domain-specific functioning Logical-mathematical, linguistic abilities, (technological societies) (ÖSS,SAT,GRE) vs. bodily-kinesthetic and spatial abilities (hunter and gatherer societies) Is there a domain-general g factor? Positive manifold

Show and Tell: Mullen Scales of Early Learning Applied here (in the Language and Communication Development Lab)

Characteristics 0-33 months: gross motor scale Individually administered Infants and preschoolers from birth through 68 months Visual, motor, linguistic (receptive and expressive processing) 5 scales: gross motor, visual reception, fine motor, receptive language, expressive language Administration time varies depending on the age and the attention of the child: 15 min for 1 yrs, 30 min for 3 yrs and 60 min for 5 yrs 0-33 months: gross motor scale Careful supervision of small objects is advised (beads and pennies)

Theoretical background Information processing and neuro-developmental theories Specific abilities, modular approach, multifactorial intelligence Interrelated but functionally distinct cognitive skills

Gross motor development (experience of his own movements through space and time) facilitates development in visual and auditory modalities Cognitive and motor are two essential and interrelated parts of child development Composite score offers a summary score: Early learning composite (a measure of g, general cognitive factor underlying all cognitive performances) Individualized assessment of cognitive skills For each scale, scores, percentile ranks and age equivalents are calculated There can be unevenness: global score can be misleading

Application Choosing the appropriate month interval Basal and ceiling items (at least 1 point in successive 3 items for basal level; 3 consecutive zeros for the ceiling level) Items are presented in the order of difficulty, types of questions with differing difficulty levels Flexibility is permitted in the order of item administration to keep the child’s attention and motivation Alternating between scales or the choice of the subsequent scale is permitted

Application Encouragement without giving clues It is important to differentiate between child-driven and environmentally-driven failure on an item Multiple responses Refusal to respond: experimenter can return later or mark as R (taking into account refusal compared to failed items) Readministering some items the child failed to respond is also permitted, after warming up, the performance can change Some items require parental questioning or cooperation for encouragement of the child Some items require observational scoring

Scales Gross motor scale: acquisition of basic spatial and temporal concepts (knowledge about the physical world) Measures central motor control and mobility: head control, sitting, pulling to stand, postural adjustment, walking etc. Visual reception: performance in processing visual patterns: visual discrimination and visual memory Visual organization, similarities, visual sequencing, spatial awareness, shape, position and size of objects or pictures Lack of object labeling tries to unconfound visual discrimination from linguistic abilities

Scales Fine Motor: measures visual-motor ability (visual discrimination (motor planning) and motor control) Object manipulation and writing readiness: copying shapes, block designs, handling coins and beads Chance to observe the experimenter drawing and building blocks Visual aids (experimenter leaves the figure or design as a model) Two hand and one-hand manipulation of objects Turning pages of a book, unscrewing a nut and a bolt, stringing beads, folding, cutting

Scales Receptive language: measures child’s ability to process linguistic input: auditory comprehension and auditory memory Only output for general knowledge questions Auditory-visual integration: colors, functions of objects, length of sticks, position of children, likeness of pictures Short-term memory: requesting handling objects in a certain manner (commands)

Scales Expressive Language: measure child’s ability to produce language effectively: output Speaking ability, language formation and ability to verbalize concepts Auditory memory and verbal comprehension Repeating sentences, naming objects, verbal analogies, functions of objects, general knowledge about everyday events Observational scores concerning usage of sentences, pronoun during the entire testing procedure