Lecture Overview Language Intelligence The Intelligence Controversy ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Language: Three Building Blocks ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Elements of Language (cont.) “The rapid freedom ran around the curious emptiness” (obeys rules of English syntax, but makes no sense semantically) Surface structure: word strings that people produce Deep structure : abstract representation, or meaning, i.e. Joey fell off swing and hurt his head from swinging too high vs. Joey hurt his head when he fell off the swing ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Is language innate in humans? ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Do other animals have language the way humans do? ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Theories of Language Development Nature Perspective: language is an inborn capacity that develops primarily by maturation – Steven Pinker; Chomsky’s language acquisition device (LAD); – Nurture Perspective: language develops from a complex system of rewards, punishments, & imitation ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Arguments for Nature All children develop language in same way Deaf children develop sign language the way hearing children develop spoken language There is a critical period for the development of language In most people (left or right hand-ers) language develops in the left hemisphere) Almost all mothers and fathers speak “infant- directed language” ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Split-Brain Research Verbal left Non-verbal right Gender differences? ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Evidence for Nurture Children learn different languages depending on where they grow up Phonemes are different cross culturally Parents spend lots of time talking to their infants (IDL) Some cases: Genie, Wild Boy show that language exposure is necessary for normal language development ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Animals & Language Some of the most successful nonhuman animal language studies have used American Sign Language (ASL). ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Intelligence Intelligence: global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, & deal effectively with the environment Intelligence is a hypothetical, abstract construct. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

What Is Intelligence? Historical views of intelligence: 1.S ingle ability or trait general factor called “g” (Spearman 1920s) 2. Three part theory (Sternberg--learned) 3.Multiple abilities (Gardner—natural) To mention only a few… ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Intelligence Models Gardner Sternberg ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

How Do We Measure Intelligence? Stanford-Binet & Wechsler most widely used individual intelligence tests. Both tests compute an intelligence quotient (IQ), which compares the deviation of a person’s test score to norms for that person’s age group. – Original version of Stanford-Binet (IQ = MA/CA x 100) NOW SHOWN WITH NORMS ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Measuring Intelligence— The Normal Distribution of IQ Scores ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Measuring Intelligence— Sample Wechsler Tests ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Measuring Intelligence: Three Scientific Standards 1.Standardization--establishes norms & uniform procedures for giving & scoring tests 2.Reliability--measure of the consistency & stability of test scores over time 3.Validity--ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

The Intelligence Controversy: Explaining Differences Is it in the brain? All mental activity (including intelligence) results from neural activity in the brain. Is it genetic or environmental influences? Heredity & environment are important, inseparable factors in intellectual development. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

The Intelligence Controversy— Extremes in Intelligence Mental Retardation: IQs of 70 & below Mental Giftedness: IQs of 135 & above ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Genetic Vs. Environmental Influence on Intelligence: Herrnstein ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

The Intelligence Controversy: IQ Tests can be Culturally Biased and biased to gender What is the heritability?? ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010