Getting Started Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Mental Abilities and Skills This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any image; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Getting Started Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Topics Covered What is a Mental Ability? What Are Some Major Intelligences and Mental Abilities? Are There Additional Intelligences and Mental Abilities? What Is the Relation Between Personality and Intelligence? How Does Personality Express its Abilities?

What Is a Mental Ability? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Definition of a Mental Ability The capacity to carry out a mental task – to arrive at the desired sort of solution.

What Is a Mental Ability? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… The Paradox of Measuring Mental Abilities Favoring the Elites Society can reward and promote those with inherited abilities Favoring a Democratic Impulse Society can identify those who can learn, independent of inherited wealth

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Defining Intelligence Most important: The capacity to carry out abstract reasoning (similarities, differences, accurate generalizations) Adaptation and adjustment –Stern: the general capacity of an individual to adjust Learning –Hennon: capacity for knowledge and knowledge possessed Neural approaches –Pinter: modifiability of the nervous system

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Verbal Intelligence as a Mental Ability (and Alfred Binet) Rejected sensory-motor approaches – concentrated on mental functions Binet examined what students did in school –Memory –Imagery –Imagination –Attention –Comprehension –Suggestibility –Aesthetic appreciation –Moral sentiments –Muscular force (will power)

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Development and the IQ Score Year 5: –Compare 2 boxes of different weights –Repeat sentence of 10 syllables –Count four pennies (sous) Year 12: –Repeat 7 figures –Find 3 rhymes –Repeat 26 syllable sentences –Interpret the meaning of pictures Binet noticed his older daughter better solved problems than his younger daughter No one had realized intelligence developed with age before His test was age graded

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Development and the IQ The IQ was proposed by Louis Stern IQ = MA/CA x 100 In words: Intelligence Quotient = Mental Age Divided by Chronological Age, times One Hundred Example: –A 6-year-old child (CA = 6) –Solves problems like the average 8-year-old (MA = 8) –IQ = 8/6 x 100 = (1.333) x 100 = 133.3

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Development and the IQ Mental age 10? -- They aren’t the same for a 5-year-old and a 20-year-old Problems with the Rate IQ led to the Introduction of the Deviation IQ Developed by David Wechsler Measures deviation from average within a given age-range

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Mental Development and the IQ The IQ Distribution Relative Frequency Mean = 100 SD = 15

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Mental Development and the IQ The IQ Distribution Relative Frequency Mean = 100 SD = 15 68%

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Mental Development and the IQ The IQ Distribution Relative Frequency Mean = 100 SD = 15 95%

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Mental Development and the IQ The IQ Distribution Relative Frequency Mean = 100 SD = 15 99%

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Major Intelligences: from Mid 20th Century Verbal IQ –Comprehension: If you find a letter with an address on it but no stamp, what should you do? –Picture Completion –Arithmetic: How many hours will it take 2 people to do a 4 hour job? –Similarities: How are a computer and a car alike? –Digit Span: Repeat after me…

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Major Intelligences: from Mid 20th Century Performance (Perceptual/Organizational) IQ –Block Design: Arrange blocks to form an abstract pattern –Coding: Learn to copy an abstract symbol next to another abstract symbol –Picture Arrangement: Complete a puzzle

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Major Intelligences: from Mid 20th Century Some Others: –Spatial Intelligence –Social Intelligence –Calling every mental ability an intelligence (e.g., creativity)

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… What is “hot?” “Hot” information is motivational, emotional, or social information of direct importance or concern to the individual. Hot mental abilities are abilities to process and cope with such personally meaningful and important information

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Social Intelligence E. L. Thorndike (1920) first described social intelligence as “The ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls – to act wisely…” Appeared to correlated so highly with general IQ as not to be distinct. Research on social intelligence slowed and was unattended to for much of the second half of the 20 th century

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… First sustained theory and measure of emotional intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1990; Salovey & Mayer, 1990) Popularization of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995) Huge research endeavor thereafter Emotional Intelligence

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Emotional Intelligence. Emotions Are Signals about Relationships and Related Actions Each emotion means something and operates in a particular way. An emotion is, in some sense, like a piece on a chessboard; each emotion has its own function and set of moves.

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Emotional Intelligence Managing Emotions Understanding Emotions Facilitating Thought Perceiving Emotions Emotional Intelligence. Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Salovey & Mayer, 1990)

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Emotional Intelligence. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) Another Example: Question: A blend of regret, sentimental feelings, love, and loss might lead to what feeling? Answer: nostalgia

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Defining Creativity Definition: The ability to come up with many novel solutions to problems

Are There Additional Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Measuring Creativity Alternate Uses –How many uses can you come up with for a shoe? Verbal Fluency –What words rhyme with nation? Remote Associates –What goes with: MATE, CLASS, & STORE?

How Do Personality and Intelligence Relate? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Causes Educational –1 year of school = 2 IQ points –Each time you hear me, your IQ goes up.02 points! Biological –Neural transmission speed studies Choice reaction time –Brain size studies Brain scanning results –IQ is highly heritable

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Concrete and Abstract Thinking Concrete Thinking Events Actions Conditions Abstract Thinking Similarities and Differences Organizations Relationships

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Nigel Hunt Hunt, Nigel (1967). The world of Nigel Hunt: The Diary of a Mongoloid Youth. New York: Garrett Publications. Parents: Father and mother were both middle- class public school teachers. Education: extensive home tutoring of the most sensitive and creative type. Nigel also attended his father's school. School standing and progress: no details provided.

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Concrete Thinking (Nigel Hunt, Selection 1) It gives me great pleasure to write this, my very first book. I hope it will do well in America and in England. Now I had better introduce myself. I am Nigel Hunt and I live at 26 Church Avenue, Pinner, England with my parents. They are very nice indeed. I was born at Edgware in I have never been to America yet. The lady who advised me to write this was Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett and she says that I shall be very busy. (cont.)

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Concrete Thinking Nigel Hunt (Selection 2) So it's hallo! Welcome to my first good attempt in making this book and Douglas Hunt is assisting me. I had a royal honour in coming to London to see Mrs. Garrett at the Claridges Hotel and the flags were out for me and I saluted my own colour. I was educated at many places; at Longfield Primary School, Inellan School, Pinner, and at my father's school, Atholl School. I have my own typewriter and I taught myself to type. When I went to London many years ago I made a film with Prof. Penrose looking at my palms. [One sign of Trisomy- 21is a particular pattern in the palm] I also smiled at the camera, and he says it will go to America, and I hope you have seen it. (cont.)

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is IQ Expressed Recalling Nigel Hunt (Selection 3) My mother has been so kind tome all my life. My mother taught me to read. When I was very tiny we used to play together with plastic letters and a book with huge letters in it. I learnt the sounds of the letters from my mother as we played. After I had learned the sound of every letter mother held things up and sound-spelt them like "This is a C-U-P" and soon I could do it all by myself; all our friends were amazed and pleased with me when I began to read properly from books. My mother used to read to me and she would read all the way through and the title of the book was "Alaplied" which I said every time my mother came up. [This was actually "he replied". It was not the title of the book.]

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Concrete Thinking Hunt (Selection 6) One day I was taught good English from Mr. Hunt and then came the periods. Periods 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on; when I went there I became independent and polite to all the boys. Then we had two French teachers. One French master was Mr. Piper. He was a very good person, so I said to myself, "I had better surprise him." When Mr Piper was there I used to do a lot of French with him; then he used to take me to Rayners Lane Library to borrow some books, and I used to take them home with me just to clutter Mum's kitchen up, so like a good boy I had to put my books on my own pile.

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Abstract Thinking Alexander Hamilton Signer of the Declaration of Independence Coauthor of the Federalist Papers

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Abstract Reasoning As to what you say respecting your soon having the happiness of seeing us all, I wish an accomplishment of your hopes, provided they are concomitant with your welfare, otherwise not... To confess my weakness, Ned, my ambition is prevalent, so that I contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk or the like, to which my fortune, etc., condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any hopes of immediate preferment; nor do I desire it; but I mean to preface the way for futurity. I'm no philosopher, you see, and may justly be said to build castles in the air; my folly makes me ashamed, and I beg you'll conceal it; yet Neddy, we have seen such schemes successful when the projector is constant…[How old?]

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Example of Abstract Reasoning The previously quoted letter from Alexander Hamilton was written to a school friend when Hamilton was 12 years, 10 months old. Note –Virtuousity, developed style of writing –Excellent organization –Sustained theme (wanting greatness) –Application of intelligence to life planning Estimated IQ: 135

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is IQ Expressed John Stuart Mill Philosopher Author of “On Liberty” and “Utilitarianism”

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is IQ Expressed? John Stuart Mill ( ): First Alban Government: Roman conquest in Italy. We know not any part, says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, of the History of Rome till the Sicilian invasions. Before that time, the country had not been entered by any foreign invader. After the expulsion of Sicilians, Iberian (?) kings reigned for several years; but in the time of Latinus, Aeneas, son of Venus and Anchises, came to Italy, and established a kingdom there called Albania. He then succeeded Latinus in the government, and engaged in the wars of Italy. The Rutuli, a people living near the sea, and extending along the Numicius up to the Lavinium, opposed him. However, Turnus their king was defeated and killed by Aeneas. Aeneas was killed soon after this. The war continued to be carried on chiefly against the Rutuli, to the time of Romulus, the first king of Rome. By him it was that Rome was built.

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… Expression of IQ Preceding passage written at the age of 6 ½ Estimated IQ: 190 Grandfather, shoemaker; father, a philosopher Mother, daughter of woman who managed a lunatic asylum (cont.)

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… John Stuart Mill (Cont.) Educated at home –Learned Greek at 3 –Read Plato with understanding at 7 –At 8 studied Latin –Also at 8, covered geometry and algebra –At 9, conic sections, spherics, and Newton’s arithmetic –Of his math, it was said, “He performed all problems without the book and most of them without any help from the book.”

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is IQ Expressed? Life StatusCorrelation with IQ Primary school rank in classr =.50 Secondary school rank in classr = High School gradesr =.60 Freshman GPAr =.44* *The r between IQ and SAT’s is.80

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is IQ Expressed? Educational LevelAverage IQ Primary School100 Secondary School110 College118 Professional School126

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is Creativity Expressed? Greater output of products (books, poems, music, scientific achievements) judged as creative Longer, delayed, career attainments Novel or unusual career paths

How Does Personality Express Its Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… How is Emotional Intelligence Expressed? Stronger, closer relationships Fewer fights and conflicts Less drug abuse, alcohol abuse

What Are Some Major Mental Abilities? © Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Part 2: Parts of PersonalityChapter 6: Mental Abilities and… ~end of Chapter 6~