Intelligence What makes us smart? Or not so smart?

DEFINING INTELLIGENCE  Exactly what makes up intelligence is a matter of debate  David Wechsler’s Definition  Act purposefully  Think rationally  Deal effectively with the environment

Street SmartBook Smart

Theories of Intelligence  No one real definition  Fluid versus Crystallized Intelligence  4 main theoretical concepts of intelligence….

Charles Spearman and his G factor  Used factor analysis and discovered that what we see as many different skills is actually one General Intelligence.  If you are good at one subject you are usually good at many others. Jack Bauer is good at torturing, bomb defusing, shooting, figuring out evil plots and saving the country (and he is good looking). Is there anything he cannot do?

EARLY THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE  L. L. Thurstone  Believed that intelligence is made up of seven distinct, independent abilities: Spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, verbal meaning, memory, word fluency, reasoning  Thurstone did not believe in a G- Factor, but researchers who scored well in one of the seven areas tended to score well on others. 7 Different abilities!

Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences  Gardner believed that there exists at least 7 different types of intelligences. 1.Linguistic 2.Logical-mathematical 3.Spatial 4.Musical 5.Body-kinesthetic 6.Intrapersonal 7.Interpersonal 8.Naturalist

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE: HOWARD GARDNER

Robert Sternberg and his Triarchic Theory  Most commonly accepted theory today.  Three types of intelligence 1.Analytical 2.Creative 3.Practical

Creativity  Defined as the ability to produce novel and socially valued ideas or objects  Creativity and Intelligence – Early studies suggested that there was little relationship  IQ of at least 120 required to be creative, but it doesn’t mean you will be!

Creativity  Creativity Tests –  Open-ended questions; scoring is based upon the number and originality of a person’s answers  Torrance Test – Individuals explain a picture, its origins, and consequences  Mednick’s Remote Association Test (RAT) – given three words – you come up with a fourth word that the other three can be combined with e.g. hand, lone, win (answer = some)  Sternberg’s Components of creativity  Expertise  Imaginative thinking skills  A venturesome personality  Intrinsic motivation  A creative environment

Goleman and his EQ  Emotional Intelligence  Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.  Maybe EQ is a better predictor for future success than IQ.

Comparing Contemporary Theories Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Sternberg’s Triarchic Intelligences Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Logical-Mathematical Linguistic Analytical Spatial Musical Body-Kinesthetic Creative InterpersonalPracticalRecognizing emotions in others and managing relationships IntrapersonalKnowing, managing, and motivating yourself with emotions

Brain Size and Intelligence Is there a link?  Small +.15 correlation between head size and intelligence scores (relative to body size).  Using an MRI we found +.44 correlation with brain size and IQ score.

INTELLIGENCE TESTS: BINET AND SIMON  First test of intelligence, developed to identify children who might have difficulty in school  Binet developed the concept of mental age in children  Mental Age = age at which you perform intellectually - may or may not correspond with chronological age  Goal was to use intelligence tests to improve children’s educational experience – not limit their opportunities with harmful labels.

Brain Function and Intelligence  Higher performing brains are less active than lower performing brains (use less glucose).  Neurological speed is also a bit quicker.

Problems with the IQ Formula It does not really work well on adults, why? then his IQ would be 50!!!!!! If a 60 year old man does as well as an average 35 year old That makes no sense!!!!!

Wechsler Tests  More common way to give IQ tests….does not use the formula but uses the same scoring system.  WAIS  WISC  WPPSI

INTELLIGENCE TESTS: WESCHLER SCALES  The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is the most commonly used test of intelligence for adults  WAIS is divided into to 11 parts that focus on verbal abilities and on performance skills  Also a version for children, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

INTELLIGENCE TESTS: WESCHLER SCALES

Normal Distribution

The Flynn Effect

PRINCIPLES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION  Reliability - Ability of a test to provide consistent and stable scores  Test-retest reliability – a method of measuring reliability where the same individual is given the test on two different occasions and scores are compared. Similarity in scores indicates good test- retest reliability  Split-half reliability – method of measuring reliability where the individual takes one test that is divided in half. Performance on each half is compared for similarity.  Alternate-form reliability – two different but similar forms of the test are given on separate occasions and scores are compared for similarity.

PRINCIPLES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION  Validity - Ability of a test to measure what it purports to measure  Content validity – tests ability to cover the complete range of material (content) it is supposed to measure  Predictive validity – how well a test score predicts an individual’s performance in the future  Correlation between SAT scores and first-year grades in college? +.5 – not great!  Correlation between GRE and grad school grades? +.4 – even worse!

Scoring the IQ Test  Raw Score - number of questions answered correctly; doesn’t tell much about performance  Standard Score - score that tells you how you did compared to other test takers – a much better read of performance  Percentile Score - what percentage of test takers you scored better than  What does it mean to score in the 85 th percentile?

INTELLIGENCE: STABILITY OR CHANGE?  Intellectual ability does not seem to stabilize until age 7, but by age 4 performance on intelligence tests seems to predict future performance  Ian Deary study seems to establish that intelligence does remain relatively stable over time.  All year-olds in Scotland tested in 1932  Follow up on the survivors done as recently as 2004 indicates intelligence tests remained consistent

Extremes of Intelligence  Akrit Jaswal

Extremes of Intelligence: Giftedness  Definition  top 3% of IQ scores, typically over 132,  Superior IQ combined with ability in academics, creativity, and leadership  Giftedness is often in specific areas  “Globally” gifted people are rare  Some gifted children feel isolated and lonely, but most are well adjusted  Specialized Programs of Study?

EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE: MENTAL RETARDATION (INTELLECTUAL DISBAILITY)  Definition  IQ < 70; lowest 3% of IQ scores  not a result of accident  onset before age 18  substantial limitations in functioning  Causes – drug abuse during pregnancy, genetic disorders such as Down Syndrome, lack of fetal nutrition  Levels  Mild - 90% of cases  Moderate - 6% of cases  Severe - 3% of cases  Profound - 1% of cases  Some people with retardation show savant performance on particular skills

EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE: MENTAL RETARDATION (INTELLECTUAL DISBAILITY)

Education and the Law  All children are entitled to an education that is…  FREE  PUBLIC  APPROPRIATE  Mainstreaming  keeping special needs kids in regular ed classes for whatever subject areas/activities they can handle  Inclusion  rather than taking special needs kids out of regular ed classes for support, bring support personnel into regular ed classes so kids can stay with their peers.  Leveling  separating children by ability into different classes

How do we construct an Intelligence Test?  Standardized: the questions have been piloted on similar populations and the scores fall on a normal distribution.  Reliable: Test-Retest, Split-halves Methods.  Validity: Content, Predictive or Construct.

Types of Tests Aptitude  Measure ability or potential. Achievement  Tests that measure what you have learned.

APTITUDE VS. ACHIEVEMENT?  Achievement tests measure what you have already learned  Aptitude tests measure your potential to learn.  There is a positive correlation between aptitude tests results and intelligence tests.  e.g. correlation between SAT and IQ?

DETERMINANTS OF INTELLIGENCE: NATURE  Biological similarities in Adoption Studies  IQ scores of child more closely correlated with biological mother than adoptive mother.  Identical Twins reared apart  after identical twins reared together, identical twins reared apart have the highest correlation of IQ scores.

Correlation of IQ Scores of Family Members