1. Intelligence (Biological)

2. Background: What is intelligence?

3. What makes someone intelligent?
Is it:
How much information they know?
How much they can understand other people?
How quickly they can solve patterns?
Or other things?
With your partner try to come up with a test that you think will accurately measure intelligence.
Compare your test with another group. Do you see any problems with your test?
We will look at some different examples of how intelligence is defined.

4. Intelligence as a cognitive skill
Spearman (1904) stated that if a person could demonstrate different cognitive skills (e.g. maths ability, reading, writing) then they could be considered intelligent.
Raymond and Cattell (1942) actually identified over 100 different abilities that could be considered as cognitive skills.
Spearman categorised these skills into two types:
Fluid intelligence – your innate, biological level of intelligence that you were born with. You use this intelligence when you come across new situations (e.g. learning how to drive).
Crystallised intelligence – which is intelligence we use when we can draw upon past experiences to solve problems (e.g. use your general knowledge in a pub quiz).
Horn (1967) found that young adults had higher fluid intelligence and lower crystallised intelligence, while older adults had lower fluid intelligence and higher crystallised intelligence.
What conclusion can you make about fluid intelligence and age?
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5. Intelligence that reflects the whole of human cognition
It is now widely recognised that intelligence is more than simply someone’s ability to memorise tests or solve maths problems.
Sternberg (1985) in his theory of successful intelligence identified three types of intelligence:
Analytical intelligence – skills of analysing and judging (e.g. planning to design a lamp).
Practical intelligence – applying these skills to a real-life context (e.g. making the lamp).
Creative intelligence – using cognitive skills to solve new problems that you are unprepared for (e.g. using a new design for the lamp because there were not enough materials).
In addition to this, Gardner also identified personal or emotional intelligence.
This is your ability to understand the feelings and emotions of both yourself (INTRA-personal intelligence) and of other people (INTER-personal intelligence).
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6. Multiple intelligences
As we have seen different psychologists have different ideas about what intelligence is.
Gardner (1983) referred to a range of literature and drew up seven intelligences.
Gardner’s model of seven intelligences could be very useful to employers, managers and schools.
Discuss why you think Gardner’s model is useful.
Artistic intelligences:
Musical intelligence
Kinaesthetic intelligence
Spatial intelligence
Emotional intelligences
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Traditional intelligences
Linguistic intelligence
Mathematical intelligence
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7. Biological factors that can affect intelligence
It was once considered that the size of your head was a good measurement of intelligence. Researchers would simply measure the circumference of the top of your head and the bigger it was, the more intelligent you were.
Studies showed that males were more intelligent than females as their heads were larger.
We know now that this isn’t true, but are there other biological factors that can determine intelligence?
We will consider: gender, genes, environmental factors and stress.
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8. Gender Is one gender more intelligent than the other?
Although head size is not a good indicator of intelligence, studies have shown that there are differences in males and females.
Males tend to have thicker white matter fibres in the brain which allows for better spatial intelligence.
Females tend to have thinner white matter fibres but more of them, which allows for better verbal skills.
Overall, males and females have the same level of intellectual performance but this is achieved through the use of different parts of the brain.
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9. Genetics
Can intelligence be passed down from your parents through genetic inheritance?
It is controversial to claim that some people are born more intelligent than others. However, researchers such as Leeuwen et al. (2007) have found that between 25 and 50% of genes can contribute to intelligence.
Deary (2011) states although no one gene can cause intelligence, small variations in many genes can add up to a larger difference overall.
Some cognitive skills tend to be affected by genetic inheritance more easily (e.g. verbal and organisational skills) while others are largely not affected by genes (e.g. memory).
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10. The environment
Although it might not be obvious how the environment can affect the biology of intelligence, there are several ways this can happen.
Nutrition can have a significant effect on intelligence.
Lucas et al. (1998) found that premature babies developed higher cognitive skills at 7 or 8 after being breastfed compared to babies who were not breastfed.
Schoenthaler et al. (1991) found that children who lacked a healthy diet but took vitamin pills scored on average 15 IQ points higher than those who didn’t take the pills (although this was only on non-verbal tests).
On the other hand, toxic substances like cannabis can reduce the intelligence of children aged 6 if their mothers smoked one or more cigarette of cannabis during the first three months of pregnancy (Goldschmidt et al. 2008).
Other factors associated with cannabis can also have affected the intelligence – social factors such as low income or poor nutrition could also have affected the intelligence in Goldschmidt's study.
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11. Stress Finally, stress can have an impact on intelligence.
Glover (2009) found that mothers who had suffered from a high degree of stress had more cortisol in their body.
This cortisol, which is normally broken down, can enter the amniotic fluid when the mother is pregnant. The cortisol could have an effect on the development of the baby’s IQ (in particular verbal and linguistic development).
King et al. (2008) found that mothers who reported a high degree of stress when they were pregnant (caused by a natural disaster) gave birth to children who were on average 15 IQ points lower on a test when compared to non-stressed mothers.
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