1. Activity: Mensa Workout
Take (an abbreviated version of) the Mensa workout.
You have 12 minutes.

2. Mensa Workout: Tally your Score
1600 (sally likes perfect squares)
6 (1 typist types 1 page in 2 minutes)
21:00 C
5 (1/10 of 400 is 40, 1/4 of 40 is 10, 1/2 of 10 is 5) 20
10 (each syllable is worth 5)
25 (apples=7, bananas=8, strawberries=3, cherries=2)
10 meters ( sqrt(3*3 + 4*4) * 2. They make 2 right ∆ )
8 (Circle has one line, octagon has eight)
It is not really sensible to rely on something that has not yet happened and may not ever happen.
No (the other 800 elephants can be any mix of all blue and pink and green stripes)

3. Mensa Workout: Your ‘IQ’
12 / 12 – 100% (you’re in!)
11 / 12 – 92% (close but no banana)
10 / 12 – 83% (hmmmm, work on it)
9 / – 75% (well… maybe another day)
8 / – 66% (ditto)
7 / – 58% (ditto)
6 / – 50% (average)
5 / – 42% (having a bad day?)
4 / – 33% (owie)
3 / – 25% (double owie)
2 / – 17% (triple owie)
1 / – 8% (are you conscious?)
0 / – 0% (are you alive?)
How ya’ feeling now? Ready to learn??

4. Intelligence: Outline
What is Intelligence?
What is IQ?
What does IQ predict?
Factors that Influence IQ scores
The general psychometric approach
Various Theories of Intelligence
Sternberg’s Computational Theory of IQ
Barab & Plucker’s Distributed Intelligence Approach

5. What is Intelligence? Activity:
Summarize in a single sentence what intelligence means to you.
List up to 5 attributes that characterize highly intelligent people ______________________________________
Observation: Intelligence means different things to to different people
“adaptive thinking or action” (Piaget, 1997)
abstract thinking, effective problem solving (Sternberg, 1997)
analogical reasoning, discerning pattern, speed of processing (~Mensa)

6. What is IQ?
Intelligence quotient (IQ): A numerical measure of a person’s performance on an intelligence test relative to the performance of other examinees
Test Norms: standards of normal performance on IQ tests based on the average & range of scores of a large, representative sample of test takers
IQ = MA/CA = 100

7. What does IQ predict?
IQ tests measure intellectual performance, not capacity
A person’s IQ can vary considerably over time
Schooling, which largely reflects cultural values, actually improves IQ test performance
What does IQ Predict?
Scholastic Achievement
grades, likelihood of dropping out or graduating HS, likelihood of completing college
Occupational Status/Performance
White-collar workers consistently score higher in IQ than manual blue-collar workers (er…)
IQ correlates with performance on the job
Health, Adjustment, Life Satisfaction
Terman longitudinal study: High IQ children tended to walk/talk sooner, exhibit better health, better emotional adjustment, more moral maturity, more leadership
HOWEVER… twice as likely to show depression, feelings of social isolation

8. Factors that Influence IQ
Why do people differ so dramatically in IQ?
Nature (Hereditary Influences)
Roughly 1/2 of the variation in IQ scores results from genetic differences (twin studies, adoption studies)
Nurture (Environmental Influences)
Small to moderate correlation btwn IQs of children in same house but genetically unrelated (adoption studies)
Social & Cultural Correlates – Best predictors of children’s IQ related to home environment:
Infancy
Parental involvement
Age-appropriate play materials
Variety in daily stimulation
Preschool
Parental warmth
Stimulation of language & academic behaviors

9. Intelligence: Outline
What is Intelligence?
What is IQ?
What does IQ predict?
Factors that Influence IQ scores
The general psychometric approach
Various Theories of Intelligence
Sternberg’s Computational Theory of IQ
Barab & Plucker’s Distributed Intelligence Approach

10. General Psychometric Approach
A theoretical perspective that portrays intelligence as a trait (or set of traits) on which individuals differ
Goal: to identify precisely what those traits might be & to measure them
Responsible for the development of standardized intelligence tests
P r o b l e m :
Little agreement on the structure of intelligence…

11. Theories of Intelligence
Alfred Binet
Single Component: Mental age: measure of intellectual development reflecting level of age-graded problems a child is able to solve
Spearman’s g
General factor (g) + some special abilities (s) specific to particular tests
Thurstone ‘s view
Spearman’s g really equals 7 “primary mental abilities”
Spatial ability
Perceptual speed
Numerical reasoning
Verbal meaning
Word fluency
Memory
Inductive reasoning
Guildford
5 Content x 6 Mental Operations x 6 Products 180 distinct mental abilities
Hierarchical Models of Intelligence
model of the structure of intelligence in which a broad, general ability factor (g) is at the top of the hierarchy, with a number of specialized ability factors nested underneath

12. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Criticism of other models: Too strong a focus on what child knows rather than processes by which knowledge is acquired, retained & used to solve problems.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence - a recent computational theory of intelligence that emphasizes three aspects of intelligent behavior not normally tapped by IQ tests:
The context of the action (cultural/historical period)
The person’s experience with the task/situation (response to novelty or automation)
The information-processing strategies the person applies to the task/situation (problem representation, strategies, monitoring, efficiency, speed)

13. Distributed Intelligence Approach (Barab & Plucker)
Distributed Cognition
Cognition is distributed among individuals
Knowledge is socially constructed thru collaborative efforts to achieve shared objectives in cultural surroundings
Information is processed between individuals & the tools & artifacts provided by culture
Where then lies IQ?
An individual’s competence is situation specific
What makes one person-in-situation more intelligent than another is its contextualized functional value
The ability to act intelligently is accomplished or engaged rather than possessed
Educators must develop smart contexts, not smart people

14. Activity
Read: “What you see is what you get” in light of the film just viewed.
Write a 1-2 paragraph response to the article.