CHAPTER 10 â Intelligence
CHAPTER 10 – Intelligence Review - Intelligence is the ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment. Because cultural environments differ in the skills most important for adaptation, cultural conceptions of intelligence may differ markedly. - Galton’s studies of hereditary genius and Binet’s methods for measuring differences in children’s mental skills were important historical milestones in the study of intelligence. - The psychometric approach to intelligence attempts to map the structure of intellect and establish how many different classes of mental ability underlie test performance. A newer approach, the cognitive processes approach, focuses on the specific thought processes that underlie mental competencies. - Factor analysis can be applied to correlations among test scores to identify clusters of measures that correlate highly with one another and therefore are assumed to have a common underlying factor, such as verbal ability or mathematical reasoning. - Spearman believed that intelligence is determined both by specific cognitive abilities and by a general intelligence (g) factor that constitutes the core of intelligence. Thurstone disagreed, viewing intelligence as a set of specific abilities. Thurstone’s position is best supported by observed distinctions between verbal and spatial abilities. - Cattell and Horn differentiated between crystallized intelligence, the ability to apply previously learned knowledge to current problems, and fluid intelligence, the ability to deal with novel problem-solving situations for which personal experience does not provide a solution. They argued that over our lifespan, we show a progressive shift from using fluid intelligence to using crystallized intelligence as we attain wisdom. - Carroll’s three-stratum model is based on re-analyses of hundreds of data sets. Mental abilities are represented at 3 levels, with general intelligence (g) at the apex and highly specific cognitive and perceptual
skills at its base. Carroll’s model may be the most accurate psychometric representation of human cognitive abilities. - Cognitive process theories of intelligence focus on the elementary information-processing abilities that contribute to intelligence. Sternberg’s Triarchic theory of intelligence includes a components subtheory that addresses the specific cognitive processes that underlie intelligent behaviour. - Sternberg and Gardner maintain that there are distinct forms of intelligence beyond the traditional concept. Sternberg differentiates between analytical, practical, and creative intelligence, and Gardner proposes 9 different kinds of intelligence. The theory of emotional intelligence refers to people’s ability to read and respond appropriately to others’ emotions, to motivate themselves, and to be aware and in control of their emotions. - Most modern intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler scales, measure an array of different mental abilities. In addition to a global, or full-scale, IQ, they provide scores for each sub-test and summary scores for broader abilities, such as verbal and performance IQs. Some recent tests are derived directly from theories of intelligence. The Kaufman scale provides separate scores for crystallized and fluid intelligence, and Sternberg’s STAT measures analytical, practical, and creative intelligence. - Achievement tests measure what has already been learned, whereas aptitude tests are assumed to measure potential for future learning and performance. Most intelligence tests measure combinations of achievement and aptitude, for it is difficult to separate past learning and future learning potential. - Three important standards for psychological tests are reliability (consistency of measurement over time, within tests, and across scorers), validity (successful measurement of the construct and acceptable relations with relevant criterion measures), and standardization (development of norms and standard testing conditions). - IQ scores successfully predict a range of academic, occupational, and life outcomes, including how long people live. Such findings indicate that intelligence tests are measuring important adaptational skills.
- The Flynn Effect refers to the notable rise in intelligence test scores over the past century, possibly due to better living conditions, more schooling, or more complex environments. - In dynamic testing, standard test administration is followed by feedback and suggestions from the examiner and a re-taking of the test, thus allowing an assessment of how well the person profits from feedback and how intellectual skills might be coached in the future. Dynamic testing provides information that static testing does not, and re-test scores sometimes relate more strongly to criterion measures. - Intelligence testing in non-Western cultures is a challenge. One approach is to use tests that are not tied to any culture’s knowledge base. Another approach is to devise tests of the abilities that are important to adaptation in that culture. These culture-specific abilities may bear little relation to the mental skills assessed by Western intelligence tests. - Recent physiological evidence suggests that the brains of intelligent people may function more efficiently. Brain size is not significantly related to intelligence, but the neural networks laid down in the process of brain development may be extremely important. One current theory is that differences in brain plasticity may underlie intelligence. - Intelligence is determined by interacting hereditary and environmental factors. Genes account for between 50-70% of population variation in IQ. Shared family environment accounts for perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 of the variance during childhood, but its effects seem to dissipate as people age. Educational experiences also influence mental skills. Heredity establishes a reaction range with upper and lower limits for intellectual potential. Environment affects the point within that range that will be reached. - Intervention programs for disadvantaged children have positive effects on later achievement and life outcomes if they begin early in life and are applied intensively. They have little effect when applied after school begins or with middle- or upper-class children. - Heritability estimates of intelligence can vary, depending on sample characteristics. In impoverished families, shared environment was more important than genes, whereas the opposite was found in affluent
families. Twin studies also show that heritability effects on intelligence increase in adulthood. - Cultural and ethnic differences in intelligence exist (though they may be narrowing), but the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors are still in question. Evidence exists for both genetic and environmental determinants. Whether intelligence tests exhibit outcome bias in underestimating the mental abilities of minorities is a point of contention, but the tests do not appear to have predictive bias. - Although the differences are not large, men tend as a group to score higher than women on certain spatial and mathematical reasoning tasks. Women perform slightly better than men on tests of perceptual speed, verbal fluency, mathematical calculation, and fine-motor coordination. Both environmental and biological bases of sex differences have been suggested. - Even people with IQs in the 150s often show discrepancies in specific skills. Those who achieve eminence tend to have, in addition to high IQs, high levels of interest and motivation in their chosen activities. - Cognitive disability can be caused by a number of factors. Biological causes are identified in only about 28% of cases. Cognitive disability can range from mild to profound. The vast majority of disabled individuals are able to function in the mainstream of society, given appropriate support. Genetic factors seem relatively unimportant in profound mental retardation, but they seem to play an important role in mild retardation, which is more likely to run in families.
Key Terms & Concepts - Achievement Test: a measure of an individual’s degree of accomplishment in a particular subject or task based on a relatively standardized set of experiences. - Aptitude Test: a measure of a person’s ability to profit from further training or experience in an occupation or a skill; usually based on a
measure of skills gained over a person’s lifetime rather than during a specific course of study. - Cognitive Process Theories: approaches to intelligence that analyze the mental processes that underlie intelligent thinking. - Construct Validity: the extent to which a test measures the psychological construct that it is purported to measure. - Content Validity: the extent to which test items adequately sample the domain that the test is supposed to measure. - Criterion-Related Validity: the ability to test scores to correlate with meaningful criterion measures. - Crystallized Intelligence: intellectual abilities that depend on a store of information and the acquisition of particular skills. - Dynamic Testing: after standard testing the examiner gives the respondent guided feedback on how to improve performance and observes how the person uses the information. - Emotional Intelligence: ability to respond adaptively in the emotional realm by reading and responding appropriately to others’ emotions, to be aware of one’s own emotions and have the ability to control them, and to delay gratification. - Factor Analysis: a statistical technique that permits a researcher to reduce a large number of measures to a small number of clusters or factors; it identifies the clusters of behaviour or test scores that are highly correlated with one another. - Fluid Intelligence: the ability to deal with novel problem-solving situations for which personal experience does not supply a solution. - G Factor: general intelligence, a component of intellectual performance according to Spearman. - Intelligence: a concept that refers to individual differences in the ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment. - Intelligence Quotient (IQ): originally defined as mental age (MA) divided by chronological age (CA) multiplied by 100 (IQ = MA/CA x 100); an IQ of 100 indicates an individual is average for his or her age group. IQ scores are today based on norms derived from people of various ages.
- Inter-Judge Reliability: the extent to which different observers or scorers agree in their scoring of a particular test or observed behaviour - Internal Consistency: the extent to which items within a psychological test correlate with one another, indicating that they are measuring a common characteristic. - Knowledge-Acquisition Components: allow us to learn from our experience, store information in memory, and combine new insight with previously acquired information. - Mental Age: the mental level (or age) at which a child is performing as determined by a ―standardized interview‖ in which the child responds to a series of questions. - Metacomponents: higher-order processes used to plan and regulate task performance (Triarchic Theory). - Normal Distribution: a frequency distribution in the shape of a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve that satisfies certain mathematical conditions deduced from the theory of probability. - Norms: test scores derived from a relevant sample used to evaluate individuals’ test scores; behavioural ―rules.‖ - Outcome Bias: the extent that a test underestimates a person’s true intellectual ability. - Performance Components: the actual mental processes used to perform a task (Triarchic Theory). - Predictive Bias: a test bias that occurs if the test successfully predicts criterion measures for some groups but not for others. - Primary Mental Abilities: spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, verbal meaning, memory, verbal fluency, and inductive reasoning; defined by L. L. Thurstone on the basis of his factor analysis of intelligence test items. - Psychological Test: a method for measuring individual differences related to some psychological construct, based on a sample of relevant behaviour obtained under standardized conditions. - Psychometrics: the study of the statistical properties of psychological tests the psychometric approach to intelligence focuses on the number and nature of abilities that define intelligence.
- Reliability: in psychological testing, the consistency with which a measure assesses a given characteristic, or different observers agree on a given score. - Standardization: in psychological testing, (1) creating a standard set of procedures for administering a test or making observations, and (2) deriving norms to which an individual’s performance can be compared. - Static Testing: a traditional approach to testing whereby very detailed instructions must be closely adhered to in order to make sure that all testees are responding to as similar a stimulus situation as possible so that their scores will be solely a reflection of their ability. - Test-Retest Reliability: the extent to which scores on a presumably stable characteristic are consistent over time. - Three-Stratum Theory of Cognitive Abilities: a theory that supports 3 levels of mental skills—general, broad, and narrow—arranged in a hierarchical model. - Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Sternberg’s theory of intelligence that distinguishes between analytical, practical, and creative forms of mental ability. - Validity: the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to.
skills at its base. Carroll’s model may be the most accurate psychometric representation of human cognitive abilities. - Cognitive process theories of intelligence focus on the elementary information-processing abilities that contribute to intelligence. Sternberg’s Triarchic theory of intelligence includes a components subtheory that addresses the specific cognitive processes that underlie intelligent behaviour. - Sternberg and Gardner maintain that there are distinct forms of intelligence beyond the traditional concept. Sternberg differentiates between analytical, practical, and creative intelligence, and Gardner proposes 9 different kinds of intelligence. The theory of emotional intelligence refers to people’s ability to read and respond appropriately to others’ emotions, to motivate themselves, and to be aware and in control of their emotions. - Most modern intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler scales, measure an array of different mental abilities. In addition to a global, or full-scale, IQ, they provide scores for each sub-test and summary scores for broader abilities, such as verbal and performance IQs. Some recent tests are derived directly from theories of intelligence. The Kaufman scale provides separate scores for crystallized and fluid intelligence, and Sternberg’s STAT measures analytical, practical, and creative intelligence. - Achievement tests measure what has already been learned, whereas aptitude tests are assumed to measure potential for future learning and performance. Most intelligence tests measure combinations of achievement and aptitude, for it is difficult to separate past learning and future learning potential. - Three important standards for psychological tests are reliability (consistency of measurement over time, within tests, and across scorers), validity (successful measurement of the construct and acceptable relations with relevant criterion measures), and standardization (development of norms and standard testing conditions). - IQ scores successfully predict a range of academic, occupational, and life outcomes, including how long people live. Such findings indicate that intelligence tests are measuring important adaptational skills.
- The Flynn Effect refers to the notable rise in intelligence test scores over the past century, possibly due to better living conditions, more schooling, or more complex environments. - In dynamic testing, standard test administration is followed by feedback and suggestions from the examiner and a re-taking of the test, thus allowing an assessment of how well the person profits from feedback and how intellectual skills might be coached in the future. Dynamic testing provides information that static testing does not, and re-test scores sometimes relate more strongly to criterion measures. - Intelligence testing in non-Western cultures is a challenge. One approach is to use tests that are not tied to any culture’s knowledge base. Another approach is to devise tests of the abilities that are important to adaptation in that culture. These culture-specific abilities may bear little relation to the mental skills assessed by Western intelligence tests. - Recent physiological evidence suggests that the brains of intelligent people may function more efficiently. Brain size is not significantly related to intelligence, but the neural networks laid down in the process of brain development may be extremely important. One current theory is that differences in brain plasticity may underlie intelligence. - Intelligence is determined by interacting hereditary and environmental factors. Genes account for between 50-70% of population variation in IQ. Shared family environment accounts for perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 of the variance during childhood, but its effects seem to dissipate as people age. Educational experiences also influence mental skills. Heredity establishes a reaction range with upper and lower limits for intellectual potential. Environment affects the point within that range that will be reached. - Intervention programs for disadvantaged children have positive effects on later achievement and life outcomes if they begin early in life and are applied intensively. They have little effect when applied after school begins or with middle- or upper-class children. - Heritability estimates of intelligence can vary, depending on sample characteristics. In impoverished families, shared environment was more important than genes, whereas the opposite was found in affluent
families. Twin studies also show that heritability effects on intelligence increase in adulthood. - Cultural and ethnic differences in intelligence exist (though they may be narrowing), but the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors are still in question. Evidence exists for both genetic and environmental determinants. Whether intelligence tests exhibit outcome bias in underestimating the mental abilities of minorities is a point of contention, but the tests do not appear to have predictive bias. - Although the differences are not large, men tend as a group to score higher than women on certain spatial and mathematical reasoning tasks. Women perform slightly better than men on tests of perceptual speed, verbal fluency, mathematical calculation, and fine-motor coordination. Both environmental and biological bases of sex differences have been suggested. - Even people with IQs in the 150s often show discrepancies in specific skills. Those who achieve eminence tend to have, in addition to high IQs, high levels of interest and motivation in their chosen activities. - Cognitive disability can be caused by a number of factors. Biological causes are identified in only about 28% of cases. Cognitive disability can range from mild to profound. The vast majority of disabled individuals are able to function in the mainstream of society, given appropriate support. Genetic factors seem relatively unimportant in profound mental retardation, but they seem to play an important role in mild retardation, which is more likely to run in families.
Key Terms & Concepts - Achievement Test: a measure of an individual’s degree of accomplishment in a particular subject or task based on a relatively standardized set of experiences. - Aptitude Test: a measure of a person’s ability to profit from further training or experience in an occupation or a skill; usually based on a
measure of skills gained over a person’s lifetime rather than during a specific course of study. - Cognitive Process Theories: approaches to intelligence that analyze the mental processes that underlie intelligent thinking. - Construct Validity: the extent to which a test measures the psychological construct that it is purported to measure. - Content Validity: the extent to which test items adequately sample the domain that the test is supposed to measure. - Criterion-Related Validity: the ability to test scores to correlate with meaningful criterion measures. - Crystallized Intelligence: intellectual abilities that depend on a store of information and the acquisition of particular skills. - Dynamic Testing: after standard testing the examiner gives the respondent guided feedback on how to improve performance and observes how the person uses the information. - Emotional Intelligence: ability to respond adaptively in the emotional realm by reading and responding appropriately to others’ emotions, to be aware of one’s own emotions and have the ability to control them, and to delay gratification. - Factor Analysis: a statistical technique that permits a researcher to reduce a large number of measures to a small number of clusters or factors; it identifies the clusters of behaviour or test scores that are highly correlated with one another. - Fluid Intelligence: the ability to deal with novel problem-solving situations for which personal experience does not supply a solution. - G Factor: general intelligence, a component of intellectual performance according to Spearman. - Intelligence: a concept that refers to individual differences in the ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment. - Intelligence Quotient (IQ): originally defined as mental age (MA) divided by chronological age (CA) multiplied by 100 (IQ = MA/CA x 100); an IQ of 100 indicates an individual is average for his or her age group. IQ scores are today based on norms derived from people of various ages.
- Inter-Judge Reliability: the extent to which different observers or scorers agree in their scoring of a particular test or observed behaviour - Internal Consistency: the extent to which items within a psychological test correlate with one another, indicating that they are measuring a common characteristic. - Knowledge-Acquisition Components: allow us to learn from our experience, store information in memory, and combine new insight with previously acquired information. - Mental Age: the mental level (or age) at which a child is performing as determined by a ―standardized interview‖ in which the child responds to a series of questions. - Metacomponents: higher-order processes used to plan and regulate task performance (Triarchic Theory). - Normal Distribution: a frequency distribution in the shape of a symmetrical or bell-shaped curve that satisfies certain mathematical conditions deduced from the theory of probability. - Norms: test scores derived from a relevant sample used to evaluate individuals’ test scores; behavioural ―rules.‖ - Outcome Bias: the extent that a test underestimates a person’s true intellectual ability. - Performance Components: the actual mental processes used to perform a task (Triarchic Theory). - Predictive Bias: a test bias that occurs if the test successfully predicts criterion measures for some groups but not for others. - Primary Mental Abilities: spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, verbal meaning, memory, verbal fluency, and inductive reasoning; defined by L. L. Thurstone on the basis of his factor analysis of intelligence test items. - Psychological Test: a method for measuring individual differences related to some psychological construct, based on a sample of relevant behaviour obtained under standardized conditions. - Psychometrics: the study of the statistical properties of psychological tests the psychometric approach to intelligence focuses on the number and nature of abilities that define intelligence.
- Reliability: in psychological testing, the consistency with which a measure assesses a given characteristic, or different observers agree on a given score. - Standardization: in psychological testing, (1) creating a standard set of procedures for administering a test or making observations, and (2) deriving norms to which an individual’s performance can be compared. - Static Testing: a traditional approach to testing whereby very detailed instructions must be closely adhered to in order to make sure that all testees are responding to as similar a stimulus situation as possible so that their scores will be solely a reflection of their ability. - Test-Retest Reliability: the extent to which scores on a presumably stable characteristic are consistent over time. - Three-Stratum Theory of Cognitive Abilities: a theory that supports 3 levels of mental skills—general, broad, and narrow—arranged in a hierarchical model. - Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Sternberg’s theory of intelligence that distinguishes between analytical, practical, and creative forms of mental ability. - Validity: the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to.
