WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE? l MYTH: Each individual’s capacity to think & solve problems, including learning, memory, reasoning is: Ü -innate, genetically determined Ü -completely fixed Ü -stable Ü -unchangeable Psy 311: Intelligence

WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE (cont.)? l 1. Intelligence is NOT unitary l 2. Intelligence is NOT only genetic l 3. Intelligence is NOT fixed or stable

Different Definitions of Intelligence l 1. “G” or general intelligence and “S” or specific abilities l 2. Many distinct mental abilities

Different Definitions of Intelligence l 3. Crystallized vs. Fluid Intelligence –Crystallized: ability to use knowledge acquired in school & through experience. Culture specific –Fluid: ability to use one’s mind actively to solve novel problems. Less culture specific

Different Definitions of Intelligence (cont.) l 4. Dynamic information processing Intelligent behavior depends on: Ü a. Context Ü b. Experience Ü c. Information-processing components

WHAT ARE INTELLIGENCE TESTS? l SIMON AND BINET –Children who were "backward" in school l NORMATIVE TEST –Questions children of your age know the answers to

WHAT ARE INTELLIGENCE TESTS (cont.)? l SUBSCALES/ SUBTESTS: Ü Verbal –vocabulary Ü Performance – block design – math – story order – recall – puzzles

WHAT DOES IQ PREDICT? l CORRELATED WITH: – Grades – Job Success – Ethnicity – Socio-economic status l NOT CORRELATED WITH: – Creativity – Happiness

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE IQ SCORES l GENES: – Accounts for about half the variation in IQ scores within a group of people. l SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES: – More money and education in the family improves IQ scores.

Factors That Influence IQ Scores (cont.) l RACIAL & ETHNIC DIFFERENCES – Anglo-American children score better than some racial & ethnic groups Ü DATA versus INTERPRETATIONS – Data: average of 15 points difference – Interpretations: WRONG assumptions INCOMPLETE comparisons WRONG intervention implications

CORRECT INTERPRETATIONS l PROBLEMS with tests – Culture bias in tests – Culture bias in testing conditions l PROBLEMS with environment – Eg., schools – NOT due to genetic differences

School Environment l 1. Teacher expectations l 2. Teacher behavior – Warmth and involvement – More challenging tasks and learning opportunities – Talking and teaching more

Home Environment l 1. Parental warmth & involvement – Spending time – Interacting with child l 2. Intellectual “stimulation” – Appropriate play materials – Variety of activities – Developmentally appropriate – Responsive to child

Home Environment (cont.) l 3. Enjoyable – Fun and interesting – Everyday activities – No pressure or evaluation

Home Environment (cont.) Ü EXAMPLE: Facilitation of verbal skills – symbolic development – talking – pretend play – story telling – reading

HOW STABLE IS INTELLIGENCE?

HOW STABLE IS IQ DURING INFANCY? l 1. Most common assessment: BAYLEY Scale of Infant Development – rate of important milestones Motor Scale (grasping a cube) Mental Scale (searching for a hidden toy)

HOW STABLE IS IQ DURING INFANCY (cont.)? l 2. NOT related to later intelligence scores l 3. WHY NOT RELATED TO LATER SCORES? –maybe tests measure different things –maybe universal maturation influences development in infancy

HOW STABLE IS IQ DURING INFANCY (cont.)? l 4. Other measures of infant intelligence ARE correlated with later intelligence test scores – information processing skills – speed of habituation – preference for novelty

HOW STABLE IS IQ DURING CHILDHOOD? l GROUP scores are relatively stable l Predict later scores (e.g., from age 6 to 18)

INDIVIDUAL scores can change very much over time l Longitudinal study from age 2 1/2 to 17 Ü 1. Average difference between lowest and highest score was 28.5 pts Ü 2. One-third changed more than 30 pts Ü 3. One child changed 74 points

OPTIMIZATION OF INTELLIGENCE l 1. Family enrichment programs l 2. Preschool programs l 3. Adolescent training programs

LAST NAME, first name l 1. What do IQ tests measure? l 2. Name 3 factors that influence a person’s performance on IQ tests. l 3. Name 2 things that IQ tests predict. l 4. What is the most likely explanation of racial differences in IQ?

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Different Definitions of Intelligence (cont.) l 3a. Crystallized intelligence: ability to use knowledge acquired in school & through experience. (Culture specific) – general information – word comprehension – numerical abilities

Different Definitions of Intelligence (cont,) l 3b. Fluid intelligence: ability to use one’s mind actively to solve novel problems. (Less culture specific) – verbal analogies – memory for nonsense word pairs – geometric figures

Different Definitions of Intelligence (Cont) l 4. Dynamic information processing Intelligent behavior depends on: Ü a. Context: –Ability to adapt to current context –Ability to select a better context –Ability to change current context

Different Definitions of Intelligence (Cont) l 4. Dynamic information processing Intelligent behavior depends on: Ü b. Experience: –Novel tasks show intelligence more. Ü c. Information-processing components: –Executive components –Performance components –Knowledge-acquisition components