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What is Intelligence? Intelligence (in all cultures) is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations. In research studies, intelligence is whatever the intelligence test measures. This tends to be “school smarts.”

APA on Intelligence Intelligence refers to intellectual functioning. Intelligence quotients, or IQ tests, compare your performance with other people your age who take the same test. These tests don’t measure all kinds of intelligence, however. For example, such tests can’t identify differences in social intelligence, the expertise people bring to their interactions with others. There are also generational differences in the population as a whole.

What is intelligence? “It seems to us that in intelligence there is a fundamental faculty, the alteration or the lack of which, is of the utmost importance for practical life. This faculty is judgment, otherwise called good sense, practical sense, initiative, the faculty of adapting ones self to circumstances.” --Alfred Binet

What is intelligence? “An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings.” --Howard Gardner

What is intelligence? “... I prefer to refer to it as ‘successful intelligence.’ And the reason is that the emphasis is on the use of your intelligence to achieve success in your life. So I define it as your skill in achieving whatever it is you want to attain in your life within your sociocultural context — meaning that people have different goals for themselves, and for some it’s to get very good grades in school and to do well on tests, and for others it might be to become a very good basketball player or actress or musician.” --Robert Sternberg

What is intelligence? “The ability to carry on abstract thinking.” Lewis Terman

What is Intelligence? “A global concept that involves an individual’s ability to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment.” -David Wechsler

IQ Score Distribution

Conceptual Difficulties Psychologists believe that intelligence is a concept and not a thing. When we think of intelligence as a trait (thing) we make an error called reification — viewing an abstract immaterial concept as if it were a concrete thing.

Controversies About Intelligence 1.Is it more nature or more nurture? 2.Is it general or multiple? 3.Can it be measured? 4.Can we locate and measure it in the brain?

Cultural Influences on Intelligence Definitions West: view intelligence as a means for individuals to devise categories and to engage in rational debate East: sees it as a way for members of a community to recognize contradiction and complexity and to play their social roles successfully.

Theories of Intelligence 4 main theoretical concepts of intelligence….

Charles Spearman ( ) and his G factor *If you are good at one subject you are usually good at many others. G= verbal, math, analytical ability S= mechanical, logical, spatial 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?

General Intelligence How did he prove it g? Spearman used factor analysis: – A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test (can be any test, not just intelligence). It is used to identify the different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score.

Recap: Technical definition: The g factor is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual's performance at one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to his or her performance at other kinds of cognitive tasks. Huh? If you are good at one cognitive test, you will be good at many other cognitive tests.

General Intelligence Critics L. L. Thurstone, a critic of Spearman, analyzed his subjects NOT on a single scale of general intelligence, but on seven clusters of primary mental abilities, including: 1.Word Fluency 2.Verbal Comprehension 3.Spatial Ability 4.Perceptual Speed 5.Numerical Ability 6.Inductive Reasoning 7.Memory

Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner disagreed with Spearman’s g and instead came up with the concept of multiple intelligences. He came up with the idea by studying savants. – juxtapositions of severe mental handicap and prodigious mental ability

Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences Gardner believed that there exists at least 8 different types of intelligences. 1.Linguistic 2.Logical-mathematical 3.Spatial 4.Musical 5.Body-kinesthetic 6.Intrapersonal 7.Interpersonal 8.Naturalist 9.Existential

Sternberg’s Three Aspects of Intelligence (Basically it’s Gardner Simplified) Most commonly accepted theory today Analytical (academic; one solution). Creative (generating novel ideas) Practical (required for everyday tasks where multiple solutions exist).

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Alice is a good student, always getting good grades until she reached graduate school. Required to come up with original ideas, Alice began to fall behind. Barbara is not such a good student, but she’s brimming over with ideas for research. Celia is neither a good nor a creative student, but she’s street smart; she knows how to play the game-- -how to get things done.

Daniel Goleman and his EQ Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. EQ in most studies, is a better predictor for future success than IQ.

COMPONENTS OF E. I. FIRST THREE ARE PERSONAL – SELF-AWARENESS – EMOTIONAL SELF-REGULATION – PERSEVERANCE LAST TWO ARE SOCIAL – EMPATHY – RELATIONSIHPS

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

Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable? As brain size decreases with age, scores on verbal intelligence tests also decrease. Gray matter concentration in people with high intelligence.

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