1. McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intelligence? Module 32
Learning Outcomes
Summarize the theories of intelligence
Compare and contrast practical and emotional intelligences
Explain approaches to measuring intelligence
Identify variations in intellectual ability
Intelligence: the capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges
Instructor’s Note: Suggest a class discussion on the students’ definitions of intelligence, preferably before defining the word. It will likely bring out variations in definitions and provides a good way to show that the concept is difficult to define, yet you may get clear examples of the common concepts agreed upon by most psychologists in the above definition.
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Theories of Intelligence: Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence?
Psychologists struggle with a question:
Is intelligence a single, general ability, or is it multifaceted?
g or g-factor: the single, general factor for mental ability assumed to underlie intelligence in some early theories. More recent theories consider intelligence to be multidimensional.
Fluid intelligence: reflects information-processing capabilities, reasoning, and memory
Crystallized intelligence: the accumulation of information, skills, and strategies that are learned through experience and can be applied in problem-solving situations; reflects our ability to call up information from long-term memory
Instructor’s Note: This is a good opportunity to ask your students if they recall how the aging process affects fluid and crystallized intelligence (covered in chapter 8, module 28, learning outcome 6). Generally, fluid intelligence skills decline, while crystallized intelligence remains steady throughout older age.
The different ways in which people view their own talents mirrors a question that psychologists have grappled with: Is intelligence a single, general ability, or is it multifaceted and related to specific abilities?
The general intelligence factor (g or g-factor) was thought to underlie performance in every aspect of intelligence. More recent theories see intelligence in a different light. Rather than viewing intelligence as a unitary entity, they consider it to be a multidimensional concept that includes different types of intelligence.
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Theories of Intelligence: Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? (cont.)
Theory of multiple intelligences: proposes eight spheres of intelligence, each relatively independent of the others (Howard Gardner)
musical, bodily kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist
Information-processing approach: the most accurate measure of intelligence is provided by the way people store material in memory and use that material to solve intellectual tasks
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. RECAP
Because intelligence can take many forms, defining it is challenging. One commonly accepted view is that intelligence is the capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges.
Early psychologists assumed that there is a general factor (g-factor) for mental ability. Later psychologists disputed the view that intelligence is unidimensional.
Some researchers suggest that intelligence can be broken down into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence.
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences proposes there are eight spheres of intelligence.
Information-processing approaches examine the processes underlying intelligent behavior rather than focusing on the structure of intelligence.

5. Practical Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence: Toward a More Intelligent View of Intelligence
Traditional intelligence tests relate to academic success.
Practical intelligence is related to overall success in living.
Most traditional measures of intelligence do not relate to career success.
Career success requires a very different type of intelligence, which is learned mainly through observation of others’ behavior.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg points to evidence showing that most traditional measures of intelligence do not relate especially well to career success. Career success requires a very different type of intelligence from that required for academic success. People who are high in practical intelligence are able to learn general norms and principles and apply them appropriately.
Emotional intelligence is the basis of empathy for others, self-awareness and social skills. High emotional intelligence may enable an individual to tune into others’ feelings, permitting a high degree of responsiveness to others.
Some psychologists broaden the concept of intelligence even further to include emotional intelligence—a set of skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression and regulation of emotion.
Whereas academic success is based on knowledge of a specific information base obtained from reading and listening, practical intelligence is learned mainly through observation of others’ behavior.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg points to evidence showing that most traditional measures of intelligence do not relate especially well to career success. Career success requires a very different type of intelligence from that required for academic success. People who are high in practical intelligence are able to learn general norms and principles and apply them appropriately.
Emotional intelligence is the basis of empathy for others, self-awareness and social skills. High emotional intelligence may enable an individual to tune into others’ feelings, permitting a high degree of responsiveness to others.
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. Assessing Intelligence
Given the variety of approaches to intelligence, measuring intelligence is challenging.
Psychologists who study intelligence have focused much of their attention on developing intelligence tests—tests devised to quantify a person’s intelligence.
The first real intelligence tests were developed by Alfred Binet.
Children were assigned a score relating to their mental age.
Assigning a mental age gave an indication of their general level of performance.
It did not allow for adequate comparisons among people of different chronological ages.
Mental age: the average age of individuals who achieve a particular level of performance on a test
Chronological age: actual, physical age
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. Assessing Intelligence (cont.)
Intelligence quotient (IQ): a score that takes into account an individual’s mental and chronological ages
Historically, IQ scores employed the formula of mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.
IQ score = (MA/CA) x 100
Deviation IQ scores: the way IQ scores are calculated today; scores assigned to individuals based on the difference between that score and the average score for everyone of that age (average score would translate to an IQ score of 100)
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. Assessing Intelligence (cont.)
Contemporary IQ tests
The IQ test most used in the United States is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III). A children’s version known as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV), is also available.
The Stanford-Binet, WAIS-III, and WISC-IV tests require individual, one-on-one administration. Consequently, there are now a number of IQ tests that allow group administration.
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. Variations in Intellectual Ability
Intellectual disability (mental retardation): a condition characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills
Mild intellectual retardation: IQ scores from 55-69
Moderate retardation: IQ scores from 40-54
Severe retardation: IQ scores from 25-39
Profound retardation: IQ scores below 25
More than 7 million people in the US, including around 11 per 1,000 children, have been identified as far enough below average in intelligence that they can be regarded as having a serious deficit. Individuals with low IQs as well as those with unusually high IQs require special attention if they are to reach their full potential.
There is wide variation among those with intellectual disabilities, in large part because of the inclusiveness of the definition. Remember that in most cases of intellectual disabilities, there is no biological deficiency, but a history of intellectual disabilities exists in the family.
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. Variations in Intellectual Ability (cont.)
Biological causes of intellectual disabilities (almost 1/3 of cases)
Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most common biological cause.
Down’s syndrome is the result of an extra chromosome.
Birth complications such as oxygen deprivation, can cause retardation.
Physical injury, stroke, or infections.
Familial retardation: no apparent biological defect exists, but there is a history of retardation in the family
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. Variations in Intellectual Ability (cont.)
Intellectually gifted: having an IQ score greater than 130 (about 2 – 4% of the population)
Culture-fair IQ test: a test that does not discriminate against the members of any minority group
Intelligence shows a high degree of heritability (the degree to which a characteristic is related to genetic, inherited factors), but environmental factors play a large role in influencing intelligence also
McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill (c) 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12. Variations in Intellectual Ability (cont.)
There is a lingering controversy over differences in intelligence between members of minority and majority groups.
In attempts to produce culture fair testing, testing that does not discriminate against members of minority groups, psychologists have tried to devise test items that assess experiences common to all cultures, or emphasize questions that do not require language usage.
This controversy causes psychologists to confront the broader issues of determining the relative contribution of intelligence of genetic factors and experience—the nature-nurture issue that remains one of the basic issues of psychology.

13. Critical Thinking Exercise
Is IQ a good indicator of potential success? How could IQ tests be used to help students or perhaps hinder students?
1-2paragraphs