1. Chapter 11 pt. 1: Measuring “Intelligence”

2. Measuring Intelligence
Intelligence Tests: tests for assessing a person’s mental abilities and comparing them with the abilities of other people, by means of numerical scores.

3. Origins of Intelligence Tests
Alfred Binet, a french psychologist, is most often considered to be the pioneer of the intelligence testing movement.
What was Binet’s purpose for developing his tests?
Assumed children follow the same course of intellectual development, but some development faster and slower then others

4. Alfred Binet and Intelligence Tests
Binet’s looked to identify a child’s:
Mental Age: chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.
A child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.
Binet did not believe his test measured inborn intelligence.
Tests predicted how well the children handle schoolwork
Purpose was to ID children who need help

5. Lewis Terman and Intelligence Tests
Lewis Terman, an American psychologist at Stanford, adapted Binet’s test in an attempt to measure what he thought was inherited intelligence.
Stanford-Binet: refers to the widely used revision of Binet’s original intelligence test.

6. IQ Tests
In an attempt to measure inherited intelligence, tests developed the “IQ.”
IQ: (intelligence quotient): defined originally the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100
IQ = ma/ca x 100)
Not used today; not accurate for adults
on contemporary tests it is the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

7. The Normal Curve Number of scores 55 70 85 100 115 130 145
Ninety-five percent
of all people fall
within 30 points
of 100
Number of scores
Wechsler intelligence score
Sixty-eight percent
of people score
within 15 points
above or below 100

8. Eugenics – measure human traits & determine who can reproduce

9. “Intelligence” is Hard to Define
Intelligence is often defined as the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Intelligence is not a “thing” it is an abstract concept…an IQ is simply a score on an intelligence test.
What types of things are usually NOT measured on an IQ test that might illustrate “intelligence?”

10. Is Intelligence a Singular Ability?
To measure general ability within specific mental abilities a statistical method is used called:
Factor Analysis: used to identify clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total.
Ex: People who do well on vocabulary items also usually do well on paragraph comprehension…which are both related to the verbal intelligence factor.

11. Charles Spearman and The G-Factor
General intelligence (g): Spearman’s belief that there was a factor that underlied specific mental abilities and was therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.
Specific intelligences tended to be positively correlated.

12. Broadening Theory of Intelligence
Savant Syndrome: a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill.
Many are autistic
4/5 are male
How does this relate to the g-factor?

13. Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences
From a biological point of view, Gardner has noted that brain damage often may diminish some abilities but not others.
Gardner argues humans do not have an intelligence but instead multiple intelligences which are relatively independent of the others.

14. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
Gardner argues there are 8 intelligences:
Verbal Linguistic 5. Auditory-musical
2. Logical-mathematical 6. Interpersonal
Visual Spatial Intrapersonal
Body-kinesthetic Naturalistic
What do traditional IQ tests measure?

15. Robert Sternberg and “Successful Intelligence”
Sternberg looked to overcome the fact that although IQ tests predicted school tests relatively well, they did less well predicting vocational success.
Sternberg’s 3 Aspects of Intelligence:
1. Analytical Intelligence: (academic problem solving)
2. Creative Intelligence: (reacting to new situations and creating new ideas)
3. Practical Intelligence: (often required for everyday tasks, “common sense”)

16. More “Intelligences?” Social Intelligence
the know-how involved in comprehending social situations and managing oneself successfully
Emotional Intelligence
-ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions
-critical part of social intelligence

17. Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS)
Measures how people:
1. Perceive emotions
2. Understand emotions
3. Regulate emotions

18. Intelligence and Creativity
Creative Intelligence- ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable
5 Parts
Expertise
Imaginative Thinking Skills
Venturesome Personality
Intrinsic Motivation
A Creative Environment

19. Remote Associates Test
Call Pay Line ____________
End Burning Blue ____________
Man Hot Sure ____________
Man Wheel High ____________
Blue Cake Cottage ____________
Motion Poke Down __________
Stool Powder Ball ____________

20. Phone
Book
Fire
Chair
Cheese
Slow
Foot

21. Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
.15 correlation between head size and intelligence score.
.44 correlation between brain size and intelligence score.
What all effects the size of your brain?

22. Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Einstein’s brain was 15% larger in the parietal lobe’s lower region…center for mathematical processing and spatial information.
But smaller in some other regions.

23. Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Brain Glucose Consumption: high performers on tasks consume LESS glucose when performing cognitive tasks.

24. Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Perceptual Speed: People who can perceive the stimulus very quickly tend to score somewhat higher on intelligence tests
Stimulus
Mask
Question: Long side on left or right?