PART I: INTELLIGENCE & ASSESSING I.Q.

I. Intelligence�

• *mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, & use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

A. General Intelligence

• 1. Intro. By Spearmann
• 2. Believed we have 1 general intelligence (g) = a basic intelligence. ( a common skill set)
• 3. Underlies specific mental abilities & is therefore measured by every task on an IQ test
• 4. Predicts our abilities in varied academic areas (not creative areas)
• 5. Help us solve novel problems /situations (how to stop a fire from spreading)

B. L.L Thurstone

• 1. Disagreed w/ Spearmann
• 2. Identified 7 different abilities of intelligence
• 3. However, Thurstone’s 7 mental abilities showed a tendency to cluster = suggesting an underlying (g) factor.

C. Gardner’s 8 Intelligences

• 1. multiple abilities are independent of each other.
• 2. Broad range of skills beyond school smarts.
• 3. adaptability
• 4. * Savant Syndrome – supported Garner’s multiple intelligence theory.
• -a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as computation or art.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyJ93k_AH8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAadouGkwMQ

D. Sternberg’s 3 Intelligence

• ( Triarchic Theory )
• 1. Analytical (academic problem-solving) intelligence = school success
• 2. Creative intelligence = adapting to novel situations
• 3. Practical intelligence = required for everyday tasks (managerial success)

E. Emotional Intelligence (Social Intelligence)

• *ability to perceive, understand, manage & use emotions.
• 1. Emotionally intelligent people:
• -socially/self aware - manage a conflict
• -sooth a friend - succeed in a career -succeed in marriage, parenting

​

II. Brain Size & Intelligence

• A. Bigger is Better
• 1. Frontal and parietal lobes
• 2. More gray matter (neural cell bodies) & white matter (axons) = more efficient communication between brain centers.
• Ex. Einstein = brain was 15% larger in the parietal lobe region (center for processing math/spatial info)
• 3. People who score high on IQ tests tend also to have agile brains & score high in speed of perception & neural processing.

III. Assessing Intelligence

• A. Origins of IQ Test
• 1.In the late 1800’s Francis Galton, believed that genius was inherited, attempted but failed to construct an IQ test.
• 2. Based on Frenchman Alfred Binet (1904)
• -asked to develop a way to identify children in school who wouldn’t benefit from regular school curriculum & in need of special classes.

• -developed questions to measure children’s *Mental Age = # of tasks/questions an individual child completed correctly compared to the average performance of children the same age.
• 3. Terman (Stanford Professor) Early 20^th C.
• -creates the Standford-Binet IQ test (American version)
• -he thought intelligence was also inherited.

• -tests could help guide people toward appropriate opportunities.
• During this time period, IQ tests were used to document scientists’ assumptions about innate inferiority of certain ethnic/immigrant groups
• -1924 limited southern/eastern Europe immigration

• 4. Stern (German)
• -came up with IQ formula
• 5. Normal Curve
• 85 – 115 Average
• Above 115 superior
• Below 85 Below ave.

B. Achievement vs Aptitude Tests

• 1. Achievement = assess what a person has learned
• 2. Aptitude = predicts an individual’s performance
• W.A.I.S. (Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale)
• -an aptitude test, most widely used IQ test for adults.

Part IV. Group Differences & the Question of Bias

• I. Gender Differences
• *males & females tend to have the same average intelligence test scores.
• **Where they differ is in some specific abilities.

​

A. Males

• 1. Outperform girls in *spatial ability*.
• 2. Complex math problems, although in math computation & overall math performance both genders are similar.
• 3. –mental ability scores vary more than females:
• -outnumber girls at both the high/low extremes
• -more boys in special ed. Classes
• -out number girls 4-1 SAT math exam scores above 700.

B. Girls

• 1. Better spellers
• 2. more verbally fluent
• 3. better at locating objects
• 4. Detecting emotions
• 5. More sensitive to touch, taste, and color
• **Many argue evolutionary vs. social/culture influences these differences

​

II. Racial/Ethnic Differences

• *Racial/Ethnic groups differ in their average IQ scores:
• Ex. New Zealanders (European descent) higher than (native) New Zealanders
• White Americans higher than African Americans but that number continues to decline.

A. Heredity

• 1. Contributes to individual differences in intelligence.
• 2. May not be a factor in group/race/ethnic differences.
• 3. Genetic research reveals =under the skin, the races are very similar.
• 4. Research evidence suggests that environmental differences are largely, perhaps entirely, responsible for group differences.
• Ex. Asian students outperform North American students in math = Asian students spend 30 % more time in school with more hours of study in math.

III. The Bias Question

• 1. Aptitude tests aim to predict how well a test-taker will perform in a given situation. So they are necessarily “biased” in the sense that they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience.
• 2. By “inappropriately biased,” psychologists mean that a test predicts less accurately for one group than for another.
• 3. Most experts consider the major aptitude tests unbiased.

• 4. *Stereotype Threat
• A self confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
• Ex. Before a math test if women are told they don’t test as well as men = they won’t.
• African American students when reminded of their race just before taking a verbal aptitude, they perform worse.