Week 13
Explain what intelligence is and how it is measured
● Person’s ability to learn and remember information, recognize concepts and their relations,
apply information to their own behavior
● Differential Approach
○ approach in psychology to test & measure individual differences in various
psychological properties e.g. intelligence, personality, self-esteem, etc.
● Usually measured by taking an individual’s score on a math or vocab test (IQ testing)
Define the concept of “g”.
● All measures of intelligence showed a correlation, therefore they must reflect a common
factor of intelligence according to Spearman
o Common factor of intelligence called "g" for general intelligence
● Cattell performed second-order factor analysis and found two major factors:
● gf = fluid intelligence
o defined by culture-free tasks, such as the ability to see relations among objects
potential ability to learn and solve problems
● gc = crystallized intelligence
o defined by culture-dependent information, such as vocabulary and information
learned in schools → what a person has accomplished with fluid intelligence
Contrast the ratio and deviation IQ
● Ratio
○ IQ calculated by using ratio of mental age as reported on standardized test to
chronological age then multiplied by 100
● Deviation IQ
○ procedure for computing IQ, comparing individual's score with those received by
other individuals of the same chronological age
○ Created to overcome the problem in IQ measurements
○ IQ score relative to one’s age group
○ Chose a score of 100 to describe the average score of a given age group
Assess the reliability and validity of IQ measures
● To design an intelligence test, one must take certain measures:
● Norming
○ find how people generally perform on test for comparisons and finding the norm
● Standardization
○ using the exact same test items, instructions, & scoring procedures
● Must be able to make the differentiations we are interested in
● Reliability
○ make sure the test is consistent
● Validity
○ make sure test measures what it is supposed to measure
● problem with ratio IQ → mental age eventually stops but chronological age continues
○ . This changes the denominator, so the ratio IQ decreases with age (a 20 year old
with the mental age of a 30 year old has a higher IQ than an 80 year old with the
mental age of a 30 year old).
Identify some of the controversies surrounding intelligence testing.
, ● people resist the idea of differences in mental ability, particularly if they are innate, because it
seems undemocratic to most people
● attacks on intelligence tests are motivated by the knowledge that intelligence testing has been
used to support racist policies in the past → fear that it could be used similarly in the future.
Describe the three neural correlates of intelligence
● Efficient use of neural resources (2 athlete analogy)
○ Individuals with higher cognitive abilities show more efficient neural processing and
thus lower levels of activation in areas of the brain used to perform a particular task.
● High synchronization between cortical centers
○ Individuals with higher skill levels show a greater degree of synchronization between
cortical regions than do individuals with lower skill levels.
○ Also, synchronization within an individual increases with learning.
● Adaptation of cortical networks in the face of changing demands
○ Higher cognitive abilities show greater neural adaption when faced with changing
demands compared to individuals with lower intellectual abilities
Discuss the heritability of intelligence
● Family and neighbourhood studies show that for any given individual, inheritance is a much
more powerful predictor than environment
○ genetic characteristics such as extroversion lead people to seek specific
environments.
● At the population level environmental factors become much more powerful.
○ there is a continuous worldwide rise in intelligence test performance.
What is the relative contribution of genes and environment
● Twin, kinship, and adoption studies have proven that genetic variation in intelligence is
substantial.
● Intelligence is more inherited through mother (genes)
● Environment plays a role in IQ scores
How do genetic effects change over the lifespan
● e get older we begin to select our own environments
As
w
● by choosing our environments based on our strengths we increase the
heritability of our genes
○ Ex. An extroverted person may choose a job that requires working with
people
Discriminate between shared and unshared environmental effects
● Shared environmental factors
○ things that can be accessed by many people like the internet or
access to nutrition that can lead to overall increases in population IQ
(Flynn effect)
● unshared environmental effects
○ parenting style as a child or financial stresses will affect only a single
person's IQ
Explain what mental shortcuts are, using examples
● individuals often use mental shortcuts to help them make fast and efficient judgments and
decisions.
● Mental shortcuts are also called cognitive heuristics.
, ○ allow us to think in fast and simple ways.
○
● Availability Heuristic
○ uses the ease with which examples come to mind to make judgments about the
probability of events.
○ people tend to estimate how frequently something occurs based on the ease with
which examples come to mind. → determining how often something will
happen based on the person's ability to remember examples
○ R word example
■ participants believed that words that start with “R” are more common than
words that contain “r” as the third letter because it is easier to think of
examples of words that begin with the letter r.
● Representativeness heuristic
○ occurs when a person wishes to determine the probability that an object or person
belongs to a specific category → rely on how representative the object or person is
of that category and ignore the probability of that object or person correctly belonging
to that category.
○ one assumes commonality between objects because they look similar.
■ Ex. Tom is an opera buff who enjoys touring art museums when on vacation
→ likely to assume he will pursue career in the arts
·
Describe the types of errors that occur as a result of relying on these mental shortcuts.
● Anchoring
○ when one makes poor estimations based on specific starting points
○ Ie. If one must estimate the height of the CN tower, the # you are given to either
increase or decrease will impact your estimation
● False-consensus effect
○ the tendency to overestimate the number of people who share a given belief
● Conjunction fallacy
○ belief that multiple specific conditions are more likely than a single generic one.
● base-rate fallacy.
○ people overestimate the frequency of shocking events and underestimate the
frequency of day-to-day events.
Week 14
For each of the stages of development (prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence and
adulthood):
Explain the process by which cells are generated, specialize, and connect (stem cells, neural
migration, neurogenesis, apoptosis, synaptogenesis, pruning, myelination and plasticity).
● Germinal/Zygote Period (8-10 days after conception)
○ Begins with conception (the moment where a sperm unites with an ovum to produce a
zygote)
○ Ends when the cells have attached to the uterine
○ zygotic cell then divides multiple times through the process of cleavage
○ After a few instances of cleavage, the mass is now called a morula
○ DNA is the same in every cell (except gametes), but we have different cells in our
body because of epigenetic modification (some genes are turned on, while others are
turned off, causing different protein expressions)
○ Stem cells have the same DNA as other cells, but have not yet undergone epigenetic
modification
● Embryonic Period (2nd to 8th week after conception)
, ○ Begins once the blastocyst has implanted in the uterine wall
○ trophoblast layer becomes two parts: o
■ Amniotic sac → provides a constant environment for the embryo to reside in
■ Placenta → acts as a filter/barrier
■ Prevents the transfer of harmful chemicals from the mother to the embryo
■ Prevents the mixing of the mother’s and embryo’s blood
■ Transfers nutrients from the mother to the embryo and waste from the
embryo to the mother
○ The embryo separates into 3 layers:
■ Endoderm → inner layer which becomes the digestive system, urinary tract
and lungs
■ Mesoderm → middle layer which becomes the muscles, bones and
circulatory system
■ Ectoderm → outer layer which becomes the skin, hair, teeth and central
nervous system
● Neurulation → the neural tube forms, which begins to develop into the brain and
spinal cord
● Neurogenesis = the growth of new neurons
● Neural migration → process by which neurons move and organize themselves
appropriately
○ They follow genetic instructions for movement
● Heart begins to beat
● Most of the major body structures begin to form and are distinguishable
● The embryo acts reflexively to stimulation
● Fetal Stage (9th week after conception to birth)
○ Organ growth is completed At 10 weeks, the fetus begins breathing-like motions
○ 4th month → sleep and wake patterns are seen such that movements are felt by the
mother
○ 5th month → the fetus responds to sound, particularly the mother’s voice
○ possible for the fetus to live if born prematurely in its’ 6th month
○ 6th month → there is a decrease in spontaneous movement of the fetus and the fetus
experiences taste
○ 7th month until birth → the fetus rapidly puts on weight
○ 9th month → the fetus is born
■ The exact time of birth is influenced by the mother’s emotional state, stress
level and nutrition
● Adolescence
○ Puberty
■ transition from childhood into adulthood
■ Begins when the hypothalamus instructs the pituitary gland to secrete
hormones that stimulate the gonads to secrete sex hormones
■ Males produce more testosterone and females produce more estrogen
■ Females generally experience puberty before males
■ sex hormones cause development of primary sex characteristics:
● Maturation of external genitalia
● Maturation of ova, production of sperm
● characteristics are essential to the ability to reproduce
■ The sex hormones also cause the development of secondary sex
characteristics (physical changes that distinguish males from females):
● Boys develop more muscles and facial hair and their voices deepen
● Girls’ breasts grow and their pelvises widen
Explain what intelligence is and how it is measured
● Person’s ability to learn and remember information, recognize concepts and their relations,
apply information to their own behavior
● Differential Approach
○ approach in psychology to test & measure individual differences in various
psychological properties e.g. intelligence, personality, self-esteem, etc.
● Usually measured by taking an individual’s score on a math or vocab test (IQ testing)
Define the concept of “g”.
● All measures of intelligence showed a correlation, therefore they must reflect a common
factor of intelligence according to Spearman
o Common factor of intelligence called "g" for general intelligence
● Cattell performed second-order factor analysis and found two major factors:
● gf = fluid intelligence
o defined by culture-free tasks, such as the ability to see relations among objects
potential ability to learn and solve problems
● gc = crystallized intelligence
o defined by culture-dependent information, such as vocabulary and information
learned in schools → what a person has accomplished with fluid intelligence
Contrast the ratio and deviation IQ
● Ratio
○ IQ calculated by using ratio of mental age as reported on standardized test to
chronological age then multiplied by 100
● Deviation IQ
○ procedure for computing IQ, comparing individual's score with those received by
other individuals of the same chronological age
○ Created to overcome the problem in IQ measurements
○ IQ score relative to one’s age group
○ Chose a score of 100 to describe the average score of a given age group
Assess the reliability and validity of IQ measures
● To design an intelligence test, one must take certain measures:
● Norming
○ find how people generally perform on test for comparisons and finding the norm
● Standardization
○ using the exact same test items, instructions, & scoring procedures
● Must be able to make the differentiations we are interested in
● Reliability
○ make sure the test is consistent
● Validity
○ make sure test measures what it is supposed to measure
● problem with ratio IQ → mental age eventually stops but chronological age continues
○ . This changes the denominator, so the ratio IQ decreases with age (a 20 year old
with the mental age of a 30 year old has a higher IQ than an 80 year old with the
mental age of a 30 year old).
Identify some of the controversies surrounding intelligence testing.
, ● people resist the idea of differences in mental ability, particularly if they are innate, because it
seems undemocratic to most people
● attacks on intelligence tests are motivated by the knowledge that intelligence testing has been
used to support racist policies in the past → fear that it could be used similarly in the future.
Describe the three neural correlates of intelligence
● Efficient use of neural resources (2 athlete analogy)
○ Individuals with higher cognitive abilities show more efficient neural processing and
thus lower levels of activation in areas of the brain used to perform a particular task.
● High synchronization between cortical centers
○ Individuals with higher skill levels show a greater degree of synchronization between
cortical regions than do individuals with lower skill levels.
○ Also, synchronization within an individual increases with learning.
● Adaptation of cortical networks in the face of changing demands
○ Higher cognitive abilities show greater neural adaption when faced with changing
demands compared to individuals with lower intellectual abilities
Discuss the heritability of intelligence
● Family and neighbourhood studies show that for any given individual, inheritance is a much
more powerful predictor than environment
○ genetic characteristics such as extroversion lead people to seek specific
environments.
● At the population level environmental factors become much more powerful.
○ there is a continuous worldwide rise in intelligence test performance.
What is the relative contribution of genes and environment
● Twin, kinship, and adoption studies have proven that genetic variation in intelligence is
substantial.
● Intelligence is more inherited through mother (genes)
● Environment plays a role in IQ scores
How do genetic effects change over the lifespan
● e get older we begin to select our own environments
As
w
● by choosing our environments based on our strengths we increase the
heritability of our genes
○ Ex. An extroverted person may choose a job that requires working with
people
Discriminate between shared and unshared environmental effects
● Shared environmental factors
○ things that can be accessed by many people like the internet or
access to nutrition that can lead to overall increases in population IQ
(Flynn effect)
● unshared environmental effects
○ parenting style as a child or financial stresses will affect only a single
person's IQ
Explain what mental shortcuts are, using examples
● individuals often use mental shortcuts to help them make fast and efficient judgments and
decisions.
● Mental shortcuts are also called cognitive heuristics.
, ○ allow us to think in fast and simple ways.
○
● Availability Heuristic
○ uses the ease with which examples come to mind to make judgments about the
probability of events.
○ people tend to estimate how frequently something occurs based on the ease with
which examples come to mind. → determining how often something will
happen based on the person's ability to remember examples
○ R word example
■ participants believed that words that start with “R” are more common than
words that contain “r” as the third letter because it is easier to think of
examples of words that begin with the letter r.
● Representativeness heuristic
○ occurs when a person wishes to determine the probability that an object or person
belongs to a specific category → rely on how representative the object or person is
of that category and ignore the probability of that object or person correctly belonging
to that category.
○ one assumes commonality between objects because they look similar.
■ Ex. Tom is an opera buff who enjoys touring art museums when on vacation
→ likely to assume he will pursue career in the arts
·
Describe the types of errors that occur as a result of relying on these mental shortcuts.
● Anchoring
○ when one makes poor estimations based on specific starting points
○ Ie. If one must estimate the height of the CN tower, the # you are given to either
increase or decrease will impact your estimation
● False-consensus effect
○ the tendency to overestimate the number of people who share a given belief
● Conjunction fallacy
○ belief that multiple specific conditions are more likely than a single generic one.
● base-rate fallacy.
○ people overestimate the frequency of shocking events and underestimate the
frequency of day-to-day events.
Week 14
For each of the stages of development (prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence and
adulthood):
Explain the process by which cells are generated, specialize, and connect (stem cells, neural
migration, neurogenesis, apoptosis, synaptogenesis, pruning, myelination and plasticity).
● Germinal/Zygote Period (8-10 days after conception)
○ Begins with conception (the moment where a sperm unites with an ovum to produce a
zygote)
○ Ends when the cells have attached to the uterine
○ zygotic cell then divides multiple times through the process of cleavage
○ After a few instances of cleavage, the mass is now called a morula
○ DNA is the same in every cell (except gametes), but we have different cells in our
body because of epigenetic modification (some genes are turned on, while others are
turned off, causing different protein expressions)
○ Stem cells have the same DNA as other cells, but have not yet undergone epigenetic
modification
● Embryonic Period (2nd to 8th week after conception)
, ○ Begins once the blastocyst has implanted in the uterine wall
○ trophoblast layer becomes two parts: o
■ Amniotic sac → provides a constant environment for the embryo to reside in
■ Placenta → acts as a filter/barrier
■ Prevents the transfer of harmful chemicals from the mother to the embryo
■ Prevents the mixing of the mother’s and embryo’s blood
■ Transfers nutrients from the mother to the embryo and waste from the
embryo to the mother
○ The embryo separates into 3 layers:
■ Endoderm → inner layer which becomes the digestive system, urinary tract
and lungs
■ Mesoderm → middle layer which becomes the muscles, bones and
circulatory system
■ Ectoderm → outer layer which becomes the skin, hair, teeth and central
nervous system
● Neurulation → the neural tube forms, which begins to develop into the brain and
spinal cord
● Neurogenesis = the growth of new neurons
● Neural migration → process by which neurons move and organize themselves
appropriately
○ They follow genetic instructions for movement
● Heart begins to beat
● Most of the major body structures begin to form and are distinguishable
● The embryo acts reflexively to stimulation
● Fetal Stage (9th week after conception to birth)
○ Organ growth is completed At 10 weeks, the fetus begins breathing-like motions
○ 4th month → sleep and wake patterns are seen such that movements are felt by the
mother
○ 5th month → the fetus responds to sound, particularly the mother’s voice
○ possible for the fetus to live if born prematurely in its’ 6th month
○ 6th month → there is a decrease in spontaneous movement of the fetus and the fetus
experiences taste
○ 7th month until birth → the fetus rapidly puts on weight
○ 9th month → the fetus is born
■ The exact time of birth is influenced by the mother’s emotional state, stress
level and nutrition
● Adolescence
○ Puberty
■ transition from childhood into adulthood
■ Begins when the hypothalamus instructs the pituitary gland to secrete
hormones that stimulate the gonads to secrete sex hormones
■ Males produce more testosterone and females produce more estrogen
■ Females generally experience puberty before males
■ sex hormones cause development of primary sex characteristics:
● Maturation of external genitalia
● Maturation of ova, production of sperm
● characteristics are essential to the ability to reproduce
■ The sex hormones also cause the development of secondary sex
characteristics (physical changes that distinguish males from females):
● Boys develop more muscles and facial hair and their voices deepen
● Girls’ breasts grow and their pelvises widen
