Problem 4
1
1. How is IQ measured?
2. How can intelligence be defined?
3. What are the types of intelligence?
Defining intelligence
• Hard to define → cannot be directly observed
• Implicit theories of intelligence: theories based on non-expert’s beliefs
• Explicit theories of intelligence: theories proposed by researches
Does intelligence matter?
• Important role in diverse are of life
• Physical health
o Study shown positive correlation between IQ & decreased risk of death
o Influences health by enabling acquirement & growth of socioeconomic resources
§ Provide access to health resources
• Influences school performance
o Correlation of 0.56 between intelligence & education
Implicit Theories of Intelligence
• Incremental theory: people who think intelligence is malleable → increasement of grades over 2 years
• Entity theory: people who think intelligence is fixed → no grade change
• Cultural & cross-national differences in defining intelligence
o Societal norms influence perception
o Western cultures: problem-solving & gaining knowledge
o African cultures: social skills & mature reflection
• Estimation of IQ sometimes depend on heritability & gender difference
• Intelligence
o Street-smart or academic intelligence
Psychometric Approaches to Intelligence
• Psychometrics: measurement of psychological functions & processes
• Galton
o Interested in individual differences in physical & mental attributes
o Measured sensory limits by measuring ability to detect changes in weights, reaction time
• Cattell
o Coined term mental test
o Made contributions to measurements of individual differences
• Binet-Simon Scale of Intelligence:
o 30 tasks related to daily life & increasing in difficulty
o Introduced mental age: level of completed task indicated mental age
• Stanford-Binet scale (Terman)
o Standardized testing
§ Performance of each child was compared against performance of other children of
same age
• Intelligence Quotient IQ (Stern 1912)
, o Average score → 100
o Does not work well in adults
§ Cognitive development of adults does not increase at same rate as children
General intelligence g (Spearman)
• Factors analysis: statistical method → summarizes /reduces complexities of group of variables (e.g.
intellectual tasks)
• Highly intercorrelated task are grouped together & form factors (elements)
o Used it as method to examen interrelationships between intellectual tasks performance
• g → mental energy possessed by each person
• Underlying intercorrelated human behaviours is g
• Energy can be transported from one mental operation to another
• Positive manifold
o Person’s score on range of task tend to be intercorrelated
• Numerous specific abilities (s): can account for person’s performance in specific tasks
• Performance ins both determined by g & s
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test
• Used the same test items to test all individuals (all age groups)
o Items increase in difficulty
• Deviation IQ
• to acquire expected IQ score →test & obtain scores from large numbers of individuals
o scores form the norm & groups of individuals the normative sample
• average deviation IQ score → 100
• standard deviation → 15
• majority of normal population has IQ score between 85 & 115
Multifactor Theories of Intelligence
Primary mental abilities (Thurstone)
• first multifactor theory of intelligence
• seven important factors of intelligence (more important than g)
o Verbal comprehension
o Word Fluency
o Number
o Space
1
1. How is IQ measured?
2. How can intelligence be defined?
3. What are the types of intelligence?
Defining intelligence
• Hard to define → cannot be directly observed
• Implicit theories of intelligence: theories based on non-expert’s beliefs
• Explicit theories of intelligence: theories proposed by researches
Does intelligence matter?
• Important role in diverse are of life
• Physical health
o Study shown positive correlation between IQ & decreased risk of death
o Influences health by enabling acquirement & growth of socioeconomic resources
§ Provide access to health resources
• Influences school performance
o Correlation of 0.56 between intelligence & education
Implicit Theories of Intelligence
• Incremental theory: people who think intelligence is malleable → increasement of grades over 2 years
• Entity theory: people who think intelligence is fixed → no grade change
• Cultural & cross-national differences in defining intelligence
o Societal norms influence perception
o Western cultures: problem-solving & gaining knowledge
o African cultures: social skills & mature reflection
• Estimation of IQ sometimes depend on heritability & gender difference
• Intelligence
o Street-smart or academic intelligence
Psychometric Approaches to Intelligence
• Psychometrics: measurement of psychological functions & processes
• Galton
o Interested in individual differences in physical & mental attributes
o Measured sensory limits by measuring ability to detect changes in weights, reaction time
• Cattell
o Coined term mental test
o Made contributions to measurements of individual differences
• Binet-Simon Scale of Intelligence:
o 30 tasks related to daily life & increasing in difficulty
o Introduced mental age: level of completed task indicated mental age
• Stanford-Binet scale (Terman)
o Standardized testing
§ Performance of each child was compared against performance of other children of
same age
• Intelligence Quotient IQ (Stern 1912)
, o Average score → 100
o Does not work well in adults
§ Cognitive development of adults does not increase at same rate as children
General intelligence g (Spearman)
• Factors analysis: statistical method → summarizes /reduces complexities of group of variables (e.g.
intellectual tasks)
• Highly intercorrelated task are grouped together & form factors (elements)
o Used it as method to examen interrelationships between intellectual tasks performance
• g → mental energy possessed by each person
• Underlying intercorrelated human behaviours is g
• Energy can be transported from one mental operation to another
• Positive manifold
o Person’s score on range of task tend to be intercorrelated
• Numerous specific abilities (s): can account for person’s performance in specific tasks
• Performance ins both determined by g & s
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test
• Used the same test items to test all individuals (all age groups)
o Items increase in difficulty
• Deviation IQ
• to acquire expected IQ score →test & obtain scores from large numbers of individuals
o scores form the norm & groups of individuals the normative sample
• average deviation IQ score → 100
• standard deviation → 15
• majority of normal population has IQ score between 85 & 115
Multifactor Theories of Intelligence
Primary mental abilities (Thurstone)
• first multifactor theory of intelligence
• seven important factors of intelligence (more important than g)
o Verbal comprehension
o Word Fluency
o Number
o Space
