Intelligence1. Definition and Historya. Definiton of Intelligencei. 50 experts concluded (1997): Intelligence is the ability to direct one’s thinking, adapt to one’s circumstances, and learn from one’s experiencesii. Intelligence tests can be (and have been!) manipulated to prejudicial ends: Goddard and Ellis Island (1920s)1. Goddard developed tests to indicate where or not someone was feebleminded2. Feebleminded groups were subjected to immigration restricitons (jews, Hungarians, Italians, Russians) and states passed laws requiring sterilization of “mental defectives”. b. History of Intelligence Testingi. The logic of intelligence testing1. Intelligence tests are not like thermometersa. Heat  mercury level2. Intelligence should predict performance in important life domains (getting good grades, becoming a leader, earning a large income, inventing the microprocessor)3. Intelligence  “intelligence” tasks  good life outcomesii. Binet and Simon – wanted to idenrify students who were lagging behind their peers in school.1. Teachers might disproportionally select poor children, so they needed an objective measure2. The test should assess aptitude for learning independently of piror education achievement 3. The test included logic problems, remembering words, copying pictures, making rhymesa. When anyone has offended you and ask you to excuse him, what ought you to do?iii. Lewis Terman (The Intelligence Quotient)1. A statistice obtained by dividing a person’s mental age by the person’s physical age and then multiplying the quotient by 100.a. A 10 year old whose score is the same as an average 8 year old would receive a score of 80i. (8/10)* 100= 80b. A 6 year old child whose score is the same as an average 10 year old child would receive a score of 167i. (10/6) X 100 = 1672. In adulthood, the comparison of mental age to actual age doesn’t make much sense3. Deviation IQ: a statistic obtained by dividing a person’s test score by the average test score of people in the same age group and then multiplying the quotient by 100a. Standard Deviation of 15b. Does not allow comparisons between different age groups2. Current Assessments of Intelligencea. Stanford-Binet and WAISi. Stanford-Binet: based on Terman (Stanford) and Binet-Simonii. WAIS/: The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scaleiii. Sample items from the WAIS1. Vocabulary2. Information3. Letter number sequencing:iv. Matrix Reasoning: Which of the four symbols at the bottom goes in the empty cell?v. Comprehensionvi. Why do people put food in a refrigeratorvii. Why are people required to have driving licenses?viii. What does it mean to say, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?”b. Predictive power of Stanford-Binet/WAISi. Correlates with grades, occupational status, money, health, longevityc. The Structure and Number of Intelligencesi. Hierarchies of Intelligence1. Spearman’s “g” – a general intelligence ability that applies across domains2. But do people who excel at one task excel at everything?(video)3. Spearman’s “s” – a specific ability that applies to specifictasksii. Gardner’s multiple intelligences1. Is the “g”notion of intelligence too broad?a. Would Derek be considered intelligent?2. Identified 8 distinct types of intelligence3. 8 types of intelligencea. Ligisticb. Logical mathematicalc. Spatiald. Musical e. Bodily kinestheticf. Interpersonalg. Intrapersonalh. Naturalist( discerning patterns4. Two others?a. Spiritual (achieving a spiritual understanding of life and the universe)b. Existential (understanding the meaning of existence)5. Gardner’s typology does not have much empirical support, but they offer a useful theoretical perspectivea. Why can’t intelligence incorporate all of these different skills that people may or may not have?iii. Emotional Intelligence1. The ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning2. Associated with social skills, # of friends, quality of romantic and workplace relationships, life satisfactioniv. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory1. Meant to assess “successful” intelligencea. The ability to balance the needs to adapt to, shape, and select environments in order to attainsuccess within one’s socio-cultural context 2. Three componentsa. Analytical – Analyzing, evaluating, contrasting, critiquing. The skills typically measured by intelligence tests. b. Creative – creaing, exploring, discovering, inventing, imagining, supposingc. Practical – applying, using, implementing, putting knowledge into practice3. Intelligence and Geneticsa. Twin Studiesi. Monozygotic twins (MZ) share 100% of their genes (identical)ii. Dizygotic Twins (DZ): Share 50% of their genes (fraternal)iii. But the environment also plays an important role, and “genetic” does not mean “unchangeable”1. The Flynn effect: The average intelligence test score rises .3% each year!2. Today we score 15 IQ points higher on average than 50 years agoa. Probably due to better nutrition, parenting, and schooling3. Genes may determine the range, but environment determines the exact point in the range where a person’s IQ will be. 4. Groups and intelligencei. One of the biggest controversies in all of psychologyii. The most controversial claim of all: differences in geners are the reason that some groups perform better than others on intelligence testsb. Three relevant claimsi. Genes influence performance on intelligence tests1. This clain is not controversial and the evidence in facor is clear, as we have just seenii. Groups differe on intelligence tests1. Women > Men: semantic information.. blah blah blah blah2. Men > women: Visual/spatial memory, certain motor skills, spatiotemporal responding, fluid reasoning in abstract mathematical and scientific domainsiii. Groups differ on intelligence tests because they differ in their genes1. No evidence for this a. Intelligence scores do not correlate with % of European vs African American genesb. African-American and mixed race students have equivalent IQs when raised in middle-class families2. Sometimes there are important genetic differences between groupsa. Ex. Many African Americans have genes that make them less responsive than Whites to Hepatitis C Drugsb. But non have been identified related to intelligence3. Why do groups differ?a. Originally Intelligence questions were potentiallyculturally specific, but it is harder to find blatant cultural bias on items used todayb. The environmenti.