Psych Chapter 10: IntelligenceIntelligence- Not a concrete thing, more of a concepto Reification: the viewing of an abstract, immaterial idea as a concrete thing - Measured by an intelligence testo A method of assessment of an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them to those of others,using numerical scores to determine an intelligence quotient - Intelligence: the ability to learn from experience and solve tasks and use knowledge to adapt to new situations- Is intelligence one general ability or several specific abilities? o Charles Spearman Believed in general intelligence- A general intelligence factors that according to spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test Developed a factor analysis- A statistical procedure that indentifies clusters of related items, called factors, on a test, used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a persons total score A common skill set, g, underlies all intellectual behavioro LL Thurstone Gave people 56 different tests and mathematically clustered primary mental abilities into 7 categories- Word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory No single scale of general intelligence People who scored well on some, tended to score better on other, proving some sort of g factoro Some argue that general intelligence is a development of the need to solve new problems- Theories of multiple intelligenceso Gardner’s eight intelligences Views intelligence as multiple abilities that come in clusters This explains why damage to one region of the brain leaves brilliance in another- Savant syndrome: a condition in which a person with otherwise limited mental ability has an exceptional and specific skill, such as drawing or computation We do not have one intelligence, we have multiple intelligences- Linguisticpoet- Logical-mathematicalscientist- Musicalmusician - Spatialartist- Bodily-kinestheticdancer- Intrapersonal (self)psychiatrist - Interpersonal (other people)leader- Naturalistcharles Darwin, naturalisto Sternberg’s 3 intelligences Agrees with Gardner, but proposes a triarchic theory of 3:- Analytical intelligenceo An intelligence tests with questions and 1 well defined answer- Creative intelligenceo Reacting adaptively in new situation- Practical intelligenceo Everyday tasks, a somewhat vague descriptiono Has multiple solutions - Intelligence and creativityo Creativity: the ability to produce novel and valuable ideaso Intelligence tests require a convergent answer, one right answer, which proves that a test alone cannot measure creativityo Creativity tests require divergent thinking, multiple answerso Components of creativity as defined by Sternberg and Lubart Expertise- A well developed base of knowledge, furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use as mental building blocks- The more blocks we have, the easier it is to combine them in novel ways Imaginative thinking skills- Ability to see a problem in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections- Having mastered a problem’s basic elements, we redefine and explore them in a new way - Ex: Copernicus studied the sun and the stars, and after gaining much knowledge, said the earth revolved around the sun, not the sun around the earth A venturesome personality - Seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and preserves in overcoming obstacles- Ex: Edison and the light bulb Intrinsic motivation- Being driven by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures- Creative people focus on extrinsic motivators (impressing employer, etc) than on the pleasure of work itself A creative environment- Sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas- Ex: If mentored and supported by employees, etc- Emotional intelligenceo Social intelligence: the ability to comprehend social relationshipso Emotional intelligence: the ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions Tests detect those 4 characteristicso People who exhibit high emotional intelligence generally hold high self esteem values, higher-quality relationships with friends, and are able to delay immediate gratifcation in pursuit of long range goals- Is intelligence neurologically measurable?o Brain size and complexity It is not the size and weight in general, but the size and development of certain brain regions More intelligent people develop more brain synapses, like the rat study discussed earlier Differ in neural plasticity: the ability to adapt and grow neural connections in childhood and adolescence - The most intelligent children had thinner cortexes, until development around 11 to 13. Meaning they were able to adapt more, agile brains influence agile minds Intelligence is linked with more gray matter in the memory, attention, and language regionso Brain Function Perceptual speed- More intelligent people can retrieve information faster- Ex: the masking test where a three sided rectangle is shown for a very brief (.2 s) amount of time. One has a longer side than the other. After the flash an image where the left and right side are equal is shown (mask). The subject is asked whichside appeared to be longer? Neurological speed- Register a simple stimulus with more complexity and agility - Although simple tasks are somewhat removed from complex intelligent test answers it reveals something about core processing speed - Faster cognitive processing may allow more information to be requiredAssessing Intelligence- The origins of intelligence testing o Alfred Binet: predicting school achievement Happened at the turn of the century (20th) when France declared all children to attend school Children were in need of classes that strayed from the normal curriculum and did not trust the teachers judgments of the students abilities Assumed that children were not less intelligent, but passed through different stages of develop at different times, so wanted to determine the child’s mental age Mental age: the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus a child of 8 years, has a mental age of 8. Theorizes that general mental capacity shows up in various ways This test only determined the child’s need for help, not measurement of intelligenceo Lewis Terman: the IQ test Adapted
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