Psychology Chapter: Intelligence Theories

Intelligence: A Construct

• Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn, reason effectively, and adapt to the environment.
• There are two main approaches to understanding intelligence: psychometric and cognitive process approaches.

Psychometric Approach

• This approach involves statistical analysis of psychological tests to identify and measure abilities.
• Factor analysis is used to examine relationships between clusters of abilities (e.g., verbal, arithmetic).
• Some tests are highly correlated, while others are not, indicating separate clusters or factors of ability.

Cognitive Process Approaches

• These approaches explain why people differ in their mental skills, going beyond simply measuring those differences.
• They explore the specific cognitive processes that underlie intellectual ability.

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory

• This cognitive process approach describes intelligence in terms of three components:
  • Metacomponents: planning, regulating, and evaluating performance.
  • Performance components: actual mental processes like perception and memory.
  • Knowledge acquisition components: learning from experience, storing information, and combining new knowledge with previous knowledge.
• Three classes of adaptive problem solving are identified: analytical, practical, and creative.

Metacomponents

• These components involve planning, monitoring, and evaluating tasks and problem-solving behavior. Highly intelligent individuals spend time defining the problem and looking for solutions, in contrast to those who simply dive into a task.

Performance Components

• These are the actual mental processes involved in performing tasks, including perceptual processing and accessing information from long-term memory.

Knowledge Acquisition Components

• These components focus on learning from experience, storing knowledge in long-term memory, and applying acquired knowledge to new problems.

Adaptive Problem-Solving Classes

• Analytical: Focusing on analytically oriented problem resolution.
• Practical: Skills for managing daily life.
• Creative: Mental skills for solving novel problems.

Two Approaches to Intelligent Thinking

• A general "thinking" capacity & its global component, OR
• Different types of thinking.

g Factor

• Spearman's concept of general mental capacity.
• Performance across different subjects (e.g., math and English) tends to be positively correlated, indicating a general mental ability factor (g).
• Learning Latin was once thought to enhance this factor.

Specific Mental Abilities

• Thurstone argued against Spearman's notion of a single "g" factor, suggesting multiple distinct abilities.
• Seven distinct primary mental abilities were identified (e.g., verbal, mathematical).
• A person's performance on a task is tied to abilities directly relevant to it (e.g., mathematical skills for a math test).

Crystallized vs. Fluid Intelligence

• Horn & Cattell divided Spearman's "g" into two distinct yet related factors:
• Fluid intelligence: Ability to solve novel problems with no previous experience or schema (e.g., a problem like the 9 dots puzzle or the Tower of Hanoi).
• Crystallized intelligence: Using previously acquired knowledge to solve current problems (e.g., vocabulary knowledge).
• These two types of intelligences are related, shown by a correlation of approximately 0.5.
• Fluid intelligence tends to decline with age, while crystallized intelligence remains stable. Wisdom is associated with crystallized intelligence.

Multiple Intelligences

• Gardner argues that intelligence encompasses diverse abilities beyond conventional mental capabilities, including areas such as linguistic, mathematical, spatial, musical, and bodily-kinesthetic.
• Criticism is that some of these qualities may not be readily considered part of intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

• The ability to understand and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others.
• Strong emotional intelligence correlates with better social relations and career success.
• It is also associated with reduced mental health challenges such as anxiety, anger, or depression.

Tests and Their Definitions

• Thousands of published tests exist, measuring mental abilities and behavioral traits.
• Tests can assess potential for work, school, or personality.
• A psychological test is a standardized measure of a sample of a person's behavior.

Testing Problems

• Testing itself has limitations:
  • May not perfectly capture an individual's ability.
  • Stress can affect performance.

Major Types of Tests

• Mental ability tests (most common):
  • Intelligence tests: general mental capacity.
  • Aptitude tests: assess specific abilities.
  • Achievement tests: evaluate learned knowledge.
• Personality tests: measure individual characteristics.

Standardization & Norms

• Standardized tests use consistent procedures for administration and scoring.
• Norms establish a comparison point, showing how an individual's score ranks against others.
• Raw scores are converted into percentile scores.

Reliability and Validity

• Reliability: Consistency of test results. (e.g., a scale doesn't show wildly different numbers each time)
• Validity: Does the test measure what is intended? (i.e. a math test should cover math concepts) It involves content, criterion, and construct validity.

Evolution of Intelligence Testing

• Galton's work focused on hereditary genius and the relationship between sensory acuity and intelligence.
• Binet and Simon developed the first practical intelligence test, focused on identifying children needing special education support.
• Terman adapted the Binet-Simon test to create the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale, and the IQ.

The Problem Using IQ

• Defining and measuring intelligence in adulthood differs significantly from measuring it in childhood.
• Wechsler's tests addressed this issue by focusing on verbal and performance intelligence.

Gender and Cognitive Ability

• While some studies suggest differences in specific cognitive skills between genders, the overall picture is one of overlapping abilities.

Extremes of Intelligence

• Mental disability is defined by sub-average intelligence (IQ below approximately 70)and impairment in adaptive functioning. Mild is the most common form.
• Giftedness generally refers to an IQ of approximately 130 or higher.

Intelligence and other factors

• The Flynn effect is the observed increase over generations in intelligence test scores.
• Reaction range proposes genetically-influenced limits to intelligence development.
• Early education programs, such as Head Start, have been shown to have a positive impact.

Explore the fundamental concepts of intelligence with this quiz. Learn about the different approaches, such as psychometric studies and Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory, as well as the cognitive processes involved. This quiz is essential for understanding how intelligence is measured and defined in psychology.