Intelligence

http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.sciencedaily.com/img/BB42D239-0308-460C-B1DF-8E84149639BA

Ways of Defining IntelligenceConsisting of:

Capacity to learn from experienceAbility to adapt to environmentMetacognition:

Ability to understand and control your own thinking

Ability to deal with complexity

What intelligence tests measure

Cultural definitions

Early Measures of IntelligenceTwo approaches:

Galton – sensory-based

Early Measures of Intelligence

http://imjustaguy.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/iq_bell_curve.gif

Two approaches: Binet – scholastically-based

Intelligence quotient

Current Intelligence TestsStanford-Binet

Wechsler (see handout)Verbal scorePerformance scoreOverall score

Debated Questions about IntelligenceIs intelligence singular or multiple?

Is intelligence inherited?

Are intelligence tests biases?

Spearman- the “g”factor

Factor Analysis

Arguments against a general intelligence factorArchitecture of the brain – modularity

Artificial Intelligence research

Most IQ studies done on middle-class Americans

IQ tests do not test practical intelligence

Gardner- Multiple IntelligencesLinguisticLogical-MathematicalSpatialMusicalBodily-kinestheticInterpersonalIntrapersonalNaturalist

Gardner’s Criteria for Identifying Intelligences1. Brain damage2. Exceptional individuals3. Core operations4. Developmental history5. Evolutionary history6. Supportive evidence from cognitive-

experimental research7. Supportive evidence from psychometric

tests8. Symbol system

Biological Basis of IntelligenceSize of brain

Speed of nerve conduction

Efficiency of brain

Twins studies

Can intelligence change over your lifetime?

The Bell Curve & Social IntelligenceThe Bell Curve

Intelligence is a single propertyIntelligence is distributed in the population in

a bell curveIntelligence is inheritedLow intelligence leads to social pathologyImplied: blacks more likely to have low IQ

than whites

Social IntelligenceOne important type of intelligence ignored in

psychology

Race and Intelligence

Problems with argumentsRace is a social construct

Culture and Intelligence