This chapter discusses the origins and assessment of intelligence. It begins with a brief history of intelligence testing starting with Binet's intelligence tests and the development of intelligence quotient (IQ). It describes theories of intelligence including general intelligence (g) and multiple intelligences. The chapter also covers intelligence testing tools like the WAIS and concepts such as reliability, validity, and the normal curve. It discusses factors that influence intelligence like genetics, environment, education and stereotypes.

1. Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 11
Intelligence
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers

2. Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Intelligence Test
 a method of
assessing an
individual’s mental
aptitudes and
comparing them
to those of others,
using numerical
scores

3. Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Mental Age
 a measure of intelligence test
performance devised by Binet
 chronological age that most typically
corresponds to a given level of
performance
 child who does as well as the average
8-year-old is said to have a mental age
of 8

4. Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Stanford-Binet
 the widely used American
revision of Binet’s original
intelligence test
 revised by Terman at Stanford
University

5. Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 defined originally the ratio of
mental age (ma) to chronological
age (ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma/ca x 100)
 on contemporary tests, the average
performance for a given age is
assigned a score of 100

6. What is Intelligence?
 Intelligence
 ability to learn from experience,
solve problems, and use
knowledge to adapt to new
situations

7. What is Intelligence?
 Factor Analysis
 statistical procedure that identifies clusters of
related items (called factors) on a test
 used to identify different dimensions of
performance that underlie one’s total score
 General Intelligence (g)
 factor that Spearman and others believed
underlies specific mental abilities
 measured by every task on an intelligence
test

8. Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Savant Syndrome
 condition in which a person otherwise
limited in mental ability has an exceptional
specific skill
 computation
 drawing

9. Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Social Intelligence
 the know-how involved in
comprehending social situations and
managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence
 ability to perceive, express, understand,
and regulate emotions

10. Intelligence and
Creativity
 Creativity
 the ability to produce novel and
valuable ideas
 expertise
 imaginative thinking skills
 venturesome personality
 intrinsic motivation
 creative environment

11. Brain Function and
Intelligence
 People who can
perceive the
stimulus very
quickly tend to
score somewhat
higher on
intelligence tests
Stimulus Mask
Question: Long side on left or right?

12. Assessing Intelligence
 Aptitude Test
 a test designed to predict a person’s
future performance
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 a test designed to assess what a person
has learned

13. Assessing Intelligence
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
 subtests
 verbal
 performance (nonverbal)

14. Assessing Intelligence:
Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL PERFORMANCE
General Information Picture Completion
Similarities Picture Arrangement
Arithmetic Reasoning Block Design
Vocabulary Object Assembly
Comprehension Digit-Symbol Substitution
Digit Span
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977

15. Assessing Intelligence
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison
with the performance of a pretested
“standardization group”
 Normal Curve
 the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that
describes the distribution of many physical
and psychological attributes
 most scores fall near the average, and fewer
and fewer scores lie near the extremes

16. The Normal Curve

17. Getting Smarter?

18. Assessing Intelligence
 Reliability
 the extent to which a test yields consistent
results
 assessed by consistency of scores on:
 two halves of the test
 alternate forms of the test
 retesting
 Validity
 the extent to which a test measures or
predicts what it is supposed to

19. Assessing Intelligence
 Content Validity
 the extent to which a test samples the
behavior that is of interest
 driving test that samples driving tasks
 Criterion
 behavior (such as college grades) that a
test (such as the SAT) is designed to
predict
 the measure used in defining whether
the test has predictive validity

20. Assessing Intelligence
 Predictive Validity
 success with which a test predicts the
behavior it is designed to predict
 assessed by computing the correlation
between test scores and the criterion
behavior
 also called criterion-related validity

21. Assessing Intelligence
Football 10 Greater correlation
linemen’s
9
over broad range
of body weights
 As the range of
success
8 data under
7
consideration
6
5
narrows, its
4
Little corre-
lation within predictive
3 restricted
range power
2
1
diminishes
0
180 250 290
Body weight in pounds

22. The Dynamics of
Intelligence
 Mental Retardation
 a condition of limited mental ability
 indicated by an intelligence score below 70
 produces difficulty in adapting to the demands
of life
 varies from mild to profound
 Down Syndrome
 retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s
genetic makeup

23. The Dynamics of
Intelligence

24. Genetic Influences
 The most
genetically
similar
people have
the most
similar
scores

25. Genetic Influences
 Heritability
 the proportion of variation among
individuals that we can attribute to
genes
 variability depends on range of
populations and environments studied

26. Genetic Influences

27. Environmental
Influences
 The Schooling Effect

28. Group Differences
 Group differences and environmental impact
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil Fertile soil
Difference within group

29. Group Differences
 The Mental Rotation Test
Which two of the other circles contain a configuration of blocks
identical to the one in the circle at the left?
Standard Responses

30. Group Differences
 Stereotype Threat
 A self-confirming concern that one
will be evaluated based on a
negative stereotype