{"id":4601,"date":"2018-11-06T17:02:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T22:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/?p=4601"},"modified":"2018-11-06T17:36:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T22:36:32","slug":"what-is-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/psychological-assessments\/what-is-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Intelligence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intelligence defined: views of the lay public <\/strong><\/p>\n

High degree of similarity between the experts\u2019 and laypeople\u2019s conceptions of intelligence<\/p>\n

Intelligence defined: views of scholars and test professionals<\/h2>\n

Francis Galton<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • First person to publish on heritability of intelligence<\/li>\n
  • framed nature-nurture debate<\/li>\n
  • Believed that the most intelligent persons were those equipped with the best sensory abilities<\/li>\n
  • Following this logic, tests of visual acuity or hearing ability are tests of intelligence Alfred Binet <\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Wrote about components of intelligence<\/li>\n
  • Reasoning, judgment, memory, abstraction<\/li>\n
  • Called for more complex measurements of intellectual ability<\/li>\n
  • Galton had viewed intelligence as a number of distinct processes or abilities that could be assessed only by separate tests<\/li>\n
  • In contrast, Binet argued that when one solves a particular problem, the abilities used cannot be separated because they interact with one another to produce the solution<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    David Wechsler<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Intelligence as an \u201caggregate\u201d or \u201cglobal\u201d capacity<\/li>\n
    • Non-intellective factors must be taken into account when assessing intelligence<\/li>\n
    • Best way to measure this global ability was by measuring aspects of several \u201cqualitatively differentiable\u201d abilities \u2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \n (1) verbal based (2) performance based<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

        \n
      • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III)\n
          \n
        • Verbal comprehension<\/li>\n
        • Working memory<\/li>\n
        • Perceptual organisation<\/li>\n
        • Processing speed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Jean Piaget<\/h3>\n
            \n
          • Focused on the development of cognition in children<\/li>\n
          • For Piaget, intelligence may be conceived of as a kind of evolving biological adaption to the outside world<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            As cognitive skills are gain, adaption (at a symbolic level) increases and mental trail and error replaces physical trial and error.<\/p>\n

              \n
            • Process of cognitive development occurs neither solely through maturation or learning<\/li>\n
            • Believed that as a consequence of interaction with the environment, psychological structures become reorganised<\/li>\n
            • According to his theory, biological aspects of mental development are governed by inherent maturational mechanisms<\/li>\n
            • As individual stages are reached and passed through, the child also experiences the environment<\/li>\n
            • Each new experience required some form of cognitive organisation or reorganisation in a schema<\/em><\/li>\n
            • Assimilation \u2014> actively organising new info to fit what is already perceived and thought<\/em><\/li>\n
            • Accommodation \u2014> changing what is already perceived or thought so that it fits with new info<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Factor-Analytic Theories of Intelligence<\/h2>\n
                \n
              • Theorists have used factor analysis to study correlations between tests measuring varied abilities presumed to reflect the underlying attribute of intelligence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                Two-factor theory of intelligence<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
                  \n
                • Spearman \u2014><\/li>\n
                • Theory of general intelligence<\/li>\n
                • General intellectual ability (g<\/em>)<\/strong> that is partially tapped by all other mental abilities<\/li>\n
                • g represents the portion of the variance that all intelligence tests have in common and the remaining portions of the variance being accounted for by specific components (s<\/em>), or by error components (e<\/em>) of this general factor.<\/li>\n
                • Tests that exhibited high positive correlations with other intelligence tests = highly saturated with g<\/li>\n
                • Tests with low or moderate correlations with other intelligence tests = possible measures of specific factors (such as visual or motor ability)<\/li>\n
                • Greater g<\/em> = better predictor of overall intelligence<\/li>\n
                • Spearman conceived basis of g<\/em> factor as some type of general electrochemical mental energy available to the brain for problem solving<\/li>\n
                • Group factors<\/strong> \u2014> not as general as g, not as specific as s e.g. linguistic, mechanical, arithmetic abilities<\/li>\n
                • Cattell \u2014> two major cognitive abilities\n
                    \n
                  • Crystallised intelligence (Gc): <\/strong>acquired skills and knowledge that are dependent o exposure to a particular culture as well as formal and informal education (vocabulary, for example), retrieval of info and application of general knowledge<\/li>\n
                  • Fluid intelligence (Gf):<\/strong> Nonverbal, relatively culture-free, and independent of specific instruction (such as memory for digits)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                  • Horn proposed addition of several factors (look on slides) \u2014> some are vulnerable abilities<\/strong> (decline with age and tend not to return to perjury levels after brain damage), some are maintained abilities<\/strong> (not decline with age and may return to perjury levels following brain damage)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Carroll\u2019s Three Strata Theory <\/strong><\/p>\n

                    The CHC model<\/h3>\n
                      \n
                    • No g in CHC model<\/li>\n
                    • 10 broad stratum abilities<\/li>\n
                    • 70 or more narrow abilities<\/li>\n
                    • Each broad stream ability subsumes two or more narrow-stratum abilities<\/li>\n
                    • g not employed in model because it lacked utility in psychoeducational evaluations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                      The Information-Processing View<\/h2>\n
                        \n
                      • Focuses on mechanisms by which information is processed \u2014> HOW rather than what<\/li>\n
                      • Simultaneous processing: <\/strong>info is integrated at one time<\/li>\n
                      • Successive (sequential processing): <\/strong>each bit of info is individually processed in sequence<\/li>\n
                      • Sequential processing logical and analytical; piece by piece and one piece after another, info is arranged and rearranged so that it makes sense e.g. anticipating who the murderer is while watching Law and Order<\/li>\n
                      • Simultaneous processing is synthesised \u2014> info is integrated and synthesised at once and as a whole e.g. looking at artwork<\/li>\n
                      • PASS model <\/strong>of intellectual functioning – planning, attention, simultaneous, successive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        Sternberg \u2014> triarchic theory of intelligence<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          \n
                        • Three principle elements\n
                            \n
                          • Metacomponents<\/strong>: planning what one is going to do, monitoring what one is doing and evaluating what one has done upon completion<\/li>\n
                          • Performance components:<\/strong> administer the instructions of metacomponents<\/li>\n
                          • Knowledge acquisition components:<\/strong> involved in learning how to do something in the first place<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                          • Successful intelligence : gauged by the extent to which one effectively adapts, shares, shapes, and selects environments in a way that conforms to both personal and societal standards of success<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                            Achieving success in an culture thought to depend on one\u2019s analytic, creative, and practical abilities, as well as an overall ability to capitalise on strengths and to compensate for shortcomings<\/p>\n

                            MEASURING INTELLIGENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

                            Entails sampling an examinee\u2019s performance on different types of tests and tasks as a function of developmental level.<\/p>\n

                            Types of tasks used in intelligence tests<\/p>\n

                            Infancy<\/em>: measuring sensorimotor development e.g. nonverbal motor responses such as turning over, lifting the head, sitting up, following a moving object with the eyes, imitating gestures<\/p>\n

                            Older child<\/em>: verbal and performance abilities<\/p>\n

                            Mental age: <\/strong>chronological age equivalent of one\u2019s performance on a test or subtest<\/p>\n

                            According to Wechsler, adult intelligence scales should tap abilities such as retention of general info, quantitative reasoning, expressive language and memory, and social judgment \u2014> many tasks the same on adult and children tests, although the content of specific items may vary<\/p>\n

                            INTELLIGENCE: SOME ISSUES <\/strong><\/p>\n

                            Nature vs. Nurture<\/h2>\n
                              \n
                            • Measured intellectual ability an interaction between (1) innate ability and (2) environmental influences<\/li>\n
                            • Seventeenth century – Preformationist \u2014> all living organisms are preformed at birth (i.e. intelligence preformed) and cannot be improved upon<\/li>\n
                            • Predeterminism<\/strong>: one\u2019s abilities are predetermined by genetic inheritance and no amount of learning or other intervention can enhance what has been genetically encoded to unfold in time<\/li>\n
                            • Galton believed that genius was hereditary -> based on intelligence tests and family histories, minimised role of environmental enrichment<\/li>\n
                            • Identical twins reared apart still show remarkably similar test scores, but not as similar as if they had been reared together<\/li>\n
                            • Children born to poverty-stricken parents but then adopted by better educated, middle class families tend to have higher intelligence scores than counterparts who are not adopted by families of a higher SES<\/li>\n
                            • Natural mothers with the higher IQs tend to have the children with the higher IQs, irrespective of the family in which the adopted child is raised<\/li>\n
                            • Level of parental education important in predicting IQ<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                              Verbal, perceptual and image rotation (VPR) model<\/h3>\n
                                \n
                              • intelligence and related abilities have a very strong basis in genetics<\/li>\n
                              • hierarchical<\/li>\n
                              • g<\/em> factor that contributes to verbal, perceptual and image rotation abilities as well as to eight more specialised abilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                Proponents of nurture side of debate<\/h3>\n
                                  \n
                                • crucial importance of factors such as prenatal and postnatal environment, SES, educational opportunities, parental modelling with respect to intellectual development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                  Inheritance and interactionism<\/h2>\n

                                   <\/p>\n

                                  Interactionism<\/strong>: intelligence, as measured by intelligence tests, is the result of the interaction between heredity and environment<\/p>\n

                                    \n
                                  • Interactionist view \u2014> people inherit an intellectual potential<\/li>\n
                                  • How much of that genetic potential is realised depends partially on the type of environment in which it is nurtured \u2022 Extremely optimistic<\/li>\n
                                  • \u2018We are free to become all that we want to be\u201d<\/li>\n
                                  • Differential impact of hereditary and environment as a result of one\u2019s developmental stage<\/li>\n
                                  • Hereditary influence on intelligence increased from 41% in childhood, to 55% in adolescence, and to 66% in late adolescence and early adulthood<\/li>\n
                                  • Possible explanation: as they age, people increasingly modify their environment to complement genetic tendencies i.e. \u201cwe create experiences that suit our genes\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                    Stability of intelligence<\/h2>\n
                                      \n
                                    • Intelligence seems to be stable for much of one\u2019s adult life<\/li>\n
                                    • Young adult intelligence most important determinant of cognitive performance as an older adult<\/li>\n
                                    • In later adulthood, after age 75, a decline in cognitive abilities has been noted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                      The construct validity of tests of intelligence<\/h2>\n
                                        \n
                                      • Essential to know how the test developed defined intelligence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                        Other issues<\/p>\n

                                        The Flynn Effect<\/h3>\n