Intelligence and Testing Teaching Notes

Intelligence and creativity are not necessarily related
Intelligence-a complex and controversial concept that permits humans to adapt to different environments and challenge physical limitations (can not be seen, touched, or measured physically), basis for academic achievement (learning ability)
Trait-distinguishing characteristic that is believed to account for consistency in behavior

Achievement-that which is attained by one’s efforts and made possible by one’s abilities (performance)
Factor Theories
Factors-a cluster of related items, such as those found on an intelligence test
Charles Spearman-1904

G-general intelligence, problem-solving abilities, underlay more specific abilities
S-specific factors, accounted for individual abilities
Factor Analysis-a statistical technique that allows researchers to determine the relationship among large number of items, such as test items

Structure-of-intellect model-3-dimensional model of intelligence, focuses on operations, contents, and products of intellectual functioning (120 factors), later expanded model to 150 factors
Operations-the kinds of cognitive processing that are involved
Contents-the type of information that is processed
Products-the forms that the information takes

Level 1-associative abilities, measured by tasks involving learning and memorization (not measured by academic grades)
Level 2-conceptual abilities, verbal ability, logical reasoning, and problem-solving skills

Contextual level-aspects of intelligence that allow people to adapt to their environment
Experiential level-allows people to cope with novel situation and process information automatically
Componential level-3 processes; Metacomponents(based on self-awareness of intellectual processes, ex.-what problem to solve, strategies), Performance components(mental operations used in processing information, ex.-encoding info), Knowledge-acquisition components(used in gaining knowledge, such as encoding and relating new knowledge to existing knowledge)

Characteristics of Intelligence Tests (must be reliable and valid)
Correlation coefficient-a number that indicates the direction (positive is above zero, or negative is below zero) and strength of the relationship between 2 variables
Reliability-measure of consistency
Test-retest reliability-a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing (correlating) test taker’s scores from separate occasions

Invented Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-developed for public schools to find children who needed special attention in 1905 (Binet-Simon Scale), has been updated
Mental Age (MA)-the accumulated months of credit that a person earns on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, shows the intellectual level at which a child is functioning
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)-Louis Terman; originally, a ratio obtained by dividing a child’s score (or metal age) on an intelligence test by his or her chronological age; now, a score on an intelligence test

Wechsler Scales-measure children’s relative strengths and weaknesses, as well as overall intellectual functioning, measured verbal tasks and performance tasks
Deviation IQ-based on how a person’s answers compared with (or deviated from) those attained by people in the same age group

Group Tests- because all past tests had been given to one person at a time, these tests were given to large groups all at one time (started in WWI)
Social-Class, Racial, and Ethnic Differences in Intelligence

People questioned whether or not social-class, racial, or ethnic differences determined the outcomes of IQ tests
Caucasians-descriptive of people whose ancestors came from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East to North India, known as “white people” even though skin color varies from pale reddish white to olive brown, sometimes scored higher than lower-class children

Tests were used to prevent the immigration of European people into the United States during the 1920s
Cultural Bias-a factor that provides an advantage for test takers from certain cultural or ethnic backgrounds
Raymond B. Cattell (1949) and Florence Goodenough (1954)

Culture-free intelligence tests-test in which cultural biases have been removed, have not been successful

Closely related people should have more similar IQ scores than distantly related people or unrelated people, even when they do not grow up together (if heredity affects scores)
Adopted children have more similar IQ scores with their biological parents rather than their adopted parents

The early home environment and interaction of parents can play a part in IQ scores
Ex.-Mothers who are verbally and emotionally responsive to their children in positive ways can create higher IQ scores.
Early academic enrichment can lead to higher IQ scores (Head Start program)

Heredity and environment partly determine IQ scores.
A goal of psychologists should be to enrich children who are living in environments that might cause them to fail in life.

Teaching notes for Chapter 7