Intelligence

Intelligence

Definitions & Measurement
1. Wechscler, 1958: The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment
2. Binet 1916: : Judgment, otherwise called "good sense," "practical sense," "initiative," the faculty of adapting one's self to circumstances ... auto-critique.
3. Humphreys 1979: "...the resultant of the process of acquiring, storing in memory, retrieving, combining, comparing, and using in new contexts information and conceptual skills."
4. Sternberg & Salter 1982: Goal-directed adaptive behaviour
5. Gottfredson 1998: The ability to deal with cognitive complexity.
6. Jensen, 1972: What intelligence tests measure (!)
7. Types of Measurment
  1. IQ test
  2. Aptitude test
  3. Ability test
8. Measurement Adequancy
  1. Criterion Validity
  2. Internal Consistency
  3. Test-retest reliability
  4. Freedom from bias
  5. Measurement invariance
9. what is being measured? one thing or many??
  1. g or positive manifold (Spearman, Vernon, Jensen, Gottredson, Deary)
  2. many things - name your area (Thurstone, Guilford, Sternberg, Gardner, Kaufman)
10. Measuring the Impact
  1. Correlation between individuals' measured intelligence and their levels of success
  2. Predictive Efficiency or % of variance explained (R2 from regression model
  3. prediction of individuals' odds of success
  4. Prediction of average performance level
Life Outcomes
1. Education
  1. Academic Achievement
    1. swedish twin study N= 15.000, r ~.56, Johnson et al 2010
    2. FA between latent structures of g and ed ach, r ~ .73-.87, Deary et al 2007
  2. Direction of Relationship??
    1. g influences pursuit of education?
    2. iq test measures ed. so far?
      1. iq varies with schooling
        decrease/lower: during summer hols, among low income families, where access to school is poor, among drop-out, late entries (Ceci 1991)
  3. problems of measurement: usually measured categorically, more crude than "achievement" measures
  4. semantics....
    1. intelligence test to measure ability to succeed in general scholastic setting, but non-dependent on school exposure
    2. aptitude test to measure ability to acquire particular skills
    3. achievement test to measure extend of acquisition of particular skills
2. Occupation
  1. Job Trainability ~.5
  2. Job performance ~ .3-.5
    1. higher for more complex jobs
    2. better predictor than individual measures
  3. more g is needed up the occupational ladder
    1. working population doesn't include many below ~80
    2. many jobs have a minimum threshold
    3. much variation among applicants, but range is narrower than general population
3. Health & Longevity
  1. intelligence helps... (Whalley & Deary 2001)
    1. pay attention to nutrition
    2. pay attention to exercise
    3. avoid bad habits
    4. avoid unnecessary risks
    5. understand out bodies
    6. recognise changes in our bodies
    7. know when to seek help
    8. follow treatment regiments
intelligence matters
1. why?
  1. reflects the ability to learn
  2. reflects the ability to deal with complexity in everyday life
  3. more comlex situations require greater information processing or knowledge
  4. extended dealing with people is complex
  5. more complex jobs tend to have less supervision and require more education
  6. intelligence tests are related to the state of the brain, which may reflect overall bodily integrity
  7. intelligence may contribute to better health and lifestyle decisions
  8. social privilege may confer benefits to both brain and body
2. how?
  1. contributes to learning
  2. learning contributes to accumulation of relevant knowledge
  3. more complex jobs tend to require more synthesis and information processing across areas of knowledge
  4. gravitational hypothesis (Wilk & Sackett 1996
    1. people select jobs based on perceived ability to perform them
    2. employers select job candidates based on perceived ability to perform
    3. over time, those with more g tend to gravitate toward more complex jobs and those with less g toward less complex jobs
3. everyday life
  1. manage finances
  2. follow instructions
  3. solve problems
  4. evaluate options, services
vs personality
1. cognitive-noncognitive distinction
2. cog abilities measured 'objectively', reflect 'maximum' performance
3. non-cog abilities measured 'subjectively', reflect typical performance
How it works
1. Stereotype Threat
  1. triggered when people are reminded that their group is 'dumb' (Steele, 1997)
    1. replicated with ethnic groups, gender, SES, age
    2. saps motivation by inducing entity theory?
    3. stressful preoccupation impedes information processing, limits problem solving?
    4. saps self-control resources?
    5. opposite can be done too - 'stereotype-lift': affects performance
2. Self-Regulation
  1. the conscious process that directs attention, cognition, and behaviour toward goal-attainment in the face of competing stimuli
  2. procedural link between intelligence and motivation
  3. delay of gratification: the marshmallow study! (Mischel et al 1989)
    1. ability to delay gratification (ie. self-regulate) related to SAT score
3. Interests
  1. intrinsic motivation
    1. engage in activity for its own sake - for pleasure, interest, to meet own goal
    2. tends to be associated with incremental theory of intelligence -> greater motivation + willingness to tolerate frustration = higher achievement
  2. extrinsic motivation
    1. engage in activity to meet externally imposed goals
    2. associated with entity theory of intelligence: less motivation + less persistence = lower achievement
4. Motivation
  1. Fixed or Not? Carr and Dweck 2011
    1. intelligence is fixed - entity theory (Binet: the brain as muscle - trainable)
      1. associated with performance goals
      2. intellectual tasks are demonstration of fixed capacity
      3. little point in investigating greater effort in learning tasks, or exposure to learning opportunities
      4. danger o exposing self to failure
      5. reassurance in staying with tasks one knows one can do well - associated with low achievement in school settings?
    2. intelligence is malleable, responds to effort - incremental theory
      1. associated with mastery goals
      2. intellectual tasks reflect return on learning effort
      3. greater effort in learning tasks or practice always helps
      4. failure reflects insufficient effort only
      5. no point in staying only with one task that we are good at - associated with higher achievement
  2. process that elicits, controls and sustains behaviours related to pursuit of specific goals
    1. meeting needs
    2. balancing lon-short-term states
    3. balancing contradictory needs
    4. attaining ideal state
    5. independent of emotion!

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	Created by nita.b almost 11 years ago