Week 1 - Investigating Psychology

Introduction: pp 3-7

intelligence investigated since mid C19th fascinating but controversial can be measured - major preoccupation - a central assumption measuring intelligence > 1 psych ^ achievements Used in many ways: education selection job recruitment diagnosis etc. wide belief - good score predicts successNot all agree : 'failed idea' ?capture diversity of skills & ability belief that tests show some groups better than others (interpreted as) Many different interpretations of what intelligence is - common sense, clever, adaptability, etc.agree only on these 3 points: all abilities underpinned by one ability - intelligence varies between people it's important.

page 17 - 25craniometry - belief that head size = intelligence, but subject to confirmatory bias (where only see what want to see), objective test showed unreliable - binet's belief - not objective so used psychometrics insteadFrancis Galton - craniometry + physical tests (eye, hearing, color vision, grip, etc) 1884 lab in south kensington musiumearly tests used to establish some groups as more superior than others - often due to bias - causing oppression and discriminationBinet (1857-1911)- french - pioneer iq tests worked with founding neurologist jean-martin charcot1891+ moved to universuty lab - sorbonnepsychometrics - assesses knowledge, attitutes, mood, personality and mental ability. Individuals differ from each other - individual differences.believed in role of environment and education - intelligence can be improved, NOT innate as previously believed.1885 - begins work on 'battery of tests' - measure intelligence (higher mental power)1895-collaborates with theodore simon1904- asked binet/simon to devise test to assess childrens ability - who had special needs.1905-first test published, updated regularly till binet dies1916 - updated by henry goddard and Lewis Termon - renamed stanford-binet testgold standard of tests - still revised every 20 yrstodays wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS) builds on this.tasks included: following commands naming objects defining words momorising comparisons 54 tasks - arranged in order of difficultyeach task looks at different abilities general knowledge short term memory non-verbal reasoning verbal ability numerical skills results compared with norms expected for a specific childs age. this gave 'mental age'only relevant when compared with others of same age, culture, etc.so not absolute standard but just a comparison with others in same group (test norms)test standardisation is used to establish test normspages 26 -outline what IQ is, and discuss the assumption of normal distribution of intelligencespearman (1904) - general intelligence (g) - underlying factor - believed correlation between ability in different areas.William Stern - early c20 - IQ formula - mental age/chronological ageTerman foruma - mental age/chronological age x 100 IQ = number that shows intelligence score in relation to others in age group100 = average for age (applies to any age) but only for childrenbinet opposed IQ - makes it look more precise than it is. abilities can not be a single score., only good as rough diagnostic tool. page 28 -31Adults assessed using 'normal distribution' - this is a concept that assumes that abilities will be distributed in such a way that most will be around average, with fewer outliers.used by retailers to estimate how much to order in different sizes - eg shoes. results look like a curve, - 'bell curve'100 still denotes average IQ (mean)curve shows: 2/3 score between 85-115 95% score between 70-130 <2.3% score <70 <2.3% score >130 new tests calibratd so the norms will fit this bell curveadvantages can immediately see where someone fits useful for comparing different test versions simple to use - most understand the scoring disadvantages never been demonstrated, just an assumption based on galtons research that physical attributes are normally distributed not an 'absolute' measure of intelligence understand complex nature of intelligence and the challenges posed by atttempting to measure aspects of human psychology that cannot be directly observed

pages 32 - 40Anatomy of an Intelligence TestThe Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - widely used for adultsdeveloped - 1939 - american, david wechsleroriginally called - Wechsler-bellvue intelligence scale10 core subjects tested, devided into 4 components, 14 -33 q's in each increasing difficulty verbal comprehension - 3 subtests - general verbal skills (give meaning of words), identify what in common, and general knowledge perceptual reasoning - 3 subtests - non-verbal reasoning - reproduce patterns, manipulate pics and problem solving. involves pics not words working memory - 2 subtests - repeat sequence 2 - 9 #'s and simple sums. processing speed - 2 subtests - looks at speed and accuracy, identify pairs in a sequence of symbols. succesful if completed in <90secs. processing speed NOT seen in Binet-Simon test10 core area results = iqalso gives 4 'index scores' - for each component. Wais acknowledges not always a correlation. so results show IQ + whether good, or bad in one or more components.The number of different kinds of intelligences has changed over time, sometimes upto 8 components have been considered.Fluid Intelligence - p37fluid and crystallised attention - distinct components - 1970's Raymond Cattell Fluid intelligence - icludes logical thinking & problem solving - even without knowledge crystallised intelligence - language and general knowledge - knowledge required no well developed theory, or definitive idea of what intelligence is. tests measure something, but what?where shoe size in normal distribution can be measured, intelligence can't be observed or measuredonly way to ensure validity is to compare it with others - test norms, by test standardisation which is give the test to a large number of people.Galton suggested by testing someone believed intelligent and someone not, if difference shown in score it is validproblem - need an idea of who is or isn't intelligentin children - good grades = >intelligent - so test valid if iq score reflects this, first used by binetThis is an issue as schools can teach the skills needed to do well in the IQ tests.to predict school performance parents support more important than IQ. more support = Duckworth (2011) - incentives improve IQ performance )pp.39) so motivation an influence

Video: Measuring Intelligence

How tests used in, how administered, what conclusions from results. clinical - Sarah McKenzie Ross - diagnosis, court expert, accident, assault, any brain damage? test memory, verbal etc. what does the loss mean. occupational - Almuth MacDowell selection (job recruitment) aka ability testing - measure maximum performance. tests based on skills used for the job. paper based 'exam' educational - learning needs, selection (school admission/streaming) Jenny Taylor - Weschler scale, determine overall IQ, adminsitered face to face, observing performance - how is task completed. paper based 'exam's ie: 11+ Jenny Taylors definition of intelligence - It includes personality as well as IQwhy doesn't Sarah McKenzie ross report IQ to doctors? no, they don't know how to interpret an IQ score, more helpful to give more discriptive info.In-text citation: Investigating psychology (The Open University, 2014)Reference list: The Open University (2014) ‘Investigating psychology’ [Video], DE100 Investigating psychology 1. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=842330§ion=7 (Accessed date).