GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I NOTES

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Cory Brooks
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1 COGNITION & INTELLIGENCE What is Intelligence? The history of intelligence tests provides an interesting look at how people have defined intelligence and what intelligence is. There are a number of definitions that have been proposed. In spite of the diversity of viewpoints, two themes recur again and again in expert definitions of intelligence. Broadly speaking, he experts tend to agree that intelligence is (1) the capacity to learn from experience and (2) the capacity to adapt to the environment. 1 In this chapter, we will begin to understand the challenges in (a) defining intelligence and (b) determining the origin of intelligence. Important Historical Contributions to Measuring Intelligence Sir Francis Galton 2 Sir Francis Galton (Darwin s cousin) asserted that intelligence was hereditary. He observed that intelligence seemed to run in the family smart people have smart children. He believed that intelligence was made-up of basic sensory processes, such that the speed of transmission was the underlying basis for intelligence; as such, he developed measures to assess reaction times, color perception, etc. What is an alternative explanation to Galton s observation that smart people were having smart children? Alfred Binet Commissioned by the French government, Binet (and others) set out to measure intelligence Binet s measure assessed things such as vocabulary, memory, skill with numbers, and other mental abilities that were supposed to capture high-level mental processes. 3 Binet is notable for the development of the mental age formula for determining IQ: Exs:.where mental age represented the average IQ abilities of a certain age, and chronological age represented the person s actual age. 1 Gregory, R. J. (1996). Psychological Testing (2 nd ed). p Weiten, Psychology: Themes and Variations (9 th ed). p Gazzaniga et al. Psychological Science (4 th ed), p. 344 Page 1 of 5

2 o This formula became the basis for latter development of the Intelligence Quotient (or IQ) that we know today. o Today, the average IQ score is normed at 100, with a standard deviation of 15. Charles Spearman Was critical in developing a statistical technique called factor analysis, which essentially determines how scores are related to each other. A factor represents a number of scores (on personality variables or, in this case, measures of mental abilities) that are grouped together. Spearman found that IQ was essentially made up of a g or a general ability. This was important because it suggests that there is one thing that can be considered intelligence. (He also proposed that there were specific factors (or s) that was specific to one ability, but overall, this had less of an effect. The primary determinant of intelligence was the g 4 ) Others have proposed that intelligence is more than a single factor; instead, they suggests that intelligence can be divided into different components. Here are some of the ways that IQ has been divided up. Raymond Catell 5 Proposed that intelligence is made up of two different components: o Fluid Intelligence, which involves information processing, especially in novel or complex circumstances, such as reasoning, drawing analogies, and thinking quickly and flexibly o Crystallized Intelligence, which involves knowledge we acquire through experience, such as vocabulary and cultural information, and the ability to use this knowledge to solve problems. This distinction is analogous to working memory (fluid intelligence) and long-term memory (crystallized intelligence) 6 Robert Sternberg 7 Proposed that intelligence could be broken down into three different components: o Analytical Intelligence, which involves being good at problem solving, completing analogies, figuring out puzzles, and other academic challenges o Creative Intelligence, which involves the ability to gain insight and solve novel problems to think in new and interesting ways o Practical Intelligence, which refers to dealing with everyday tasks, such as knowing whether a parking space is large enough for your vehicle, being a good judge of people, being an effective leader, and so on. 4 Gregory, Psychological Testing (2 nd ed), p quotes are from Gazzaniga et al, Psychological Science (4 th ed), p Gazzaniga et al, Psychological Science (4 th ed), p quotes are from Gazzaniga et al, Psychological Science (4 th ed), p. 350 Page 2 of 5

Howard Gardner Proposed that intelligence was made up of 8 different components 8 Type Logical-Mathematical Linguistic Musical Spatial Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist Bodily-kinesthetic

3 Howard Gardner Proposed that intelligence was made up of 8 different components 8 Type Logical-Mathematical Linguistic Musical Spatial Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist Bodily-kinesthetic Description logical reasoning and mathematical, numerical pattern abilities sounds, word meaning, function of language produce and appreciate differences in music (e.g., pitch, rhythm, etc) special ability and mental transformations discern mood and other social skills self-awareness of mood, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, etc. recognize, categorize nature control one s own body (e.g., hand-eye coordination) In short, what we see is that intelligence could be (or not) broken up in many different ways. There are still more ways to think about this. For example, there is the notion of emotional intelligence, which suggests that people have different skills/abilities related to emotional life and social intelligence, which suggests that people differ in their skills/abilities related to social/interpersonal life. Some of this controversy surrounds how much these matter and/or which is most important. Why is the distinction between one type of intelligence that is, one component or one underlying factor vs a multiple intelligence view matter? What are the implications for the differences in the model? How would this change teaching, career choice, etc.? Which of these views best fits the definition or themes in the definition of intelligence described at the beginning of these notes? The other debate in the intelligence testing world is whether IQ is nature, nurture, both (and of course, with the latter, which has the largest relative contribution. To understand this debate, it is important to look at and understand the heritability ratio. Heritability Ratio is an estimate of the proportion of trait variability in a population that is determined by variations in genetic inheritance. 9 If we look at the figure, we can understand this better. The heritability ratio essentially tries to figure out how much variation in the plant size (in this example) is due to the gene of the flower or the environment ( A or B ). So, in this example, all plants of different genes 8 Table is taken/adapted from Weiten, Psychology Themes and Variations (9 th ed), p Weiten, Psychology Themes and Variations (9 th ed), p. 367 Page 3 of 5

4 are planted in two different soils. This ratio assesses how much is due to the difference in the environment (soil A or soil B ) vs. how much is due to genes. Heritability estimates for IQ seem to be around 60% (although, that range varies widely) The way that the nature and nurture is determined is done in many different ways, but one way is to look at twins and adoption studies, how IQ changes as environment changes, etc. Some evidence for the nature side of the debate Some evidence for the nurture side of the debate Heritability ratios in the 60% range The average correlation [in intelligence] for identical twins (.86) is very high. The average correlation [in intelligence] for fraternal twins (.60) is significantly lower. Identical twins who were reared apart because of family breakups or adoptions [were found to] still display greater similarity in IQ (average correlation:.72) than fraternal twins reared together (average correlation:.60). Moreover, the gap in IQ similarity between identical twins and fraternal twins appears to widen in adulthood, suggesting paradoxically that the influence of heredity increases with age. Adopted children show some resemblance to their foster parents in IQ. Adoption studies indicate that siblings reared together are more similar in IQ than siblings reared apart. This is true even for identical twins who have the same genetic endowment. Cumulative Deprivation Hypothesis asserts that impoverished environments decrease and enriched environments show increases in IQ. Studies show that children taken from impoverished environments and moved to enriched environments show increases in IQ Flynn Effect refers to the finding that IQ has been rising over time. This is attributed to greater access to technology, better schools, better nutrition, etc. There is similarity in IQ between adopted children and their genetic parents Information and quotes from this chart is taken from Weiten s Psychology: Themes and Variations (9 th ed)., pp Reaction Range Model (Sandra Scarr) proposes that both genes and environment play a role, such that genes provide a starting point and range on the extent to which environment can influence IQ In this model, someone with good genes could, in the right environment could score at the top of their reaction range, but in the wrong environment could score at the bottom. Then, theoretically, someone with the worst genes could score at the top of his/her reaction range in the right environment, surpassing the best gene person. Page 4 of 5

5 Cognition Expected Utility Theory asserts that people make decisions by rank-ordering alternatives on a utility (value) scale, such that one chooses the alternative with the best utility for them 10 Traditionally, psychologists have viewed people as rational thinkers. Theory of Bounded Rationality asserts that people use simple strategies to make decisions and often these are then irrational and less than optimal 11 Heuristics is a term used to describe the rules of thumb or simple strategies used to make decisions Representative Heuristic is the tendency to make decisions based on the similarity it has to a prototype. o Stereotypes are really a form of a representative heuristic. For example, the idea that high-priced jewelry is good quality jewelry is based on the prototype (the clearest, exemplar case) that high-priced jewelry is better jewelry. Decisions, then, based on this heuristic are used because understanding all the complexities of jewelry are difficult. Doing so, will work sometimes, but often can result in a bad decision. Availability Heuristic is the tendency to judge an event based on how easily you can recall an event. o People may judge air travel to be more dangerous than driving a car, not because this is statistically true, but because it is easier to think of examples of plane crashes (these make headline news; whereas, the hundreds of car crashes everyday rarely are mentioned). Is there some value in heuristics? Do they always lead to the wrong decision? 10 Gazzaniga et al. Psychological Science (4 th ed), p Weiten, Psychology: Themes and Variations (9 th ed), p. 333 Page 5 of 5

Psychology in Your Life

Sarah Grison Todd Heatherton Michael Gazzaniga Psychology in Your Life SECOND EDITION Chapter 8 Thinking and Intelligence 1 2016 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 8.1 What Is Thinking? How we represent ideas