Models of Intelligence

Page 1

Psychometric Model of Intelligence:

• Views intelligence as a map of the mind

• Spearman proposed that intelligence is made up of general intelligence which is made up of a cluster of special abilities

• Explains why there are individual differences in intelligence

• Uses factor analysis's a statistical method to separate intelligence into several distinct abilities

- Helps understand the structure of intelligence

Psychometric - uses factor analysis too the results of different intelligence tests - measurement

Biological Mode of Intelligence:

• Biological models describe intelligence as a physiological phenomenon

• The brain has been studied in two different ways

- Case studies of patients with brain damage

- Neuroimaging of patients with either damaged or intact brains

Intelligence and Brain Structure:

• Patients with damaged frontal lobes may experience a decline in intellectual functioning. Eg. Phineas Gage.

Neuroimaging Research into Intelligence and Brain Structure:

• MRI studies have discovered a correlation of 0.4-0.51 between IQ level scores and brain size (especially grey matter).

• This suggests that the larger a persons brain is, the higher the level of intelligence

• Heredity has an impact on brain size, but also learning difficult skills can also increase the volume of grey matter.

Neuroimaging research into Intelligence and Brain Structure:

• Involves measuring brain activity while participants are completing an intelligence test.

• More intelligent people have learned to use their brains more efficiently, and therefore require less energy to solve difficult problems.

Contextual Model of Intelligence

• Intelligence can only be understood in view of the society it comes from - Culture

• Suggests that intelligence is relevant to the culture in which it is defined and measured.

• People in different cultures have different ideas about what it means to be 'smart' or 'clever' or to adapt to one's environment.

• Takes into account the different notions of cleverness in different communities, and the effects of the culture in which a child is raised.

• It does not take into account the fact that some individuals are naturally better at responding to various intellectual challenges than others.

Indigenous Australians

- Indigenous Australians may place great value on hunting and fishing skills, whereas inhabitants of metropolitan or urban Australia may. put more value on academic performance at school.

Street Kids in Brazil

- In the 1980's, researchers found that Brazilian children with no formal education were able to do quite complex arithmetic in a marketplace setting but not in a school setting.