Intelligence

Intelligence

1. Definitions & Measurement

   • Wechscler, 1958: The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment
   • Binet 1916: : Judgment, otherwise called "good sense," "practical sense," "initiative," the faculty of adapting one's self to circumstances ... auto-critique.
   • Humphreys 1979: "...the resultant of the process of acquiring, storing in memory, retrieving, combining, comparing, and using in new contexts information and conceptual skills."
   • Sternberg & Salter 1982: Goal-directed adaptive behaviour
   • Gottfredson 1998: The ability to deal with cognitive complexity.
   • Jensen, 1972: What intelligence tests measure (!)
   • Types of Measurment
     • IQ test
     • Aptitude test
     • Ability test
   • Measurement Adequancy
     • Criterion Validity
     • Internal Consistency
     • Test-retest reliability
     • Freedom from bias
     • Measurement invariance
   • what is being measured? one thing or many??
     • g or positive manifold (Spearman, Vernon, Jensen, Gottredson, Deary)
     • many things - name your area (Thurstone, Guilford, Sternberg, Gardner, Kaufman)
   • Measuring the Impact
     • Correlation between individuals' measured intelligence and their levels of success
     • Predictive Efficiency or % of variance explained (R2 from regression model
     • prediction of individuals' odds of success
     • Prediction of average performance level

2. Life Outcomes

   • Education
     • Academic Achievement
       • swedish twin study N= 15.000, r ~.56, Johnson et al 2010
       • FA between latent structures of g and ed ach, r ~ .73-.87, Deary et al 2007
     • Direction of Relationship??
       • g influences pursuit of education?
       • iq test measures ed. so far?
         • 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)
     • problems of measurement: usually measured categorically, more crude than "achievement" measures
     • semantics....
       • intelligence test to measure ability to succeed in general scholastic setting, but non-dependent on school exposure
       • aptitude test to measure ability to acquire particular skills
       • achievement test to measure extend of acquisition of particular skills
   • Occupation
     • Job Trainability ~.5
     • Job performance ~ .3-.5
       • higher for more complex jobs
       • better predictor than individual measures
     • more g is needed up the occupational ladder
       • working population doesn't include many below ~80
       • many jobs have a minimum threshold
       • much variation among applicants, but range is narrower than general population
   • Health & Longevity
     • intelligence helps... (Whalley & Deary 2001)
       • pay attention to nutrition
       • pay attention to exercise
       • avoid bad habits
       • avoid unnecessary risks
       • understand out bodies
       • recognise changes in our bodies
       • know when to seek help
       • follow treatment regiments

3. intelligence matters

   • why?
     • reflects the ability to learn
     • reflects the ability to deal with complexity in everyday life
     • more comlex situations require greater information processing or knowledge
     • extended dealing with people is complex
     • more complex jobs tend to have less supervision and require more education
     • intelligence tests are related to the state of the brain, which may reflect overall bodily integrity
     • intelligence may contribute to better health and lifestyle decisions
     • social privilege may confer benefits to both brain and body
   • how?
     • contributes to learning
     • learning contributes to accumulation of relevant knowledge
     • more complex jobs tend to require more synthesis and information processing across areas of knowledge
     • gravitational hypothesis (Wilk & Sackett 1996
       • people select jobs based on perceived ability to perform them
       • employers select job candidates based on perceived ability to perform
       • over time, those with more g tend to gravitate toward more complex jobs and those with less g toward less complex jobs
   • everyday life
     • manage finances
     • follow instructions
     • solve problems
     • evaluate options, services

4. vs personality

   • cognitive-noncognitive distinction
   • cog abilities measured 'objectively', reflect 'maximum' performance
   • non-cog abilities measured 'subjectively', reflect typical performance

5. How it works

   • Stereotype Threat
     • triggered when people are reminded that their group is 'dumb' (Steele, 1997)
       • replicated with ethnic groups, gender, SES, age
       • saps motivation by inducing entity theory?
       • stressful preoccupation impedes information processing, limits problem solving?
       • saps self-control resources?
       • opposite can be done too - 'stereotype-lift': affects performance
   • Self-Regulation
     • the conscious process that directs attention, cognition, and behaviour toward goal-attainment in the face of competing stimuli
     • procedural link between intelligence and motivation
     • delay of gratification: the marshmallow study! (Mischel et al 1989)
       • ability to delay gratification (ie. self-regulate) related to SAT score
   • Interests
     • intrinsic motivation
       • engage in activity for its own sake - for pleasure, interest, to meet own goal
       • tends to be associated with incremental theory of intelligence -> greater motivation + willingness to tolerate frustration = higher achievement
     • extrinsic motivation
       • engage in activity to meet externally imposed goals
       • associated with entity theory of intelligence: less motivation + less persistence = lower achievement
   • Motivation
     • Fixed or Not? Carr and Dweck 2011
       • intelligence is fixed - entity theory (Binet: the brain as muscle - trainable)
         • associated with performance goals
         • intellectual tasks are demonstration of fixed capacity
         • little point in investigating greater effort in learning tasks, or exposure to learning opportunities
         • danger o exposing self to failure
         • reassurance in staying with tasks one knows one can do well - associated with low achievement in school settings?
       • intelligence is malleable, responds to effort - incremental theory
         • associated with mastery goals
         • intellectual tasks reflect return on learning effort
         • greater effort in learning tasks or practice always helps
         • failure reflects insufficient effort only
         • no point in staying only with one task that we are good at - associated with higher achievement
     • process that elicits, controls and sustains behaviours related to pursuit of specific goals
       • meeting needs
       • balancing lon-short-term states
       • balancing contradictory needs
       • attaining ideal state
       • independent of emotion!