IntelligenceIntelligence

Intelligence Tests and Intelligence Tests and TestingTesting

Intelligence tests measure innate intelligence. Intelligence tests measure capacity or potential. IQ’s are fixed and immutable and never change. Intelligence tests provide perfectly reliable scores. Intelligence tests measure all we need to know about a

person’s intelligence. IQ’s obtained from a variety of tests are interchangeable. A battery of tests can tell us everything that we need to

know to make judgments about a person’s competence.

1921 Symposium1921 Symposium1. What do I conceive “intelligence to be, and by what means can it best 1. What do I conceive “intelligence to be, and by what means can it best

be determined by group tests?be determined by group tests?2. What are the most crucial “next steps” in research?2. What are the most crucial “next steps” in research?

The power of good responses from the point of view of truth or facts (E. L. Thorndike)

The ability to carry on abstract thinking (L. M. Terman)

Sensory capacity, capacity for perceptual organization, quickness, range or flexibility of association, facility and imagination, span of attention, quickness or alertness in response (F. N. Freeman)

Having learned or ability to learn to adjust oneself to the environment (S. S. Colvin)

Ability to adapt oneself adequately to new situations in life (R. Pinter)

The capacity for knowledge and knowledge possessed (B. A. C. Henmon)

A biological mechanism by which the effects of a complexity of stimuli are brought together and given a somewhat unified effect in behavior (j. Peterson)

The capacity to inhibit an instinctive adjustment, the capacity to redefine the inhibited instinctive adjustment in the light of imaginally experienced trial and error, and the capacity to realize the modified instinctive adjustment in overt behavior to the advantage of the individual as a social animal (L. L. Thurstone)

The capacity to acquire capacity (H. Woodrow)

The capacity to learn or profit from experience (W. F. Dearborn)

Sensation, perception, association, memory, imagination, discrimination, judgment and reasoning (N. E. Haggerty)

Definitions of IntelligenceDefinitions of Intelligence

SpearmanThorndikeThurstoneCattellGuilfordGardnerSternberg

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence?

Spearman– “Unity of the Intellectual Function”– “g”

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence?

Thorndike– Three clusters of intelligence:

a) social intelligence, b) concrete intelligence, and c) abstract intelligence

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence?

Thurstone– He conceived intelligence as being composed

of distinct abilities called “primary mental abilities” (PMAs)

verbal meaning perceptual speed Reasoning number facility rote memory word fluency spatial relations

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence?

Cattell - two-factor theory of intelligence– Fluid intelligence

Fluid intelligence assumed to be free of cultural influences included aspects such as memory for digits

– Crystallized intelligence included acquired skills and knowledge that are very

much dependent on exposure to a particular culture as well as formal and informal education. (i.e., vocabulary, algebra, etc.)

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence?

Guilford - “three-dimensional structure of intellect” – its operation –cognition, memory, divergent

and convergent thinking, and evaluation; – its content –figural, symbolic, semantic, and

behavioral; and – the product resulting from the operation—units,

classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence? Gardner

– To qualify as an "intelligence" the particular capacity under study was considered from multiple perspectives consisting of eight specific criteria drawn from the biological sciences, logical analysis, developmental psychology, experimental psychology, and psychometrics. The criteria to consider "candidate intelligences" (Gardner, 1999a, p. 36) are: 1) the potential for brain isolation by brain damage, 2) its place in evolutionary history, 3) the presence of core operations, 4) susceptibility to encoding, 5) a distinct developmental progression, 6) the existence of idiot-savants, prodigies and other exceptional people, 7) support from experimental psychology, and 8) support from psychometric findings (Gardner, 1999a)

What is Intelligence?What is Intelligence? Sternberg

– Componential intelligence (often called analytical) Traditional notion of intelligence

Abstract thinking & logical reasoningVerbal & mathematical skills

– Experiential intelligence (often called creative) Creativity

Divergent thinking (generating new ideas)Ability to deal with novel situations 

– Contextual intelligence (often called practical intelligence)

Street smartsAbility to apply knowledge to the real worldAbility to shape one’s environment; choose an environment

How do we norm – we take a test and give it to a large sample of people (different gender, race, etc.). Then we create a bell curve with the data. Then we look at the data and see what makes a difference between the different scores.