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Human Intelligence

What it is,

What it isn’t

How we try to measure it

The Usual Disclaimer

After viewing this presentation do not attempt to operate motorized equipment.

Not to be taken internally

Avoid prolonged contact with the skin

The following material portrays scenes which some viewers may find disturbing…parental discretion is advised.

A great deal of information will be presented, so we’ll move fast and take no prisoners….but if you have a question,

by all means, ask it!!

Objectives

As the result of wasting another evening in this alleged class, you should be able to:

• Describe the concept of Human Intelligence• Identify factors which influence intellectual

development• Become familiar with mechanisms for assessing

intelligence• Discriminate between IQ and DIQ• Recall the labels used to refer to levels of

developmental disability (MR)• Describe at least one method for killing an emu.

What is Intelligence??

Now is time for the obligatory “Group Activity”

Your Task

• Form into groups of between 2 and 24

•Think of an individual whom you admire as being “bright”…You might have to think back a few years on this one…..

•Generate a list of specific behaviors, qualities, characteristics that individual demonstrated that led you to believe she/he was bright……

A brief history lesson

Please commit this chart to memory, it will be on the next test!

It was Sir Francis Galton who argued that tests of sensory discrimination could serve as a means of gauging an individual’s intellect and thus he wrote……

“The only information that reaches us concerning the outward events appears to pass through the avenue of our senses; and the more perceptive the senses are of difference, the larger is the field upon which our judgment and intelligence can act”, (Galton, 1888)

James McKeen Cattell

While studying for his doctorate at Leipzig University under the direction of Wilhelm Wundt he completed his doctoral dissertation on differences in reaction times. In 1888 and while lecturing at Cambridge University he became aware of the work of Galton and the ideas of individual differences and Intellect became merged.

In 1890 the term “Mental Test” was used for the first time but such tests were primarily measures of physiological responses:

•Muscular strength Speed of movement

•Sensitivity to pain Reaction time

•Memory Ad.infinitum…..

Trivia Note: It was through this work that the concept of “subliminal perception” came into being….from the German word “Limen” meaning limit or threshold.

Binet and Simon

•These two tried for years to associate “intelligence” with such things as cranial, facial, and hand configurations…and even handwriting analysis. Their results were (and this is not going to surprise you) not too promising and gave rise to the idea that the direct, even though crude, measurement of complex intellectual functions offered the greatest promise.

In 1904 the Minister of Public Instruction commissioned the two of them to study the procedures for educating retarded children. This prompted the study of the differences between successful and unsuccessful students….an early kind of “Academic aptitude test” was developed and became the 1905 Binet-Simon Scale. Quite literally the instrument was used to predict success in school….Now we’re on to something!! And for the first time the idea of “mental level” was proposed…..

L.M. Terman

• Author of the American version of the Binet Scales and since the work was done at Stanford University in 1915…well, you know…we have the Stanford-Binet.

• It was this version that introduced the concepts of mental age, chronological age, and the term Intelligence Quotient (IQ) for the very first time…..

The Intelligence Quotient

• First of all, for you non-math majors, a quotient is simply the result of division…

• The mental age was quite easy to calculate. If an individual correctly answered 11 questions on the test and 11 correct was the average score for someone 7 years old, then that individual would be said to have a mental age of 7.

• In the individual were 7 years old (chronological age) then the individual could be said to have average intelligence.

• If the individual were 5 years old and could get as many correct as the average 7 year old…well, that would be a pretty bright 5 year old…..some way was needed to portray this on a scale…..

IQ=(MA/CA)*100

• That 100 thing is because at the turn of the last century folks were no more comfortable with decimals that you or I….

• IQ = (7/7)*100 = 100…That’s where the idea of 100 being “average intelligence” came from…..

• IQ = (7/5)* 100 = 140

• IQ = (5/7)*100 = 71

OK…but what is Intelligence

• A hypothetical Construct (I’ve never seen an intelligence but I’ve witnessed intelligent behavior.

• Generally, the ability of a person to learn or benefit from experience.

• Academic or Scholastic Aptitude (Binet)• The ability of a person to cope with the demands placed

on him/her by the environment (Weschler).• A human trait that is the result of genetic endowment

and life experience. (Remember Brave New World by A. Huxley??? I didn’t think so.)

What about the “Nature-Nurture” Controversy????

• What controversy???? It has not been a controversy since the 1930’s when it was effectively demonstrated that 60-70% of the variance in human intelligence was attributable to environmental influence, life experiences, trips to the zoo….avoiding rap music, etc…..

OK…but what is not?

• Probably not a single or unitary trait.

• Not a good indicator of life success.

• Not a fixed and unchangeable entity.

• Not easily measured across cultures.

Story time with tales of Aborigines Emus and assorted references to cranial capacity (???)

The Weschler Scales

• Created by David Weschler during the 1940’s• Recognizes that human intelligence is amazingly

complex and composed of many different components which can be grouped into two categories: Verbally mediated and Performance.

• First used the concept of Deviation IQ as a normalized scale score (mean=100, SD=15)

• Permits the assessment of intelligence throughout the life span….

The WISC

Verbal (VIQ)

1. Information

3. Similarities

5. Arithmetic

7. Vocabulary

9. Comprehension

11. (Digit Span)

Performance (PIQ)

2. Picture Completion

4. Picture Arrangement

6. Block Design

8. Object Assembly

10.Coding

12. (Mazes)

Scores Available:

Verbal, Performance, and Full Score DIQ’s (Mean=100, SD=15)

Subscale Scores (Mean =10, SD=3)

Common Individual Tests

• Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)• Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)• Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of

Intelligence (WPPSI)• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)• Columbia Mental Maturity Scale• Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale• Porteus Maze Test

Common Group Tests

• California Test of Mental Maturity

• Cognitive Abilities Test

• Culture Fair Intelligence Test

• Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test

• Otis-Lennon School Abilities Test

• Pictorial Reasoning Test

• Tests of General Ability (TOGA)

Mental Retardation Defined

Sub-average general intellectual functioning which originates in the developmental period and is associated with impairment in adaptive behavior and functioning.

Etiology of Mental Retardation

Two General Categories of MR

Cultural/Familial: Usually associated with mild and borderline levels.

Physiological: usually associated with more severe forms of MR. Brain structures and CNS are insulted/damaged.

Mental RetardationClassification Schemes

• Early in the last century the elements of mental retardation were well accepted and included

• Onset in childhood

• Significant intellectual or cognitive limitations, and

• The inability to adapt to the demands of everyday life.

Mental RetardationClassification Schemes

The American Association on Mental Deficiency committee on classification in 1910 established the following:

• Idiot: arrested development at the level of a 2 year old.

• Imbecile: Development equal to that of a 2-7 year old

• Moron: Development equal to a 7-12 year old.

Current Mental RetardationClassification Scheme

The DSM-IV now categorizes mental deficiency using the following scheme.

Borderline: IQ Level 70-80Mild MR: IQ Level 50-55 to 70

Moderate: IQ Level 35-40 to 50—55Severe: IQ Level 20-25 to 35-40Profound: IQ Level below 20-25

Current Mental RetardationClassification Scheme

The American Association on Mental Retardation now focuses on the type and intensity of support required (DIQ less than or equal to 75 and deficits in two adaptive behavior domains).

Intermittent

Limited

Extensive

Pervasive

For More Information

http://www.uab.edu/cogdev/mentreta.htm

This site will provide you with a very complete and thorough discussion of Mental Retardation in all of its forms.

Are there other kinds of IQ?

• The answer is: Probably…• A high IQ is most associated with success

in an academic setting…that was its original purpose…

• A high IQ and $.50 will buy you a cup of coffee…it’s no guarantee of success in life, marriage, or career…for that other kinds of personality traits are probably more important in the long run.

Emotional Intelligence

• A different way of being “Smart”….

• Empathy and other matters of the heart make it more likely that your marriage and career with thrive.

• An absence of those traits explains why people with a high IQ can be such disastrous pilots of their personal lives.

Basics of E-IQ

• Knowing your feelings and using them to make life decisions you can live with.

• Being able to manage your emotional life without being hijacked by it—not being paralyzed by depression/worry, or swept away by anger.

• Empathy: being sensitive to the emotional state of others…sensitive and compassionate.

• Handling feelings in relationships with skill and harmony—being able to articulate the unspoken pulse of a group, for example.

The End

(Thank goodness)