Intelligence

Intelligence
⚫ Intelligence is defined in a variety of ways.

⚫ Intelligence may be described as a set of

mental abilities; the capacity to acquire and

use knowledge; problem-solving skills and
knowledge about the world; the ability to
excel at a variety of tasks; or as a skill that
allows us to understand, adapt, learn, reason,
and overcome obstacles
⚫ According to Feldman “intelligence is the

capacity to understand the world, think

rationally, and use resources effectively when
faced with challenges”

⚫ intelligence is the mental potential to learn

from experience, solve problems, and use

knowledge to adapt to new situations

⚫ It is not restricted to just one aspect of

one’s life, or to just one faculty or ability

⚫ Intelligence or the intellectual ability of a

person is based upon a constant and

ongoing interaction between
environmental factors and inherited
potentials in order to have better
understanding of how to ‘use’ and ‘apply’
the potentials in a meaningful manner.
⚫ Intelligence is also inseparable from
cognition, a diversified process by which
the individual acquires and applies
knowledge. It usually includes processes
such as recognition, categorization,
thinking, and memory.
Brief history of Intelligence
⚫ The study of human intelligence dates back to

the late 1800s when Sir Francis Galton (the

cousin of Charles Darwin) became one of the
first people to study intelligence.

⚫ He was interested in the concept of a gifted

individual, so he created a lab to measure

reaction times and other physical
characteristics to test his hypothesis that
intelligence is a general mental ability that is a
⚫ Galton operationalized intelligence as
reaction time.

⚫ He was the “founder of differential

psychology”,(Differential psychology focuses
on human behavior and tries to understand
the reasons why people behave differently)

⚫ inventor of fingerprint identification, pioneer

of statistical correlation and regression

⚫ His was the first systematic attempt to measure

intelligence by investigating the role of

heredity and its impact on intellectual abilities.

⚫ Galton argued that it would be "quite

practicable to produce a highly gifted race of
men by judicious marriages during several
consecutive generations".

⚫ Eugenics: the selection of desired heritable

characteristics in order to improve future

generations.
Theories of Intelligence
⚫ Charles Spearman theory of general
intelligence/single factor
⚫ He believed we have one general
intelligence (often shortened to g) that is at
the heart of all our intelligent behavior.
⚫ He granted that people often have special,
outstanding abilities. But he noted that those
who score high in one area, such as verbal
intelligence, typically score higher than
average in other areas, such as spatial or
Theories of Multiple Intelligence
⚫ Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
⚫ Gardner has identified eight relatively
independent intelligences:
⚫ Naturalists
⚫ Linguistics
⚫ Logical mathematical
⚫ Musical
⚫ Spatial
⚫ bodily-kinesthetic
⚫ Interpersonal
⚫ Intra-personal
Thurstone’s Theory of Intelligence:
Primary Mental Abilities
⚫ Louis L. Thurstone, believed that
intelligence is not a general factor, but it is
composed of small independent factors or
elements, which he named as “ primary
mental abilities”.

⚫ For the identification and verification of

these abilities, Thurstone and his wife,

prepared a set of 56 tests, which they
⚫ Verbal comprehension: An ability to
understand and define words
⚫ Word fluency: An ability or speed of
thinking of verbal material such as
rhyming, or naming words in a given
category
⚫ Spatial visualization: Ability to recognize
and manipulate objects or things in three
dimensions such as drafting and blue print
reading
⚫ Perceptual speed: An ability to quickly
perceive and detect the visual details and
differentiate between the similarities and
differences between designs
⚫ Reasoning/ inductive reasoning: A logical
ability of deriving general ideas from
specific information
⚫ Numbers/ Arithmetic ability: Capability of
doing work easily on numbers such as
doing simple arithmetic tasks fast and
rapidly
⚫ Memory: An ability or capacity of
remembering and retaining the material
such as words, letters and ability to recall
and associate different words
Cattell and J.L Horn’s Theory of
Intelligence
⚫ Fluid intelligence is largely influenced by
biological factors; it is the capability of
solving novel problems which depends
more on the neurological development of
a person such as reasoning and memory,
which decline with age
⚫ Crystallized intelligence is the capability
of using information that has been learnt:
⚫ this type of intelligence is largely influenced
by education and culture.
⚫ It keeps on increasing with the learning
experiences of a person; such as vocabulary
or knowledge.
Sternberg’s Three Intelligences
⚫ Analytical (academic problem - solving)
intelligence is assessed by intelligence
tests, which present well - defined
problems having a single right answer.
Such tests predict school grades reasonably
well and vocational success more modestly.
⚫ Creative intelligence is demonstrated in
innovative smarts: the ability to generate
novel idea
⚫ Practical intelligence is required for
everyday tasks that are not well-defined,
and that may have many possible solutions.
Assessment of Intelligence
⚫ In psychology, most attention has been

given to the so-called psychometric

approach to intelligence. This view is based
on the assumption that our intelligence can
“receive” a numerical value
Assessment of intelligence
⚫ The first formal measure of intelligence
was developed by French psychologist
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, in 1905
in France.
⚫ The test or the scale was developed in
order to assist the education ministry and
department in identifying “dull” students
in the Paris school system, so that they
could be provided remedial aid
⚫ intelligence test a method for assessing an

individual’s mental aptitudes and

comparing them with those of others,
using numerical scores.

⚫ Achievement test a test designed to assess

what a person has learned.

⚫ Aptitude test a test designed to predict a

person’s future performance; aptitude is

the capacity to learn.
The Concept of Mental Age
⚫ Concept is introduced by Binet.

⚫ It refers to the calculation of intelligence

how individual child is performing

according to their age.

⚫ This score indicated their “mental age”

The Concept of Intelligence Quotient or
IQ
⚫ An indicator or measure of intelligent that
considers a person’s mental as well as
chronological age.
⚫ Using This Formula Means That ,
⚫ If the mental and chronological age of a person
is the same, then he or she will have an IQ of
100.
⚫ If one is below his chronological age then the IQ
will fall below 100 and vice versa.
⚫ The formula for IQ:
⚫ IQ score= MA/ CA x 100
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

⚫ Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised

and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for

children-III (WISC-III)

⚫ It has two major parts: Verbal part/scale

⚫ ii. Performance or non verbal part/scale

Verbal Scale
⚫ Consists of more conventional types of

problems involving vocabulary definition,

and comprehension of various concepts.

⚫ The subscales include:

⚫ Information • Comprehension •
Arithmetic Similarities
Performance Scale
⚫ It involves assembling small objects and

arranging pictures in a logical order.

⚫ The subscales include:

⚫ Digit symbol • Picture completion •

Object assembly
ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN IQ
SCORES
⚫ Today various tests show differences in
intelligence scores among large cultural
groups.
⚫ For example, in the United States, Asian
Americans (of East Asian origins) score the
highest, followed by European Americans,
Hispanics, and lastly African Americans.
⚫ Thus, on the average, African American
schoolchildren score 10–15 percent lower on a
standardized intelligence test than white
Group differences in test scores
⚫ In an attempt to explain some group differences
on intelligence test scores, Sternberg suggested
distinguishing between intelligence and intelligent
behavior.
⚫ Intelligence, is a mental process that may or may
not result in particular behavioral patterns.
⚫ These patterns of intelligent behavior may vary
from culture to culture.
⚫ Something considered to be intelligent among
members of one culture may not be viewed as
such in other cultures.
⚫ However, people may share some general

understandings about what intelligence is

⚫ abilities to understand a problem,identify

its type,prepare a solution,find resources to

solve the problem,manage the process of
solution,and,finally,evaluate the outcome
of behavior
DO BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
CONTRIBUTE TO INTELLIGENCE?
⚫ Nativist view, most cognitive phenomena

are inborn. They unravel as a result of

biological “programming,” and
environmental perception requires little
active construction by the organism.

⚫ Hypothetically, according to this view, a

boy in Nepal or a girl in Venezuela are both

expected to develop some elements of
conceptual thinking by approximately the
⚫ In the 1980s, two scientists asked more

than 1,000 scholars to give their opinion

about IQ, in particular about the
differences in IQ scores among ethnic
groups.

⚫ Even though only 1 percent suggested that

the differences are always caused by

genetic factors, almost 45 percent of the
professionals reported that the differences
⚫ Besides genetic factors, cross-cultural
psychologists examine how particular
environmental conditions affect human
physiology and whether such biological
changes influence cognitive skills

⚫ Iodine-deficient areas are found in some

regions of Indonesia as well as in Spain.

Clinicians report that substantial iodine
deficiency in the human body can cause
severe mental and neurological
INCOMPATIBILITY OF TESTS:
CULTURAL BIASES
⚫ Some specialists imply that most
intelligence tests benefit specific ethnic
groups because of the test
vocabulary—words and items used in the
test questions.

⚫ Tests may contain internal bias because

they use words that are familiar to only

some groups. As a result, members of these
groups receive higher scores than those
Environment and intelligence
⚫ Many environmental conditions have been

found to influence performance on

intelligence tests.

⚫ Among them are availability of and access

to resources, variety of perceptual

experiences, predominant type of family
climate, educational opportunities, access
to books and travel, presence or absence of
cultural magical beliefs, general attitudes,
SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS
⚫ Intelligence scores are, in general,

positively correlated with the

socioeconomic status of the individual

⚫ It was found that a child’s IQ and the

socioeconomic status of the child’s parents

are positively correlated. The higher the
child’s IQ, the higher her parents’
socioeconomic rank, and vice versa
THE FAMILY FACTOR
⚫ An affluent and educated family is likely to
provide a better material environment for a
child and also has more resources to develop a
child’s intellectual potential than a poorer
family.
⚫ Middle-class parents typically have enough
resources to stimulate the child’s learning
experience at home
⚫ Parental influence can be one of the factors
contributing to the difference in IQ scores
between white and some other ethnic
CULTURAL VALUES OF
COGNITION
⚫ Judging from an ethnocentric perspective, one
might suggest that the most “valuable” features
for any problem-solving process are analytical,
rational skills, and quick reasoning. However,
such a view—though prevailing in most
contemporary societies—is not universal in all
cultures.
⚫ In some societies holistic—emphasizing the
importance of the whole—rather than analytic
decision making is valued
⚫ Nisbett (2003) proposed a view of the
⚫ Cognitive style_ a way in which
individuals organize and comprehend the
world_ also varies across culture
⚫ Students of non-European origin use
different cognitive styles of information
processing: They are more field dependent
than their European counterparts in the
classroom
⚫ field-dependent learners are more
attentive to external references, contexts,
and instructions in their learning tasks.
⚫ Field-independent learners tend to be
autonomous in learning, solving problems,