Intelligence

Intelligence
0 Definition: The capacity to understand the world, think
rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with
challenges.
0 Theories of Intelligence:
1. Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence:
0 Fluid Intelligence: Information processing capabilities,
reasoning and memory.
0 E.g., Solving a puzzle, analogy, remembering a set of
numbers etc.
0 Crystallized Intelligence: The accumulation of
information, skills, and strategies that people have
learned through their experience and that they can apply
in problem-solving situations.
0 It is like using information from long-term memory.
0 Crystallized intelligence reflects culture in which a
person is raised, and fluid intelligence reflects a general
kind of intelligence.
2. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence:
0 There are different types of intelligence:
1. Musical Intelligence: (skills in music)
2. Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence: (skills in using the
whole body or parts of the body in solution of a problem.
E.g., athletes, actors, surgeons )
3. Logical-mathematical Intelligence: (skills in problem
solving and scientific thinking)
4. Spatial Intelligence: (skills in locations e.g., engineers
make maps, architects and navigators)
5. Interpersonal Intelligence: (skills in interacting with
others, such as sensitivity to moods, feelings and
intentions of others)
6. Intrapersonal Intelligence: (Knowledge about ones
own feelings and thoughts. E.g., writers write stories
based on their own thoughts)
7. Linguistic Intelligence: (skills in use of language)
8. Naturalistic Intelligence: (ability to identify and
classify patterns in nature)
 Other Types of Intelligence
Information Processing Intelligence
•“Intelligence is the way people store
material in memory and then they use
material to solve intellectual problems”.
• Example:
0 Research shows that people who spend
more time on the initial encoding of the
problems and then identifying parts get
high scores on tests than those people
who spend less time on initial encoding
of the problem.
 0 Information Processing Theory

Receptors Sensory Short- Long-

•Eyes Memory term term
Stimulus
•Ears Memory Memory
•Nose
•Skin

Environment
Feedback
Reinforcement Effectors
/response Response
organs Generator
0 Mental & Physical Processes
0 Practical Intelligence:
0 “Intelligence related to overall success in living.”
0 Practical intelligence is learned mainly through
observation of others’ behavior.
0 People develop practical intelligence by learning general
norms and principles and applying them in different
situations appropriately.

0 Emotional Intelligence:
0 Intelligence that provides an understanding of what
other people are feeling and experiencing and allow us to
respond appropriately.
 The Biological Basis of Intelligence

0 According to Cognitive Scientist John Duncan, the

verbal and spatial intelligence are related to a part
of brain called Pre-frontal Cortex which is above
the eyebrow.

0 Experiments on rats also show that rats raised in

good environment develop more complex
connection between neurons (nerve cells).
How you think about Intelligence?
0 Mangeal, a cognitive neuroscientist divided people
in to two types according to intelligence:
0 Entity Theorists
0 Incremental Theorists
0 Entity Theorists (Pessimist) believe that
intelligence is fixed at birth and cannot be changed.
0 Incremental Theorists (Optimist) believe that
intelligence can be changed.
Mangeals Study of Intelligence
Mangeals conducted a study on students at Columbia
University and gave them questions and then gave them
feedback about their right and wrong answers.
Mangeals noted that the brain of the students who were
Entity Theorists (pessimists) showed a specific wave
pattern (metamemory mismatch P3 wave) earlier than
Incremental Theorists (optimists), when they received a
negative feedback about their questions.
This P3 wave in entity theorists (pessimists) was causing
low intelligence i.e., pessimism or negative thinking
lowers intelligence and Mangeal practically proved it.
0“The brain is like a muscle that
improves with exercise (Dweck
2006).”
 Intelligence Testing
0 Historically Intelligence testing was based on
Galton’s assumption that intelligence can be
measured from the size and shape of head,
which was wrong idea.
0 Binet and the development of IQ tests:
0 French Psychologist Alfred Binet developed first IQ
(Intelligence Quotient) test. He used the ratio of a
persons chronological (physical age) and mental age.
0 Mental Age: The average age of individuals who
achieve a particular level of performance on test.
0 IQ Score = Mental Age/Chronologic Age x 100
 Achievement and Aptitude Test
0 Achievement Test:
0 A test designed to determine a person’s level of knowledge in a
given subject area. E.g., lawyers pass a bar exam, the medical
students pass entry tests before entering the medical college etc.
0 Aptitude Test:
0 This test is designed to predict a person’s ability in a particular
area or line of work. E.g., GAT (General Aptitude Test), for college
or university level admissions.
0 Computer-based Testing:
0 In these kinds of tests e.g., GRE (Graduate Record Exam), the
students are randomly given easy questions in the initial step and
then if they give correct answers to the questions, the computer
selects difficult questions for them in the second step. So, finally
the more the number of difficult questions answered correctly,
the more their score on the test.
 Validity and Reliability of
IQ Tests
0 Validity:
0 The actual measurement of a test or how much the results are
closer to the actual measurement.
0 Example: your actual IQ is 100, you get in one IQ test 102 score &
in another IQ test you get 98, both scores are close to 100 but are
different from each other. So this test is somewhat valid but not
reliable.
0 Reliability:
0 The closeness of the results or the consistency in the results of a
study. E.g., your actual IQ is 100 and you get in one test 105, in
another 106, and in another, 107. Now all these scores are close to
each other and are therefore reliable but they are very different
from your actual score of 100 and are therefore not valid.
0 Note: IQ Tests should both be valid and reliable
 Mental Retardation
0 “A condition in which people have difficulty in intellectual,
social and practical adaptive skills.”
0 Retardation occurs normally in 1 to 3 percent of the population
globally.
0 Mild Retardation: Individuals with 55 to 69 percent of IQ
scores. These people are relatively slower than their peers but
can work independently and hold jobs and have families.
0 Moderate Retardation: IQ from 40 to 54. These people
have low language and physical skills than their peers but can
hold jobs if moderate supervision is provided to them.
0 Profound Retardation: IQ below 25. These people are
generally unable to function independently and need care for
their entire lives.
 Roots and Causes of
Mental Retardation
0 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome:
0 The most common cause of mental retardation when
the mother is using alcohol during the pregnancy.
0 Down Syndrome:
0 A cause of mental retardation resulting from the
presence of an extra chromosome in the body. It can
also be caused by injury, stroke or temporary lack of
oxygen during birth etc.
0 Familial Retardation:
0 It cause is genetic or family history e.g., extreme
poverty leading to malnutrition.
 The Intellectually Gifted
People
0 People who have IQ score above 130.
Normally 2 to 4 percent of the population
have this ability.
0 E.g., Sho Yano.
0 Psychologist carried out an experiment and
studied individuals for 60 years and proved
that intellectually gifted people are not good
in all subjects but they excel in one or two
subjects, and they are socially well-adjusted
and satisfied with their lives.
0http://wechsleradultintellig
encescale.com/Wechsleradul
tintelligencescaletest