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If so, have them defend their perspectives.
3. Discuss Gardner’s multiple intelligences. How does the class perceive these multiple areas
of intelligence interacting with each other? In which area do various class members feel
they are most intelligent?
4. What is meant by “the politicization of intelligence”? What is the significance of this
activity, and what is the impact of it on us as individuals?
5. Suppose intelligence and creativity were negatively correlated, and you could be trained to
increase one of them. Which would you choose? Ask the class their opinions and discuss
choices with them. Why did they select the one that they did?
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6. Does the class perceive “street smarts” as a special kind of intelligence? Why or why not?
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CHAPTER 10: INTELLIGENCE AND INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT
SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURE MATERIAL
Aspects of Intelligence
Psychometric psychology represents the quantitative approach to the measurement of intelligence,
specifically, to the measurement of mental functioning. Unlike Piaget, whose approach was
qualitative in nature, psychometricians are more concerned with what people know and how they
perform, compared to others, than how they came to know something.
What is intelligence? For starters, it is an elusive concept and, as the term is used today, usually
refers to thinking and acting in ways that are goal-directed and adaptive (Siegler, 1991, p. 200). In
practice, we usually think of intelligence as involving three main sets of ideas:
Practical problem-solving ability: The ability to get to the heart of a problem, accurately
interpreting relevant information, seeing all aspects of the problem, and reasoning through the
problem in a logical manner.
Verbal ability: Speaking and writing clearly and articulately, having detailed knowledge about
a specific field, reading widely and with good comprehension, having a good vocabulary, and
dealing effectively with other people.
Social competence: Skills include displaying curiosity, being sensitive to the needs and desires
of others, being on time, having a “social conscience,” and making carefully considered fair
judgments.
How do we study intelligence? There are multiple ways:
The Psychometric approach: Posits that intelligence can be described in terms of mental factors
and that tests can be constructed to reveal individual differences in those factors that underlie
mental performance. These factors include:
. Verbal factors: Includes vocabulary, reading comprehension, story completion, and verbal
analogies.
. Spatial factors: Such as 3-dimensional rotation abilities, maze learning, and form-board
performance.
We use standardized intelligence quotient (IQ) tests to measure intelligence, so IQ tests are the
instruments that ultimately provide the data for theory construction. Developed around 1900 by
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, the first IQ tests were used to assess school-related abilities and
to differentiate among children who could benefit from standard school instruction and those
requiring “special” education.
Information processing approaches to intelligence testing look at individual differences in how
information is encoded, the speed of processing that information, ease of categorization, and
metacognition (which coordinates the first three). Although the differences measured between and
within individuals change across the life span, there is nothing “inherently developmental” about
the information-processing approach. Information processing is part of cognitive psychology, some
aspects of which are applicable to developmental psychology.
Piagetian approaches look at individual differences in the rate of development. This approach is
developmental in nature. Children progress through the various developmental tasks at different
rates and ages, from sensorimotor on through the various tasks of formal operations. Now, let us
discuss some of the actual instruments utilized to measure intelligence, and what they tell us or fail
to tell us.
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Some of the instruments commonly used to assess intelligence quotient (IQ) in children are the
following:
· Stanford-Binet
· The WAIS and WISC
· The Bayley Scales of Infant Development
The Stanford-Binet for children consists of “games” and identification problems. The WAIS is
primarily pen and paper, and the WISC is both pen and paper and practical ability. The Bayley
consists of trying to get the child to play the same game that you are playing.
“IQ Tests” are one of the more commonly used and abused psychological instruments ever devised.
Always be aware that IQ tests measure one and only one type of intelligence: that which is required
to succeed in formal educational institutions. Realistically speaking, the IQ score is the best single
predictor we have of academic achievement ability, but IQ tests are objective rather than projective
measures. Examples of IQ tests with which you, as students, are most familiar are the SAT or ACT.
If you go past a baccalaureate degree in your educational process, you will have the traumatizing
experience of becoming acquainted with the GRE, LSAT, MCAT, DCAT, or whatever applies to your
area of graduate interest.
IQ scores can only be interpreted in a relative sense. Your score is based on standardized norms
and indicates how well you, as an individual, performed on a given test instrument relative to other
individuals of the same age and background, when tested under the same constraints. The normal
curve, or normal distribution, is used to define the distribution of IQ scores.
Once more, relativity is the essential concept. Whether or not your child is “gifted” in a positive or
negative manner is relative to where he/she scored in comparison to other children who took the
same instrument, at the same time, under the same conditions. When looking at IQ scores and
interpreting them, you will frequently hear the following terms. They are key to understanding
relativity and IQ measurement.
Stability refers to the individual’s relative standing over time.
Change refers to the change in a given individual’s absolute scores over time.
In summing up, IQ scores are useful to us in determining the individual’s potential for success in
an academic environment but beyond that function their applicability fades rapidly. As students
and as future parents, you need to be aware of the applications in which the IQ test is relevant, and
in which it is not.
What Color Is an IQ?