Problem 3: The more the merrier?

une petite histoire

Alfred Binet (1857–1911) and Théodore Simon publish first validated intelligence test in 1907, assessing children's mental age by comparing their performance on tasks compared to average performance for that age

verbatim memory, object naming , logic
direction, adaptation, criticism

first tried to assess intelligence based on craniometry & psychophysical measures

tasks were conceived to not confound too much with schooling effects

  • test developed around a time when elementary school education became mandatory, leading school to deal with low-performing children. Were they less intelligent or got little support at home?

WWII revealed that IQ test were culturally biased, misrepresenting non-white, non-English natives → effort to neutralize background


first distinctions of intelligence begin to appear: Wechsler 1939 distinguishes verbal & performance intelligence

What is intelligence?

  • general mental ability
    • no agreed definition
  • problem solving
  • abstract thinking

survey among experts


attitude vs knowledge view
subject to cultural differences

criticisms of intelligence measuring

Hanson 1993 NITWIT

Boring (1923) ‘intelligence is what an intelligence test measures

Francis Galton (1822–1911)

  • worked on intelligence test to find evidence for Darwin's evolutionary theory
  • he was convinced that differences in mental ability were inherited to due differences in the quality of the senses,
    speed of reaction i.e.
  • didn't publish his results

definitions & paradigms

Wechsler
the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment

Workshops 1997

general mental capability

William Stern 1912
IQ = (mental age / chronolical age) x100

  • if a child "catches up", its IQ changes
  • 5 year-old good dev. child has same IQ as 20 year-old

development of tests

Factor-Analytical Approach
analyze the number of hypothetical components of a construct



Spearman's Two-Factor Theory 1927
general & specific aspects


  • range restriction (population), criteria differences:

Thurstone (1889 - 1955)
7 factors, + g, first multifactor model


Vernon

  • hierarchy

Guilford
150 factors, introduced convergent & divergent thinking → creativity also part of the whole

  • how does the creativity add in to the model?

Cattell
hierarchical model,

  • fluid intelligence
    • biologically influenced
  • crystallized intelligence
    • culturally influenced
      adressed cultural bias

emotional intelligence

mixed model

  • assessment as trait

ability model

biological substrates

high performing tetris players consume less glucose

genetics

heritability increases over lifetime
since you choose environments that increase the expression of you talents

Flynn effect

  • globally increase of 0.3 IQ points for Stanford-Binet and Wechsler
    ⇒ people nowadays are not smarter, but more facilitated

Gardner

  • modularism of mental abilites
  • some of his intelligences are popularly not seen as mental abilites
  • tests favor linguistic talentted people
  • didn't develop measurement methods

Sternberg

  • analytical
  • practical
  • creative

etymological dictionary
late 14c., "the highest faculty of the mind, capacity for comprehending general truths;" c. 1400, "faculty of understanding, comprehension," from Old French intelligence (12c.) and directly from Latin intelligentia, intellegentia "understanding, knowledge, power of discerning; art, skill, taste," from intelligentem (nominative intelligens) "discerning, appreciative," present participle of intelligere "to understand, comprehend, come to know," from inter- "between" (see inter-) + legere "choose, pick out, read" (see lecture (n.)).

Jay Gould 1996 socio-political biases and intelligence

Pietschnig 2015

  • IQ gains are international, varying across domains, are stronger for adults than children (!)
  • more recently IQ gains have decreased in size
    • gains slower
    • neg. effect of dysgenic
  • fluid intelligence strongest
    • improved cognitive rules? dev. in WM & implicit learning would benefit only fluid, not crytallized intelligence
  • crystallisized still strong
    • most attributable to eduction
    • related to GDP growth
  • social multiplier (soc. provides more stim. environments)
  • reasons for gen. effect
    • nutrition, education, red. pathogen favored by meta-analysis as reasons (life history speed)

alternative ways of measuring intelligence?
hypotheses and implication of Flynn effect
mean-level change, rank-order...
consistency & change
IQ dev over lifetime?

add!
mixed & ability model

not comparing to averages???

Alpha & Beta?
language or also verbal change?

Carrol Three Stratum Model

  • general → 8 factors → more specific factors

overlap?
add notes

Flynn Tethering the Elephant

  • scores of an individual taking the test today must be compared to past sample

nerve conduction velocity of is pos. related to intelligence
myelination rel = 0.5
brain size

higher frequency of EEG - pos. rel.
and higher overall complexity
and lower amplifude
and shorter latency

g

measurement

  • comparison to population mean

Raven's Matrices

  • best test for g
  • connected to Spearman
    • reasoning
  • nonverbal, includes time limits
  • five sets of 12 matrix items, increasing difficulty
  • shows great Flynn effect

Wechsler Intelligence Scale Test

13 dimensions within:

  • verbal comprehension
  • working memory
  • perceptual reasoning
  • processing speed

WAIST

Stanford - Binet Test

  • used to diagnose developmental or intellectual deficiencies in young children
  • Terman 2003
    five weighted factors:
    • knowledge
    • fluid reasoning
    • quantitative reasoning
    • visuo/spacial processing
    • working memory
  • test verbal&nonverbal aspects of these

Das–Naglieri cognitive assessment system

  • based on PASS theory doubting the existence of g
  • for children and adolescents

Development over lifetime

For the subtests involving verbal ability, middle-aged adults (in their 40s, 50s, and 60s) averaged somewhat higher than did younger adults, but older adults (in their 70s and 80s) averaged averaged about the same as did younger adults. A similar pattern was observed for the subtest that measures arithmetic problem- solving, but the difference between middle-aged and younger adults was smaller, and younger adults averaged slightly higher than did older adults.


differences about when decline in certains subsets begisn


Individually: high stablity