Activity: Mensa Workout

Take (an abbreviated version of) the Mensa workout.

You have 12 minutes.

Mensa Workout: Tally your Score

1. 1600 (sally likes perfect squares)

2. 6 (1 typist types 1 page in 2 minutes)

3. 21:00

4. C

5. 5 (1/10 of 400 is 40, 1/4 of 40 is 10, 1/2 of 10 is 5)

6. 20

7. 10 (each syllable is worth 5)

8. 25 (apples=7, bananas=8, strawberries=3, cherries=2)

9. 10 meters ( sqrt(3*3 + 4*4) * 2. They make 2 right ∆ )

10. 8 (Circle has one line, octagon has eight)

11. It is not really sensible to rely on something that has not yet happened and may not ever happen.

12. No (the other 800 elephants can be any mix of all blue and pink and green stripes)

Mensa Workout: Your ‘IQ’

• 12 / 12 – 100% (you’re in!)

• 11 / 12 – 92% (close but no banana)

• 10 / 12 – 83% (hmmmm, work on it)

• 9 / 12 – 75% (well… maybe another day)

• 8 / 12 – 66% (ditto)

• 7 / 12 – 58% (ditto)

• 6 / 12 – 50% (average)

• 5 / 12 – 42% (having a bad day?)

• 4 / 12 – 33% (owie)

• 3 / 12 – 25% (double owie) 2 / 12 – 17% (triple owie) 1 / 12 – 8% (are you conscious?) 0 / 12 – 0% (are you alive?)

How ya’ feeling now? Ready to learn??

Intelligence: Outline What is Intelligence? What is IQ? What does IQ predict? Factors that Influence IQ scores The general psychometric approach Various Theories of Intelligence

Sternberg’s Computational Theory of IQ Barab & Plucker’s Distributed Intelligence Approach

What is Intelligence? Activity:

Summarize in a single sentence what intelligence means to you.

List up to 5 attributes that characterize highly intelligent people______________________________________

Observation: Intelligence means different things to to different people “adaptive thinking or action” (Piaget, 1997) abstract thinking, effective problem solving

(Sternberg, 1997) analogical reasoning, discerning pattern,

speed of processing (~Mensa)

What is IQ? Intelligence quotient (IQ): A numerical measure of a

person’s performance on an intelligence test relative to the performance of other examinees

Test Norms: standards of normal performance on IQ tests based on the average & range of scores of a large, representative sample of test takers

IQ = MA/CA = 100

What does IQ predict? IQ tests measure intellectual performance, not capacity A person’s IQ can vary considerably over time Schooling, which largely reflects cultural values, actually

improves IQ test performance

What does IQ Predict? Scholastic Achievement

grades, likelihood of dropping out or graduating HS, likelihood of completing college

Occupational Status/Performance White-collar workers consistently score higher in IQ than

manual blue-collar workers (er…) IQ correlates with performance on the job

Health, Adjustment, Life Satisfaction Terman longitudinal study: High IQ children tended to walk/talk

sooner, exhibit better health, better emotional adjustment, more moral maturity, more leadership

HOWEVER… twice as likely to show depression, feelings of social isolation

Factors that Influence IQWhy do people differ so dramatically in IQ? Nature (Hereditary Influences)

Roughly 1/2 of the variation in IQ scores results from genetic differences (twin studies, adoption studies)

Nurture (Environmental Influences) Small to moderate correlation btwn IQs of children in

same house but genetically unrelated (adoption studies)

Social & Cultural Correlates – Best predictors of children’s IQ related to home environment:

Infancy Parental involvement Age-appropriate play materials Variety in daily stimulation

Preschool Parental warmth Stimulation of language & academic behaviors

Intelligence: Outline What is Intelligence? What is IQ? What does IQ predict? Factors that Influence IQ scores The general psychometric approach Various Theories of Intelligence

Sternberg’s Computational Theory of IQ Barab & Plucker’s Distributed Intelligence Approach

General Psychometric Approach

A theoretical perspective that portrays intelligence as a trait (or set of traits) on which individuals differ

Goal: to identify precisely what those traits might be & to measure them

Responsible for the development of standardized intelligence tests

P r o b l e m :

Little agreement on the structureof intelligence…

Theories of Intelligence Alfred Binet

Single Component: Mental age: measure of intellectual development reflecting level of age-graded problems a child is able to solve

Spearman’s g General factor (g) + some special abilities (s) specific to

particular tests Thurstone ‘s view

Spearman’s g really equals 7 “primary mental abilities”

Guildford 5 Content

x 6 Mental Operations x 6 Products180 distinct mental abilities

Hierarchical Models of Intelligence model of the structure of intelligence in which a broad, general

ability factor (g) is at the top of the hierarchy, with a number of specialized ability factors nested underneath

1. Spatial ability2. Perceptual speed 3. Numerical reasoning4. Verbal meaning5. Word fluency6. Memory 7. Inductive reasoning

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Criticism of other models: Too strong a focus on what child knows rather than processes by which knowledge is acquired, retained & used to solve problems.

Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence - a recent computational theory of intelligence that emphasizes three aspects of intelligent behavior not normally tapped by IQ tests:

a) The context of the action (cultural/historical period)

b) The person’s experience with the task/situation(response to novelty or automation)

c) The information-processing strategies the person applies to the task/situation (problem representation, strategies, monitoring, efficiency, speed)

Distributed Intelligence Approach (Barab & Plucker)

Distributed Cognition Cognition is distributed among individuals Knowledge is socially constructed thru collaborative efforts

to achieve shared objectives in cultural surroundings Information is processed between individuals & the tools

& artifacts provided by culture

Where then lies IQ? An individual’s competence is situation specific What makes one person-in-situation more intelligent than

another is its contextualized functional value The ability to act intelligently is accomplished or engaged

rather than possessed Educators must develop smart contexts, not smart people

Activity

Read: “What you see is what you get” in light of the film just viewed.

Write a 1-2 paragraph response to the article.