AP PSYCHOLOGYReview for the AP Exam

MEMORY

Chapter 9

Memory*persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information

Flashbulb Memory*a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

*where were you when Kennedy died?*where were you when 9-11 happened?

Memory

Storage– the retention of encoded information over time

Retrieval– process of getting information out of memory

Memory

TYPES OF MEMORYSensory Memory

– the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system

Short Term Memory– activated memory that holds a few items briefly– look up a phone number, then quickly dial before the

information is forgottenLong Term Memory

– the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

Working Memory

*focuses more on the processing of briefly stored information*another term for Short Term Memory

Externalevents

Sensorymemory

Short-termmemory

Long-termmemory

Sensory input

Attention to importantor novel information

Encoding

Encoding

Retrieving

Encoding– the processing of information into the

memory system

Automatic Processing– unconscious encoding of incidental information

• space• time• frequency

– well-learned information• word meanings

– we can learn automatic processing• reading backwards

Encoding

Effortful Processing– requires attention and conscious effort

Rehearsal– conscious repetition of information

• to maintain it in consciousness • to encode it for storage

Hermann Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables – TUV ZOF GEK WAV– the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions to relearn on

Day 2Spacing Effect

– distributed practice yields better long term retention than massed practice

Encoding

Retentiondrops,

then levels off

1 3 5 9½ 14½ 25 35½ 49½Time spent learning list

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Encoding

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Time in minutestaken to relearnlist on day 2

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Encoding-Serial Position Effect

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Serial Position Effect--tendency to recall best the last items in a list

Immediate recall--last items best

Later recall--only first items recalled well

What Do We Encode?

Semantic Encoding– encoding of meaning– including meaning of words

Acoustic Encoding– encoding of sound– especially sound of words

Visual Encoding– encoding of picture images

Encoding

Imagery– mental pictures– a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when

combined with semantic encodingMnemonics

– memory aids– especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and

organizational devices

Encoding

Chunking– organizing items into familiar, manageable units

• like horizontal organization- 1776149218121941– often occurs automatically– use of acronyms

• HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior• ARITHMETIC- A Rat In Tom’s House Might Eat Tom’s Ice Cream

Hierarchiescomplex information broken down into broad concepts and further

subdivided into categories and subcategories

Encoding(automatic or effortful)

Imagery(visualEncoding)

Meaning(semanticEncoding)

Organization

Chunks Hierarchies

Encoding

Storage- Retaining Information

Sensory Memory– the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the

memory system

Iconic Memory– a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli– a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more than a

few tenths of a second– Registration of exact representation of a scene

Echoic Memory– momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

Storage-Short Term Memory

Short Term Memory

– limited in duration and capacity

– “magical” number 7+/-2

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Time in seconds between presentationof contestants and recall request

(no rehearsal allowed)

Percentagewho recalledconsonants

How does storage work?Karl Lashley (1950) began research on study of intelligence and the role of the frontal lobes.

Rats learn mazeRemove parts of brainRetest rats to see if they remember the maze.

Storage--Long Term Memory

1890-1958

Storage--Long Term Memory

Synaptic changes– Long-term Potentiation

• increase in synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

Strong emotions make for stronger memories– some stress hormones boost learning and

retention

Storage- Long Term MemoryAmnesia- the loss of memoryExplicit Memory

– memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare

– Also called declarative memory– hippocampus- neural center in limbic

system that helps process explicit memories for storage

Implicit Memory– retention without conscious

recollection– motor and cognitive skills– dispositions- conditioning

Forgetting--Amnesia

Anterograde Amnesia*inability to form memories for new information because of brain trauma.*new experiences slip away from a person before they have a chance to store

them in long-term memory. (Clive Wearing or H.M.)

*H.M. (Initials for man with brain operation where hippocampus and amygdala removed…..crucial to laying down new episodic memories)

Retrograde Amnesia*the failure to remember events that occurred prior to physical trauma.

*causes include: blow to head, electric shock to the brain

MRI scan of hippocampus (in red)

Hippocampus

Storage-Long Term Memory

Recall*the ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious

awareness-like fill in the blank testRecognition

*the ability to identify previously learned items-like on a multiple choice test

Relearning*amount of time saved when relearning previously learned

informationPriming

*activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Retrieval Cues

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Water/land

Land/water

Water/water

Different contexts for hearing and recall

Same contexts for hearing and recall

Land/land

Percentage ofwords recalled

Retrieval Cues– Context Effects

• memory works better in the context of original learning

Mood Congruent Memory– tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s

current mood – memory, emotions or moods serve as retrieval cues

State Dependent Memory• what is learned in one state (while one is high, drunk or

depressed) can more easily be remembered when in same state

Retrieval Cues

Deja Vu- (French) already seencues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience"I've experienced this before"

According to Daniel Schacter, most of our memory problems arise from the SEVEN SINS of MEMORY.

Three Sins of Forgetting

1) Transcience

2) Absent-mindedness

3) Blocking

Three Sins of Distortion

4) Misattribution

5) Suggestibility

6) Bias

One Sin of Intrusion

7) Persistence

Sin of forgetting

1) TRANSCIENCE

*Memories weaken with time

*Hermann Ebbinghaus (1908) learned lists of nonsense syllables and tried to recall them over time.

Ebbinghaus- forgetting curve over 30 days --initially rapid, then levels off with time12345 10 15 20 25 30

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Time in days since learning list

Percentage oflist retainedwhen relearning

CONCLUSION:

For relatively meaningless material, there is a rapid initial loss of memory, followed by a declining rate of loss.

HOWEVER, some memories don’t follow the classic forgetting curve.

“Just like riding a bicycle”, is a phase which indicates that motor skill memories are often retained for many years.

Sin of forgetting

1) TRANSCIENCE

Forgetting as encoding failure*Information never enters the memory

system*Attention is selective

– we cannot attend to everything in our environment

*William James said that we would be as bad off if we remembered everything as we would be if we remembered nothing

Sin of forgetting

2) ABSENT-MINDEDNESS: Lapses of Attention

Retrieval failure caused by shifting your attention elsewhere. (ie) not paying attention when you laid your keys down

Sin of forgetting

3) BLOCKING: Interference Causes Forgetting

*Proactive Interference

*Retroactive Interference

*Serial Position Effect …first and last parts of a poem are easier to remember or you are more likely to remember the names of those people you meet first and last than those in between.

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Position of word in list

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Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information

Proactive (forward acting) Interference

disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information

Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference

disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information

Sin of forgetting

3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting

Retroactive Interference

Without interferingevents, recall isbetter

After sleep

After remaining awake

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Hours elapsed after learning syllables

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Sin of forgetting

3) BLOCKING: Interference causes forgetting

Forgetting--Interference

Motivated Forgetting*people unknowingly revise history

Repression*defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing

thoughts, feelings, and memoriesPositive Transfer

*sometimes old information facilitates our learning of new information

*knowledge of Latin may help us to learn French

Sin of Distortion

4) MISATTRIBUTION: Memories in Wrong Context

*sometimes memories are retrievable but are associated with the wrong time, place, or person.

CASE: Psychologist David Thompson was accused of rape, based on victim’s detailed description of her assailant.

Fortunately, Thompson had an indisputable alibi. At the time of the crime, he was being interviewed live on television--about

memory distortions. The victim had been watching the interview just before she was raped and had misattributed the

assault to Thompson.

Loftus & Palmer (1974) set out test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory. So they aimed to show that leading questions could distort accounts of events, therefore making them unreliable.

Sin of Distortion

5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create

Witnesses to crimes may be interviewed by police, who might make suggestions about the facts of the case--deliberately or intentionally--which may impact the

testimony of the witness.

Participants were shown slides of a car accident involving a number of cars and were then asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses.They were then asked specific questions, including the question "About how fast were the cars going when they (hit/smashed/ collided/bumped/contacted - the five conditions) each other?"

Estimating the speed of a car is generally something that people are poor at doing, suggesting that they may have been MORE OPEN TO SUGGESTION.

This distortion of memory is known as the

MISINFORMATION EFFECT.

This research would lead other researchers to discuss the RECOVERED MEMORY CONTROVERY, wherein some psychologists may use suggestion techniques to create false recovered memories.

Loftus then did research on FABRICATED MEMORY. She contacted parents of college students and gained TRUE information of childhood events, which the students were asked to recall. Loftus then added FALSE, but plausible, events.

After many recall attempts over a series of days, many students claimed to recall the contrived

events.

Sin of Distortion

5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create

People fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and assumptionsImagining events can create false memoriesChildren's eyewitness recall

– Child sexual abuse does occur– Some innocent people suffer false accusations– Some guilty cast doubt on true testimony

Sin of Distortion

5) SUGGESTIBILITY: External Cues Distort or Create

Memories of Abuse– Repressed or Constructed?

• Child sexual abuse does occur• Some adults do actually forget such episodes

False Memory Syndrome– condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center

around a false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience

– sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists

Sin of Distortion

6) BIAS: Beliefs, Attitudes, and Opinions Distort Memories

Influence of personal beliefs, attitudes and experiences on memory:

*Expectancy Bias --unconscious tendency to remember events as being congruent with our expectations.

*Self-Consistency Bias --avoid inconsistency. Emotions can distort our memories.

Sin of Intrusion

7) PERSISTENCE: When We Can’t Forget

Sometimes memory works all too well when

*intense negative emotions are involved

*intrusive recollections of unpleasant events lie at the heart of several psychological disorders.

**interference--when memory blocks access or retrieval.

TOT (TIP OF THE TONGUE) occurs TOT (TIP OF THE TONGUE) occurs during a recall attempt, when there is during a recall attempt, when there is a poor match between retrieval cues a poor match between retrieval cues and the encoding of the word in long-and the encoding of the word in long-

term memory.term memory.

Memory ConstructionWe filter information and fill in missing pieces

Misinformation Effect– incorporating misleading information into one's

memory of an event

Source Amnesia– attributing to the wrong source an event that we

experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution)

The technical term for “photographic memory” is EIDETIC IMAGERY.

Eidetic Imagery portrays the most interesting and meaningful parts of the scene most accurately, as compared with a photograph which renders everything in complete detail.

*possessed by about 5% of children.

*very rare past adolescence.

To produce an eidetic image, a person must

*study a scene for some time

*actively concentrate on this scene

*images fade quickly when the attention is diverted to something else.

Improve Your Memory*Study repeatedly to boost recall*Spend more time rehearsing or actively

thinking about the material (SQ3R)(study, question, read, recite, review)

*Make material personally meaningful*Use mnemonic devices

– associate with peg words- something already stored

– make up story– chunk-acronyms

*Activate retrieval cues- mentally recreate situation and mood

*Recall events while they are fresh- write down before interference

*Minimize interference *Test your own knowledge

– rehearse– determine what you do not yet know

Improve Your Memory

MNEMONICS:

*Method of Loci (low-sye): Imagine a familiar sequence of places (bed, desk, chair)……to remember a grocery list, imagine tuna on the bed, shampoo spilled on the desk, and eggs open on the chair.

*Natural Language Mediators: make up a story using your list….(i..e.) The cat discovers I’m out of tuna so she interrupts me while I’m using shampoo and meows to egg me on.” OR

The teacher who used rhymes to remember (“i before e except after c”) (“thirty days hath September….)

*Remembering Names: You might visualize Bob’s face in a big “O” or Ann, you might visualize “Queen Ann sitting on a throne.”

*PEG System: Memorize a list of items and each time you have to organize a list, use a picture to illustrate the list in your mind.

THINKING and LANGUAGE

Chapter 10

Thinking

Cognition– mental activity associated with processing, understanding,

and communicating informationCognitive Psychology

– the study of these mental activities• concept formation• problem solving• decision making• judgement formation

– study of both logical and illogical thinking

ThinkingConcept

– mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people• address

– country, city, street, house– zip codes

Prototype– the best example of a category

• matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin.)

Problem Solving

Algorithm– methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a

particular problem– contrasts with the usually speedier – but also more error-prone use

of heuristics

Heuristic rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make

judgements and solve problems efficiently usually speedier than algorithms more error-prone than algorithms sometimes we’re unaware of using heuristics

Good problem solvers are skilled at (a) identifying the problem, and (b) selecting a strategy.

TWO strategy methods:

HeuristicsRepresentativeness Heuristic

– rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

– may lead one to ignore other relevant information

Availability Heuristic estimating the likelihood of events based on their

availability in memory if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because

of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Example: airplane crash

Some Useful Heuristic Strategies:

1) Working backwards (works well with mazes and certain math problems where the initial conditions are vague)

2) Searching for analogies (works well if the problem is similar to one you have faced previously)

3) Breaking problem in to smaller pieces (allows the completion of smaller, manageable units)

ThinkingInsight

– sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

– contrasts with strategy-based solutionsConfirmation Bias

– tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions

Fixation– inability to see a problem from a new perspective– impediment to problem solving

Thinking- InsightWolfgang Kohler’s experiment on insight by a chimpanzee by solving

complex problems.

Kohler suspended fruit out of reach of the chimp. Sulton, the brightest chimp first attacked the fruit with sticks in trial and error fashion. He then sat down, scratched

his head, and begin to pile boxes. He then climbed on top of them with a stick to knock down his prize.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Mental Set– tendency to approach a problem in a particular way– especially a way that has been successful in the past but

may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem

Functional Fixedness tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual

functions impediment to problem solving

Self Imposed Limitations Low self-esteem

Lack of Knowledge Fatigue

Lack of Interest Drugs

ThinkingOverconfidence

– tendency to be more confident than correct – tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s

beliefs and judgements

Framing the way an issue is posed how an issue is framed can significantly

affect decisions and judgements Example: What is the best way to market

ground beef- As 25% fat or 75% lean?

ThinkingBelief Bias

– the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning– sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid

conclusions seem invalid

Belief Perseverance– clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were

formed has been discredited

Artificial Intelligence designing and programming computer systems

to do intelligent things to simulate human thought processes

• intuitive reasoning• learning• understanding language

LanguageLanguage

– our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning

Phoneme– in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme– in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning– may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammar– a system of rules in a language that enables us to

communicate with and understand others

LanguageSemantics

– the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language

– also, the study of meaningSyntax

– the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

HOW DO CHILDREN ACQUIRE

LANGUAGE?

LANGUAGE

INNATENESS THEORY OF LANGUAGE

*children acquire language not merely by imitating but also by inborn program of steps to acquire vocabulary and grammar in their environment.

Noam CHOMSKY, psycholinguist

*children born with mental structure, allows vocabulary & grammar of their environment

*LAD: Language Acquisition device

HUMAN GENOME PROJECT

*language is genetic

*Broca’s area (ch.2)Professor emeritus, linguistics, MIT

LanguageWe are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the world’s

languages

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Infants from English-speaking homes

LanguageBabbling Stage

*beginning at 3 to 4 months*the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

One-Word Stage (“mama”)*from about age 1 to 2*the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-Word Stage (“mommy milk”) *beginning about age 2

*the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements*start to acquire grammar

Telegraphic Speech (“ball hit mary cry”)*early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words*acquire rules of grammar

also called “naming stage”

Starting at age 2, children also:

*acquire use of MORPHEMES, showing tense (walks, walked, walking)

*overgeneralization or overregularization: (ie. hitted, breaked)

*use words with abstract meanings (dream, forget, pretend, believe)

*use words that refer to emotions (happy, sad, angry)

After cognitive advances in later childhood, they understand highly abstract words (truth,

justice, idea)

• New language learning gets harder with age

Language

Linguistic Relativity (or Linguistic Determinism)–Whorf”s hypothesis that language

determines the way we think

INTELLIGENCE and TESTING

Chapter 11

……is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve

problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience.

What is Intelligence?

• Intelligence– *capacity for goal-directed and adaptive behavior– *involves certain abilities

• profit from experience• solve problems• reason effectively

*ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

What is Intelligence?• Reification

– *viewing an abstract, immaterial concept as if it were a concrete thing.

– *reasoning error

– To reify is to invent a concept, give it a name, and then convince ourselves that such a thing objectively exists in the world.

– One SHOULD say “she has a score on the intelligence test of 120” NOT….”she has an IQ of 120.”

INTELLIGENCE THEORIES

PEOPLE TO KNOW IN THIS CHAPTER:

1) Binet: IQ test

2) Terman: Stanford-Binet IQ test (adapted)

3)3) SpearmanSpearman: “g” and “s” (developed Factor Analysis)

4)4) ThurstonThurston: “Primary Mental Abilities”

5) Guilford: Operations, Contents, Products

6) Gardner: 9 Multiple Intelligences

7) Jansen: social intelligence

8) Cattell: fluid v. crystalized intelligence

9) Goleman: emotional intelligence

10)Wechsler: Adult Intelligence Scale

Origins of Intelligence Testing

Intelligence Test a method of assessing an individual’s mental

aptitudes and comparing them to those of others, using numerical scores

Binet

ALFRED BINET (1857-1911) French Psychologist

･ Received his law degree in 1878

･ Subsequently studied natural sciences at the Sorbonne

･ Self-taught in psychology

Origins of Intelligence

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale– *the widely used

American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test

• *revised by Terman at Stanford University

Purpose: to identify students needing special attention in school outside of a regular classroom (developed in France by Binet)

Lewis Madison Terman (1877-1956) Cognitive Psychologist

･ Central Normal College (B.S., B.P., B. A., 1894, 1898)

･ Indiana University at Bloomington (B.A., M.A., 1903)

･ Clark University (PH.D. in Psychology, 1905)

Origins of Intelligence Testing

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) defined originally the ratio of mental age (ma) to

chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 IQ = ma/ca x 100

on contemporary tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

• Mental Age--a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet--chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level

of performance--child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a

mental age of 8--used in years and months

Are There Multiple Intelligences?• Factor Analysis (FACTOR THEORIES)

– statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test

– used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score

General Intelligence (g)factor that SPEARMANSPEARMAN and others believed underlies specific mental abilitiesmeasured by every task on an intelligence test*performance of any intellectual act requires some combination of "g” (general intelligence), which is available to the same individual to the same degree for all intellectual acts, and of "s" (specific factors) which are specific to that act and which varies in strength from one act to another.

In 1938, Louis L. ThurstoneThurstone, an early researcher, rejected the ”g theory". He analyzed the scores of many research participants on 56 separate tests, Thurston identified SEVEN primary mental abilities:

• verbal comprehension,

• numerical ability,

•spatial relations,

•perceptual speed,

•word fluency,

•memory, and

•Reasoning

CONCLUSION: all intellectual activities involve one or more of these primary mental abilities.

He and his wife, Thelma G. Thurstone, developed their Primary Primary Mental Abilities TestsMental Abilities Tests to measure these seven abilities.

In J.P. GuilfordGuilford's Structure of Intellect (SI) theoryStructure of Intellect (SI) theory,

*intelligence is viewed as comprising operations, contents, and products.

** OPERATIONS (5) (cognition, memory, divergent production, convergent production, evaluation)

** PRODUCTS (6) (units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications

** CONTENTS (5) (visual, auditory, symbolic, semantic, behavioral).

Since each of these dimensions is independent, there are theoretically 150 different components of intelligence.

Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. . . . Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are seen as having high linguistic intelligence.

Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. . . . . . detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. . . . scientific and mathematical thinking.

Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. . . . the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. . .

Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. 

Howard Earl Gardner (1943- ) MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

His work has been marked by a desire not to just describe the world but to help to create the conditions to change it. He initially formulated

a list of seven intelligences and later added two more:

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. . . . the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements.

Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. . . . allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. . . . . ability to use such information to regulate our lives.

Naturalist intelligence enables human beings to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment. It 'combines a description of the core ability with a characterization of the role that many cultures value'

***Existential intelligence, a concern with 'ultimate issues', is, thus, the next possibility that Howard Gardner considers - and he argues that it 'scores reasonably well on the criteria. The final, and obvious, candidate for inclusion in

Howard Gardner's list is moral intelligence.

• COGNITIVE THEORIES– Intelligence depends on situation in which it

occurs--how information is processed

STERNBERGSTERNBERG: “Triarchial Theory”

*didn’t think Gardner’s view went far enough

1) Practical (Contextual) -- learning within the environment in which you live (practical intelligence)

2) Analytical (Componential) -- problem solving; thinking abstractly (information processing intelligence)

3) Creative (Experiential) -- the ability to create new ideas (insight intelligence)

Arthur JENSENArthur JENSEN: Social Class difference

Social Intelligencethe know-how involved in comprehending social

situations and managing oneself successfully

*1998, found convincing evidence for potent environmental effects on black IQs in a rural Georgia county where black SES was exceedingly low even relative to other blacks in the US.

*Older black siblings systematically scored worse on an IQ test than their younger sibs, indicating some environmental insult that accumulated over time.

*juvenile delinquents and adult criminals have lower IQ's, on average, than those of their own full siblings with whom they were reared

*correlation between IQ and socially undesirable behavior is not just mediated by differences in social class and cultural background

Upper-upper (Inherited wealth, Old money, blood relations)

Lower-upper (CEOs, investors, entrepreneurs, achievement)

Upper-middle (managers, professionals, owners of medium size businesses)

Middle-middle (semiprofessionals, craftspeople, foremen, non-retail salespeople, clerical, farms, small-town doctors & lawyers, teachers, police, clergy)

Lower-middle or Working-class (low-skill manual, clerical, retail sales, roofers, truck drivers, unstable employment, below average income)

Upper-lower or Working-poor (lowest-paid manual, retail, service workers, below poverty line)

Lower-lower or Underclass (unemployed, part-time menial jobs, public assistance, single mothers, generational welfare)

Social Stratification in U.S.

Some people in the lower-upper class may have more money than the upper-upper class, but they will not be accepted into the exclusive social clubs.

1% of population

14% of population

30% of population

30% of population

13% of population

12% of population

Raymond CATTELL Raymond CATTELL (1905-1998)

*general intelligence ..conglomeration of +/- 100 abilities working together in various ways in different people to bring out different intelligences.

*fluid intelligence (information that fades with age) ability to think and act quickly, solve novel problems, and encode short-term memories

*crystalized intelligence (procedural information that never goes away) stems from learning and acculturation, reflected in tests of knowledge, general information, use of language (vocabulary) and a wide variety of acquired skills

*student of Spearman

*University College, London, B.S, chemistry (1921-1924)

*King ﾕ s College, Ph.D., psychology (1924-1929)

*University College, London, MA,education (1932); honorary doctor of science (1939)

EI is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to:

*monitor one's own and others' emotions,

*discriminate among them, and to

*use the information to guide one's thinking and actions. (Mayer & Salovey, 1993: 433)

Dr. Goleman’s 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence, argues that human competencies like self-awareness, self-discipline, persistence and empathy are of greater consequence than IQ in much of life, that we ignore the decline in these competencies at our peril, and that children can and should be taught these abilities.

What about Emotional Intelligence?

GOLEMANGOLEMAN: Need both EQ and IQ to be successful.

Emotional Intelligence has 5 domains:

Self-awareness:Observing yourself and recognizing a feeling as it happens.

Managing emotions:Handling feelings so that they are appropriate; realizing what is behind a feeling; finding ways to handle fears and anxieties, anger, and sadness.

Motivating oneself:Channeling emotions in the service of a goal; emotional self control; delaying gratification and stifling impulses.

Empathy:Sensitivity to others' feelings and concerns and taking their perspective; appreciating the differences in how people feel about things.

Handling relationships:Managing emotions in others; social competence and social skills.

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobsen (1968) asked psychology students to run rats through a maze. Some of the students were told their rats were “bright”; others were told their rats were “dull.” Incredibly, the rats that were believed to be “bright” performed better

than the “dull” rats. Expectations influenced performance.

Rosenthal and Jacobsen wondered if teachers’ expectations could influence student performance. They designed an experiment where they told grade school teachers that 20% of their students had been given a special test. Some of the students were identified as “spurters,” who would blossom academically during the coming year.

Actually, the test revealed nothing and the students had been randomly assigned by the design team.

Results: Those children whom the teachers expected to do well, did so. The teachers saw the spurters as more curious and having more potential. They saw the children as happier, more interesting, better adjusted.

When the spurters were given an IQ test a year later, the experimental group made substantial gains in IQ points.

The idea that students perform better when they are expected to is called the Pygmaleon Effect, the Rosenthal Effect, or the Teacher-Expectancy Effect.

It is a type of Self-Fulfilling ProphecySelf-Fulfilling Prophecy, as students with negative expectations internalize the label and those with positive labels succeed.

ASSESSING INTELLIGENCE

Brain Function and IntelligenceIs intelligence neurologically measureable?

1)1) Processing speedProcessing speed: Earl Hunt (1983) found that verbal intelligence scores are predictable from the speed with which people retrieve information from memory.

2)2) Perceptual speedPerceptual speed: Those who perceive quickly tend to score somewhat higher on intelligence tests, particularly test based on perceptual rather than verbal problem solving.

3)3) Neurological speedNeurological speed: Evoked brain responses tend to be slightly faster when people with high rather than low intelligence scores perform a simple task.

The Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS)Scale (MEIS) developed by Mayer, Salovey and Caruso (2000), assess the test-takers ability to:

1) Perceive emotions by recognizing emotions conveyed by various faces, musical excerpts, graphic designs, and stories.

2) Understand emotions by recognizing how emotions change over time and apprehending how emotions blend.

3) Regulate emotions by rating alternative strategies that one could use when facing various real-life dilemmas.

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Assessing Intelligence• Aptitude Test

– a test designed to predict a person’s future performance– aptitude is the capacity to learn

• Achievement Test– a test designed to assess what a person has learned

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)– most widely used intelligence test– subtests

• verbal • performance (nonverbal)

WISC--Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

WPPEI--Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence

Assessing Intelligence- Sample Items from the WAIS

From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977

VERBAL

General Information Similarities Arithmetic ReasoningVocabularyComprehensionDigit Span

PERFORMANCE

Picture Completion Picture ArrangementBlock DesignObject AssemblyDigit-Symbol Substitution

Assessing IntelligenceStandardization

– defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested “standardization group”

Normal Curve – the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of

many physical and psychological attributes– most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near

the extremes

Flynn EffectFlynn Effect

American philosophy professor James Flynn discovered a remarkable trend:

Average IQ scores in every industrialized country on the planet had been increasing steadily for decades.

Despite concerns about the dumbing-down of society - the failing schools, the garbage on TV, the decline of reading - the overall population was getting smarter. Our brains are getting better at

problem-solving.

The Normal Curve

Ninety-five percent of all people fall within 30 points

of 100

Number of

scores

55 70 85 100 115 130 145

Wechsler intelligence score

Sixty-eight percentof people score within 15 points

above or below 100

• Reliability– the extent to which a test yields consistent results– assessed by consistency of scores on:

• two halves of the test• alternate forms of the test• retesting the same individual

• Validity– the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is suppose toContent Validity

– the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest or knowledge about subject

Face Validity or Predictive Validity or Criterion-Related Validity– A test measures what it is supposed to measure.– assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion

behavior• driving test that samples driving tasks or a unit exam in biology

Criterion Validity– behavior (such as college grades) that a test (such as the SAT) is designed to

predict.– measures against a specific learning goal.– the measure used in defining whether the test has predictive validity

• applicants for flight school have to pass a certain standard

Assessing Intelligence

Split-Half Reliabilty– exam split into 2 halves and scores compared.

• if your teacher checks to see if students are odd and even numbered correct

Test-Retest Reliability– individuals taking a test more than once tend to get

similar scores.• Taking ACT or SAT more than once and getting similar scores

The Dynamics of Intelligence

Degrees of Mental Retardation

Level Typical Intelligence Scores Percentage of the Retarded Adaptation to Demands of Life

Mild 50-70 85% May learn academic skills up to sixth-grade level. Adults may, with assistance, achieve self-supporting social and vocational skills.

Moderate 35-49 10 May progress to second-grade level. academically. Adults may contribute to their own support by labor in sheltered workshops.

Severe 20-34 3-4 May learn to talk and perform simple work tasks under close supervision but are generally unable to profit from vocational training.

Profound Below 20 1-2 Require constant aid and supervision.

Genetic Influences

• The most genetically similar people have the most similar scores

Similarity ofintelligence

scores(correlation)

Identicaltwinsreared together

Identicaltwinsreared apart

Fraternaltwinsreared together

Siblingsreared together

Unrelatedindividualsreared together

Genetic Influences

Heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes

variability depends on range of populations and environments studied

Genetic Influences

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.003 years 16 years

Child-parentcorrelation inverbal ability

scores

Children and theirbirth parents

Adopted childrenand their birthparents

Adopted childrenand their adoptiveparents

Autism

*moderately rare condition

*typically appears during the first three years of life

*neurological disorder (CNS injuries)

*affects the functioning of the developing brain, resulting in sometimes profound communicative, social interaction and cognitive deficits.

*hard to relate to outside world

*four times more prevalent in boys than girls

*estimated to occur in as many as 1 in 150 individuals and is on the rise

• Savant Syndrome– condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an

amazing specific skill• computation • drawing

autistic savant

*Although there is a strong association with autism, it is certainly not the case that all savants are autistic.

*estimated that about 50% of the cases of savant syndrome are autistic

*other 50% have developmental disabilities and CNS injuries.

Studies of intelligence and creativity suggest that a certain level of aptitude is necessary but not sufficient for creativity. Studies of creative people suggest 5 other components of creativity:

1) Expertise is a well-developed base of knowledge.

2) Imaginative thinking skills provide the ability to see things in new ways, to recognize patterns, to make connections.

3) A venturesome personality tolerates ambiguity and risk, perseveres in overcoming obstacles and seeks new experiences.

4) Intrinsic motivation--people are most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself.

5) A creative environment sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.

Group Differences

Stereotype Threat A self-confirming concern that one

will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Why do intelligent people fail?

1) Lack of motivation

2) Lack of impulse control

3) Lack of perseverance and preservation.

4) Using the wrong abilities.

5) Inability to translate thought into action

6) Lack of product orientation

7) Inability to complete tasks

8) Failure to initiate

9) Fear of failure

10) Procrastination

Why do intelligent people fail?

11) Misattribution of blame

12) Excessive self-pity

13) Excessive dependency

14) Wallowing in personal difficulties

15) Distractability

16) Spreading oneself too thin

17) Inability to delay gratification

18) Inability to see the forest for the trees

19) Lack of balance between critical thinking and creative thinking

20) Too little or too much self-confidence

Questions still needing to be answered:

1) Genetic factors contribute substantially to individual differences but the pathway by which genes produce their effects is still unknown. Moreover, the impact of genetic differences increases with age, but we don’t know why.

2) Environmental factors also make a significant contribution to the development of intelligence. Schooling is important but we don’t know what aspects of schooling are critical

3) The effect of nutrition is unclear. Obviously, severe nutrition has negative effects but the notion that particular “micronutrients” may increase intelligence has not been convincingly demonstrated.

Questions still needing to be answered:

4) Measures of information-processing speed correlate with intelligence scores but there is no easy theoretical interpretation of these findings.

5) Mean scores on intelligence tests are rising steadily, going up a full standard deviation in the last half century. No one is certain why this is happening or what it means.

6) The difference between intelligence scores of blacks and whites does not result from any obvious biases in test construction. Nor does it reflect differences in socioeconomic status. There is no support for genetic interpretation.

7) Standardized tests do not sample all forms of intelligence. (creativity, wisdom, practical sense, social sensibility)

What is Intelligence?• Reification

– *viewing an abstract, immaterial concept as if it were a concrete thing.

– *reasoning error

– To reify is to invent a concept, give it a name, and then convince ourselves that such a thing objectively exists in the world.

– One SHOULD say “she has a score on the intelligence test of 120” NOT….”she has an IQ of 120.”