notes on "intelligence"

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Some notes on “Intelligence”James Atherton; February 2012

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Some notes on “Intelligence”James Atherton; February 2012

In quotes because it is a contestable idea.

The presentation does not purport to be a full account of the idea.

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General

Specific

Aptitude Achievement

Intelligence

Subject-specificqualifications

Tests for specificaptitudes (mechanical

musical, etc.)

Educational qualifications

claiming generalvalidity (GCSE etc.)

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General

Specific


Intelligence



musical, etc.)



Testing is central to the idea of intelligence

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General

Specific


Intelligence



musical, etc.)



Tests can be either general or specific in their targets

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General

Specific


Intelligence



musical, etc.)




In the case of most assessments, the focus is on what the person tested has already done

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General

Specific


Intelligence



musical, etc.)




In the case of most assessments, the focus is on what the person tested has already done

More difficult to test for is the issue of potential for the future

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General

Specific


Intelligence



musical, etc.)



Intelligence goes for the most difficult area of all—a measure of general potential

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“The power of good responses from the point of view of truth or fact” (Thorndike)

“A biological mechanism by which the effects of a complexity of stimuli are brought together and given a somewhat unified effect in behavior” (Peterson)

“The ability to carry on abstract thinking” (Terman)

“The ability to adapt oneself adequately to relatively new situations in life” (Pintner)

“The capacity for knowledge, and knowledge possessed” (Henmon)

“The capacity to acquire capacity” (Woodrow)

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Here are a few definitions from the literature!

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“Viewed narrowly, there seem to be almost as many definitions of intelligence as there were experts asked to define it” (Sternberg 1987)

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But put the text through Wordle, and some themes do emerge

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Potted history Francis Galton (1884) measures head size, reaction time etc.,

but finds no correlations

Charles Spearman (1904) develops the idea of “general intelligence” or g

Alfred Binet (1905 on) devised tests to determine ineducability

formulated idea of “Mental Age”

Lewis Terman adapted and standardised the Binet tests for American children (1916, latest revision 1986)

David Wechsler developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale in 1939 (latest edition 1998)

Various group tests devised subsequently

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Current Stanford-Binet tests four broad areas verbal reasoning

abstract/visual reasoning

quantitative reasoning

short-term memory

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Abstract/visual reasoning

A B C D E

Which of the figures to the right of the line are not the same as the one to the left?

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Abstract/visual reasoning

A B C D E

Which of the figures to the right of the line are not the same as the one to the left?

Note this assumes that you can only rotate the figures, not flip them as well.

IQ test items need to be completely unambiguous!

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Quantitative Reasoning

The parcel post rate in the local zone is 18 cents for the first pound and 1½ cents for each additional pound. How many pounds can be sent in the local zone for $1.50?

A: 88 B: 89 C: 100 D: 225

(US Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery)

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What is the missing number?

56 35 20 10 ? 1

(Alice Heim)

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56 35 20 10 ? 1

21 15 10 6

(Alice Heim)

Clue 1

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56 35 20 10 ? 1

21 15 10 6

6 5 4 (Alice Heim)Clue 2

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56 35 20 10 ? 1

21 15 10 6 3

6 5 4 3

(Alice Heim)Clue 3

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56 35 20 10 4 1

21 15 10 6 3

6 5 4 3

(Alice Heim)

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Verbal Reasoning

seed is to plant, as egg is to:

treeroot pollen oats potato bird

Victim is the opposite of:

hunter happy imposter benefactor cad man

Which is the odd one out? captain frustrate house labour

swing

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Verbal Reasoning






swing

This is a very traditional item at the simpler end of the scale

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Verbal Reasoning






swing

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Verbal Reasoning






swing

A poor item which just does not have a correct answer

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Verbal Reasoning






swing

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Verbal Reasoning






swing

This one is really tough—because...

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Verbal Reasoning






swing


...you have to change your frame of reference...

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Verbal Reasoning






swing


...you have to change your frame of reference....

...it’s not about what the words represent...

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Verbal Reasoning






swing


...you have to change your frame of reference....

...it’s not about what the words represent...

Why?

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based on the Terman-Merrill standardisation group(1937) Ages 2 to 18 n=2904 SD=16

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n

IQ score

The (almost) normal distribution curve of IQ—the “Bell Curve”.

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IQ score

This is the mean: about 100

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IQ score

The dashed lines are “standard deviations” from the mean.

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% o

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n

IQ score


About two-thirds of the population are within ± 1 S.D. of the mean

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IQ score


About two-thirds of the population are within ± 1 S.D. of the mean

There are fewer people more than 2 S.Ds above the mean than there are below.

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Profound learning disability <20

Severe learning disability 20-34

Moderate learning disability 35-49

Mild learning disability 50-70

Low normal 70-90

Normal 90-110

High normal 110-130

“Genius” 130+

Mental AgeChronological Age

IQ = x 100

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Issues around Intelligence(not covered here)

Flynn effect

Fluid and Crystallised intelligence (Cattell, 1967)

Convergent and Divergent thinking styles (Hudson, 1967)

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1983)

Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1995)

Mindsets/Self-theories (Dweck, 1996)

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Answer

Facts

Stimulus

Idea

Convergent thinking- science and technology(?)

Divergent thinking- arts and humanities(?)

--except that this is a graphic of the Hudson styles

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Political issues

Early abuses including sterilisation laws on basis of IQ; continued until 1975 in Sweden of all places.

Sir Cyril Burt: basis of 1944 Education Act, and accused of fraudulent results

Arthur Jensen (1969) accused of racism, for identifying ethnic group differences in measured intelligence. (Note; within group differences are more significant than those between groups, in broad terms.)

Herrnstein R and Murray C, (1995) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (Glencoe: Ill. The Free Press)

Ever since eugenics, (Dalton) intelligence has been a political issue .

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Correlations between IQ and educational achievement at various levels

Primary school 0.6-0.7

Secondary school 0.5-0.6

College 0.4-0.5

Post-graduate 0.3-0.4

Figures from US. terminology revised for UK: from Atkinson et al (1993) (+1 would be a perfect positive correlation).

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Motivation

Opportunity

Organisation

Background

“Intelligence”

Teaching

Factors in educational achievement

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Motivation

Opportunity

Organisation

Background

“Intelligence”

Teaching

Factors in educational achievement

The chain is only as strong as its weakest link—which could be any of these factors and more

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Spearman’s g factor (1904) Arrived at by factor analysis of results from tests

Claims a general (hence g) component to intelligence, supplemented by specific components

Critics suggest g is an artefact of method

although “intelligence” may have a hierarchical structure

and others maintain it may have 30+ components Spearman, C. (1904). "General intelligence," objectively determined and

measured. American Journal of Psychology, 15, 201-293

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Spearman’s g factor (1904) Arrived at by factor analysis of results from tests

Claims a general (hence g) component to intelligence, supplemented by specific components

Critics suggest g is an artefact of method

although “intelligence” may have a hierarchical structure

and others maintain it may have 30+ components Spearman, C. (1904). "General intelligence," objectively determined and

measured. American Journal of Psychology, 15, 201-293

The argument that there is a single general factor measured by IQ tests

is at one end of the scale of the debate...

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Intra-personal

MusicalLogical/

mathematical

Bodily/kinesthetic

Linguistic

Spatial

Inter-personal

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

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Intra-personal

MusicalLogical/

mathematical

Bodily/kinesthetic

Linguistic

Spatial

Inter-personal

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

Gardner’s multiple intelligences model is the other end of the scale from the g model, and is arrived at quite differently

(This is a purely impressionistic representation. Gardner does not use anything like it

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http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/intelligence.htmfor more detail and some references.