Intelligence and Its Measurement

Psyc 331

What is Intelligence?
Intelligence: a multidimensional
concept that is about:

Acquiring and applying knowledge

Reasoning logically,
Planing effectively,
Deducting perceptively
Grasping and visualizing concepts
Finding the right words and thoughts
Coping with novel situations

Historical Discussions:
Sir Francis Galton was the first person to
publish on the heritability of intelligence.
Galton (1883) believed that the most
intelligent persons were equipped with the best
sensory abilities.
By such logic, tests of visual acuity or hearing
ability are measurements of intelligence.

Galton developed many sensorimotor and

perception-related tests by which he attempted
to measure his definition of intelligence.

Historical Discussions:
Alfred Binet did not define intelligence
explicitly but instead described various
components
of
intelligence,
including
reasoning,
judgment,
memory,
and
abstraction.
Binet and a colleague criticized Galtons
approach to intellectual assessment and
instead called for more complex measurements
of intellectual ability.
While Galton argued that intelligence consisted
of distinct processes that could be assessed
only by individual tests, Binet viewed
intelligence as inseparable abilities that
required complex measurements to determine.

Historical Discussions:
David
Wechsler
(1958)
conceptualized
intelligence as the aggregatecapacity of the
individual to act purposefully, to think rationally,
and to deal effectively with his environment. It
[is] composed of elements or abilities whichare
qualitatively differentiable (p. 7).
Wechsler was of the opinion that the best way to
measure intelligence was by measuring several
qualitatively differentiable abilities, which were
verbal- or performance-based in nature.
The Wechsler-Bellevue (W-B) Scale provided the
calculation of a Verbal IQ and a Performance IQ.

Historical Discussions:
Jean Piaget focused his research on the
development of cognitive abilities in children (i.e.,
how children think, and how they understand
themselves and the world around them).
Piaget defined intelligence as an evolving biological
adaptation to the outside world; a consequence of
interaction with the
environment, psychological structures become
reorganized.

Intelligence According to a
Statistician:
Factor-analytic
theories
of
intelligence: focus squarely on identifying
the ability or groups of abilities deemed to
constitute intelligence.
Factor analysis: a group of statistical
techniques designed to determine the
existence
of
underlying
relationships
between sets of variables

Factor-analytic theories of
intelligence:
Spearman (1927) postulated the
existence of a general intellectual
ability factor (g) and specific factors of
intelligence (s).
g was assumed to afford the best prediction of
overall intelligence, best measured through
abstract-reasoning problems.
Group factors: an intermediate class of factors
common to a group of activities but not all,
neither as general as g nor as specific as s

Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence

(Spearman, 1927)

g represents the portion of variance that all intelligence tests have in common and the remaining
9-9 of the variance being accounted for either by specific components (s) , or by error components
portions
(e) of this general factor.

Factor-analytic theories of intelligence:

Guilford and Thurstone have sought to explain

mental activities by deemphasizing or eliminating
any reference to g.
Gardner
developed
a
theory
of
seven
intelligences:
logical-mathematical,
bodilykinesthetic,
linguistic,
musical,
spatial,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
Horn and Cattell developed a theory of
intelligence postulating the existence of two
major types of cognitive abilities:
Crystallized intelligence (Gc): includes
acquired skills and knowledge that are
dependent on exposure to a particular culture
as well as on formal and informal education
Fluid intelligence (Gf): nonverbal, relatively
culture-free, and independent of specific
instruction

Other perspectives on
intelligence:
Information-processing theories: focus
on identifying the specific mental processes
that constitute intelligence.
Simultaneous (parallel) processing:
the integration of information occurs all
at once
Successive (sequential) processing:
information is individually processed in a
logical sequence

Other perspectives on
intelligence:
Sternberg (1986) proposed a triarchic
theory of intelligence with three principle
elements:
Metacomponents: involved in planning
actions, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation
Performance components: administer the
instructions of metacomponents
Knowledge-acquisition
components:
involved in learning how to do something
in the first place (Sternberg, 1994)

How do you measure

intelligence?
How intelligence is measured largely
depends on how the examiner
conceptualizes intelligence!

13

Tests of Intelligence
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales
The first published intelligence test with
clear instructions on use
The first test to introduce the concept of
an alternate item
Ratio IQ: the ratio of the testtakers
mental age divided by his or her
chronological age, multiplied by 100 to
eliminate decimals:

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth

Edition

Tests of Intelligence
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, 5th Ed.
The Stanford-Binet Full Scale score can be converted into nominal
categories designated by cutoff boundaries for quick reference:

Measured IQ Range Category

145 160
Very gifted or highly advanced
130 144
Gifted or very advanced
120 129
Superior
110 119
High average
90 109
Average
80 89
Low average
70 79
Borderline impaired or delayed
55 69
Mildly impaired or delayed
40 54
Moderately impaired or delayed

Tests of Intelligence
The Wechsler Tests
A series of individually-administered intelligence tests to assess the
intellectual abilities of people from preschool through adulthood.
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4 th Ed. Contains:
10 core subtests:

Block Design
Similarities
Digit Span
Matrix Reasoning
Vocabulary
Arithmetic
Symbol Search
Visual Puzzles
Information
Coding

Five supplemental subtests :Letter-Number Sequencing, Figure Weights,

Comprehension, Cancellation, and Picture Completion.

Tests of Intelligence
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children,
4th Ed.
The WISC-IV yields a measure of general
intellectual functioning (a Full Scale IQ) as
well as four index scores: a Verbal
Comprehension Index, a Perceptual
Reasoning Index, a Working Memory Index,
and a Processing Speed Index
It is also possible to derive up to seven
process scores
Process score: an index designed to
help understand the way the testtaker 10-18

10-19

Other Tests of Intelligence

Individual administration

Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test

(KAIT)
Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT)
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC)

Group administration

Army Alpha test

Army Beta test
School ability test
California Test of Mental Maturity
Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligent Tests
Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability
Cognitive Abilities Tests

Measures of Cognitive Style and

Specific Intellectual Abilities
Cognitive style: a psychological dimension that
characterizes the consistency which one acquires
and processes information
e.g., field dependence versus field independence
Measures of creativity
Divergent thinking: a reasoning process in
which thought is free to move in many different
directions, making several solutions possible
Tools tapping creativity include Consequences
and Unusual Uses

Some Issues: Is intelligence

stable?
Intelligence in adulthood appears to be relatively stable.
Evidence:Gold et al. (1995) compared archival
intelligence test data from World War II to
intelligence test data acquired 40 years later from a
sample of 326 veterans and found stability in
measured intelligence over time.
Young adult intelligence was found to be the most
important determinant of cognitive performance
as an older adult.
Ivnik et al. (1995) found that verbal intellectual
skills tended to be highly stable over time, but
newly learned information was much less stable.
In later adulthood (beyond age 75 especially), a
decline in cognitive ability has been noted.

Some Issues:Construct validity

Construct validity depends on how the
test developer defined intelligence.
If intelligence is defined as Spearmans g,
then factor analysis should yield a single
large common factor that indicates the
different questions or tasks largely
reflected the underlying characteristic (g).
If intelligence is defined in accordance with
Guilfords theory, then no one factor should
be expected to dominate, but instead
many different factors reflecting a diverse
set of abilities.

Some Issues
Gender
Research has examined the differences between
males and females with regard to cognitive, motor,
and other abilities related to intelligence.
Some differences have been consistently found but
significance is questionable.
Males tend to outperform females on tasks requiring
visual spatialization, while females tend to excel at
language skill-related tasks.

Family environment
Children thrive in a loving home where their safety
and welfare are of utmost concern and learning and
growth are promoted.
The presence of resources, parental use of language,
parental expression of concern about achievement,
and authoritative parenting may also effect measured
intelligence.

Some Issues
Culture
Culture provides specific models for thinking, acting, and
feeling, enabling people to survive both physically and
socially and to master the world around them.
Values may differ radically between cultural groups, and
thus individuals from these varying cultures may have
radically differing views on what constitutes intelligence.
Items on an intelligence test tend to reflect the culture of
the society where the test is employed and thus many
theorists have expressed a desire to develop a culturefree intelligence test.
Culture-free intelligence tests are difficult if not
impossible, and thus culture-fair intelligence tests
began to be developed.
Culture loading: the extent to which a test incorporates
the vocabulary, concepts, traditions, knowledge, and
feelings associated with a particular culture