PSYC 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Robert Sternberg, Amusia, Intellectual Disability
Psych notes 10/20/2016
cognition pt. 2
● How well people think
● Intelligence- the ability to learn from experience, acquire knowledge, and use resources
in adapting to new situations or solving problem
○ How to acquire and use knowledge
● Conceptual difficulties:
○ Psychologists believe that intelligence is a concept and not a thing
○ When we think of intelligence as a trait like height or hair color, we commit to an
error called reification -- viewing an abstract immaterial concept as if it were a
concrete thing
○ We’ve had to make assumptions due to this
● IQ tests have shown to be associated with or correlate with some positive and some
negative aspects of academic performance, years of education, occupational
performance, entertainment…
○ Positive = yrs of education, academic performance…
○ Negative = criminal behavior
○ However it cannot predict how someone will really truly be
● Psychologists have not agreed on the controversy of intelligence being a single overall
ability or several abilities
● Spearman’s g
○ Spearman proposed that intelligence is best characterized as a general capacity-
-underlying all branches of intellectual ability is one underlying fundamental
function, the amount of general mental ability or general intelligence
○ He believed intelligence tests tap general intelligence (g) and specific intellectual
abilities
● Savant’s syndrome - below average intelligence
● Theory of multiple intelligences - proposed by Howard Gardner, the existence of different
kinds of intelligence
○ As support for his theory, gardner notes that people with savant syndrome
typically show a combination of intellectual disability and unusual talent or ability
● Critics of multiple intelligences
○ Does being clumsy or tone deaf mean you have lack of intelligence?
○ Should all our abilities be considered intelligences?
○ Can you practice abilities?
● Robert sternberg: triarchic theory
○ Sternberg agreed with gardner but suggested 3 kinds of intelligence rather than 9
○ Analytical intelligence: ability to break probs down into component parts for
problem solving
○ Creative intelligence: intelligence that generate novel ideas/new ways of solving
problems or find creative ways to perform tasks (divergent thinking)
○ Practical intelligence: intelligence required to use info to get along in life; person
adapts to environment; street smarts
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Document Summary
Intelligence- the ability to learn from experience, acquire knowledge, and use resources in adapting to new situations or solving problem. Psychologists believe that intelligence is a concept and not a thing. When we think of intelligence as a trait like height or hair color, we commit to an error called reification -- viewing an abstract immaterial concept as if it were a concrete thing. We"ve had to make assumptions due to this. Iq tests have shown to be associated with or correlate with some positive and some negative aspects of academic performance, years of education, occupational performance, entertainment . Positive = yrs of education, academic performance . However it cannot predict how someone will really truly be. Psychologists have not agreed on the controversy of intelligence being a single overall ability or several abilities. Spearman proposed that intelligence is best characterized as a general capacity-
