PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Robert Sternberg, San People, Factor Analysis

• School: University of Rochester
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 101
• Professor: Niemiec

Document Summary

What is intelligence: everyone has a different definition; intelligence can mean many different things. In psychology, the definition of intelligence is the capacity to learn from e(cid:454)perie(cid:374)(cid:272)e, sol(cid:448)e pro(cid:271)le(cid:373)s, a(cid:374)d adapt su(cid:272)(cid:272)essfull(cid:455) to o(cid:374)e"s e(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t a(cid:374)d new situations. Definitions of intelligence vary from culture to culture. The ability to solve problems: south pacific islanders. The ability to navigate successfully from one island to another island: kalahari bushmen in africa. The ability to hunt and gather food successfully: gang members. The ability to stay alive using street smarts. A historical debate: within psychology the debate is whether intelligence is better defined as one general level of psychology or as separate, multi-faceted grouping of abilities. General intelligence: first to explain general intelligence, a general intelligence underlies all mental abilities, charles spear(cid:373)a(cid:374)"s g factor. People who tend to excel at some activities, tend to excel in many or most activities. A common skill set (g factor) underlies all mental activities.