PSYA02H3 Chapter 9-16: PSYA02 NOTES
9.1 Measuring Intelligence
Leilani Muir
-Went to the doctor to understand why she couldn't have children = was informed that her fallopian tubes had been
surgically removed = permanently sterile
-Due to the fact that as a child she was scored low on IQ = deemed unfit to have children = told her she needed to get
her appendix removed = did the procedure
Different Approaches to Intelligence Testing
Intelligence and Perception: Galton's Anthropometric Approach
Systemic attempt to measure intelligence began with Francis Galton
Believed that because people learn about the world through their senses, those with superior sensory abilities
would be able to learn more = believed that sensory abilities should be an indicator of a person's intelligence
Created 17 sensory tests = anthropometric laboratory
Anthropometrics (measure of people) - methods of measuring physical and mental variation in humans
James McKeen Cattell = tests in the United States = research shows that a person's abilities on different sensory
tests are not correlated with one another = did not predict grades = Galton's approach was abandoned
Intelligence and Thinking: the Stanford-Binet Test
Alfred Binet
Lewis Terman
Argued that intelligence should be indicated by more complex thinking processes = memory, attention, and
comprehension
Intelligence - ability to think, understand, reason, and adapt to or overcome obstacles
Reflects how well people are able to reason and solve problems + accumulated knowledge
Created intelligence tests = thirty tasks arranged in order of increasing difficulty
Mental age - the average intellectual ability score for children of a specific age
A child with a mental age lower than her chronological age would be expected to struggle in school and to require
remedial education
Stanford-Binet test - a test intended to measure innate levels of intelligence
Measured innate capacity vs. what he believed he measured as current abilities
Intelligence quotient (William Stern) - calculated by taking a person's mental age, dividing it by his chronological age,
and then multiplying by 100
Both Binet and Stern didn’t generalize very well to adult populations
IQ had many problems
Deviation IQ - calculated by comparing the person's test score with the average score for people of the same age
Must first establish the norm or average of a population
Avoids the problem of IQ scores that consistently decline with age because scores are calculated relative to others
of the same
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
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Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - most common intelligence test in use today for adolescents and adults
Created by a man who himself was labelled "feeble minded"
WAIS provides a single IQ score for each test taker - the Full-Scale IQ - but also breaks intelligence into a
General Ability Index and a Cognitive Proficiency Index
GAI (general ability index) is computed from scores on Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Reasoning =
intellectual abilities without emphasis on how fast the person can solve problems and make decisions
CPI (cognitive proficiency index) is based on Working Memory and Processing Speed = included because greater
working memory capacity and processing speed allow more cognitive resources to be devoted to reasoning and
solving problems
Raven's Progressive Matrices
Key problems with intelligence tests = questions are biased to favour people from the test developer's culture or
who primarily speak the test developer's language
Puts those with different cultures/speak different languages at a disadvantage
A person's intelligence should not be affected by whether they fluent in a certain language
These problems led to the creation of "culture-free" tests
Raven's Progressive Matrices - intelligence test that is based on pictures, not words, thus making it relatively unaffected
by language or cultural background
Measures the extent to which test takers can see patterns in the shapes and colours with a matrix and then
determine which shape or color would complete the pattern
The Checkered Past of Intelligence Testing
IQ testing boost during WW1
Lewis Terman, S-B test, worked with the United States military to develop a set of intelligence tests that could be
used to identify which recruits had the potential to become officers
Suggested that his testing be brought into schools - identify students would should be channeled into more
advanced academic topics and others would should be channeled into more skill-based topics
IQ Testing and the Eugenics Movement
European colonialism led to Western influence around the world = created more powerful military, technology
and economy
Darwin's origin of species also became known = evolution through natural selection
These events led to some negative consequences especially affecting non-Western and non-White people
Darwin's theory served as an explanation for the justification for colonial powers to impose their values on other
cultures = helping people to become "civilized" and assimilating them into a "superior" cultural system
The social Darwinism that emerged gave rise to ugly social movements such as eugenics = good genes
Eugenics intertwined with the history of intelligence = Francis Galton
Galton believed in "good breeding". Although families share more than genes such as wealth, privilege and social
status, he believed that genes were at the basis
Influenced Terman = promoted an explicitly eugenic philosophy = superiority of race and the interest of
"improving" society = believed that his IQ tests provided a strong empirical justification for eugenic practices = ex.
sterilization
As Terman administered his tests = seemed like his race-based beliefs were verified by data (other cultures did
not score as highly on his tests as did White people from the West) = concluded that people from non-Western
cultures generally had lower IQ = justified that it was appropriate to stream them into less challenging academic
pursuits and jobs of lower status
The Race and IQ Controversy
Main reasons why intelligence tests played so well into the agenda of eugenicists = consistent data in the
differences in IQ scores of people from different ethnic groups
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Root of the issue about "race and IQ" is that there is a clear and reliable hierarchy of IQ scores across different
ethnic groups
Assumed that it was just due to language barrier, but as more culturally sensitive tests persisted the same pattern
occurred = Asians, Whites, Latinos, and Blacks
Race-IQ research hit the public with the publication of The Bell Curve
Hernstein and Murray also argued that human intelligence is a strong predictor of many different personal and
social outcomes = workplace performance, income, and the likelihood of being involved in criminal activities
Also argued that those with high intelligence were reproducing less than those with low intelligence leading to a
dangerous population trend in the United States
Argued that a healthy society would be a meritocracy = people who had the most ability and worked the hardest
would receive the most wealth, power and status
Those with low IQ should be allowed to live out their fates and should not be helped, but instead the system
should simply allow people with most demonstrable merit to rise to the top regardless of their cultural or ethnic
backgrounds
Huge problem of meritocracy = system is set up to systematically give certain groups advantages over other
groups
Research used to justify policies such as limiting immigration, discontinuing affirmative action programs, and
otherwise working to overturn decades of progress made in the fight for civil rights and equality
Problems with the Racial Superiority Interpretation
The simplest critique: test score differences are due to the fact that the tests themselves are culturally biased =
however, even with culturally aware tests these differences remained
Critique that the tests were not necessarily biased, but the very process of testing itself is = people in minority
groups are less familiar with standardized tests = less motivated to do well = uncomfortable
IQ differences may be due to stereotype threat
Stereotype threat - occurs when negative stereotypes about a group causes group members to underperform on ability tests
3 reasons why this happens:
1.Stereotype threat increases arousal due to the fact that individuals are aware of the negative stereotypes about
their group and are concerned that a poor performance may reflect poorly on their group = undermines their
performance
2.Causes people to become more self-focused, paying more attention to how well they are performing = leaves
fewer cognitive resources for them to focus on the test itself
3.Increases the tendency for people to actively try to inhibit negative thoughts they may have = reduces resources
that could have otherwise been used to focus on the test
These concerns cast doubt on the validity of IQ tests for members of non-White groups suggesting that
differences in scores may not necessarily reflect differences in the underlying ability being tested but instead other
factors
Even if tests were valid, still differences may not be due to genetics = ex. poor people and ethnic minorities face
hosts of factors that contribute to poor cognitive and neurological development such as poorer nutrition, greater
stress, lower-quality schools, higher rates of illness with reduced access to medical treatment, etc.
Additionally, life experiences of people may encourage them to adopt certain beliefs about themselves which can
interfere with their motivations to perform their best = if one believes that they are not intelligent, they won't try
very hard to change that
Beliefs about Intelligence
Many people hold implicit beliefs that their intelligence level is relatively fixed and find it surprising that
intelligence is, in fact, highly changeable
This mistaken belief tends to limit people's potential to change their own intelligence
Entity theory - belief that intelligence is a fixed characteristic and relatively difficult (or impossible) to change
Incremental theory - belief that intelligence ca be shaped by experiences, practice, and effort
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Document Summary
Went to the doctor to understand why she couldn"t have children = was informed that her fallopian tubes had been surgically removed = permanently sterile. Due to the fact that as a child she was scored low on iq = deemed unfit to have children = told her she needed to get her appendix removed = did the procedure. Systemic attempt to measure intelligence began with francis galton. Believed that because people learn about the world through their senses, those with superior sensory abilities would be able to learn more = believed that sensory abilities should be an indicator of a person"s intelligence. Created 17 sensory tests = anthropometric laboratory. Anthropometrics (measure of people) - methods of measuring physical and mental variation in humans. James mckeen cattell = tests in the united states = research shows that a person"s abilities on different sensory tests are not correlated with one another = did not predict grades = galton"s approach was abandoned.
