Mystery UniversityEducational Psychology

Theories of Intelligence

Mariya YukhymenkoDepartment of Educational Psychology

Intelligence!• How would you define intelligence? • Can you recall any names of psychologists

who have studies intelligence? • What would you like to know about

intelligence?

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Overview• Why Study Intelligence?• Intelligence Defined• Major psychologists who have studies intelligence• Theories of intelligence

– Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence– Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences– Something more to consider

• Intelligence as Speed of Processing• Neuroscience and Intelligence

• Intelligence and Learning• IQ testing• What do you think: Intelligence and…

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Why Study Intelligence?

• Intelligence is the most significant individual difference

• Intelligence theory and testing is widely used in decision making– Education, job selection, etc

• Intelligence lies beneath all aspects of human development and learning

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How would you define intelligence?

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Definitions of Intelligence• " The ability to carry out abstract thinking."

(Terman, 1921)• "The capacity to acquire capacity."

(Woodrow, 1921)• "A global concept that involves an individual's ability to act

purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment." (Wechsler, 1958)

• "A person possesses intelligence insofar as he had learned, or can learn, to adjust himself to his environment." (Colvin, cited in Sternberg, 1982)

• "Intelligence is the ability to use optimally limited resources - including time - to achieve goals." (Kurzweil, 1999)

• "Intelligence is what you do when you don't know what to do." (unknown)

http://wilderdom.com/personality/L1-4Definitions.html6

From What We Have Already Learned, can you name any scholars who contributed to the

development of intelligence theories?

What was their contribution?

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From What We Have Already Learned

• Alfred Binet – the father of IQ testing (early 1900)• Lewis Terman – revised Binet’s test to allow comparison of

intellectual functioning among individuals (1910s)• Charles Spearman – “two-factor” theory of intelligence: general

and special abilities (1920s)• Louis Leon Thurstone – 7 “primary mental abilities” (1930s)• Raymond Cattell – fluid and crystallized intelligence (1960s)• Jean Piaget – intelligence as an adaptation or assimilation (1960s)• Lev Vygotsky – process activity rather than a state entity (1970s)• Robert Stenberg – triarchic theory of intelligence (1970s - present)• Howard Gardner – multiple intelligences (1980s – present)

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Theories of Intelligence

• Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence• Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences• Something more to consider: – Intelligence as Speed of Processing– Neuroscience and Intelligence

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Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

• Bases on Spearman’s general ability and information processing components

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• Three subcategories or subtheories: – Analytical (componential)– Creative (experiential)– Practice (contextual)

Stenberg 1977, 1985, 199511

What each component holds?Components of Analytical SubtheoryComponents of Analytical Subtheory

MetaMetaComponentsComponents What kind of Processes?

PerformancePerformance What kind of Operations?Knowledge Knowledge AcquisitionAcquisition What does it mean?

Components of Creative SubtheoryComponents of Creative Subtheory

NoveltyNovelty

What kind of abilities? AutomationAutomationComponents of Practical Subtheory Components of Practical Subtheory

AdaptationAdaptation

What kind of abilities? SelectionSelectionShapingShaping

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What each component holds?Components of Analytical SubtheoryComponents of Analytical Subtheory

MetaMetacomponentscomponents

Higher-order processes: control, monitor, evaluate cognitive processing

PerformancePerformanceBasic operations: any cognitive processes, i.e. encoding stimuli, holding information, making calculations, etc

Knowledge Knowledge AcquisitionAcquisition Gaining and storing new knowledge, i.e. capacity for learning

Components of Creative SubtheoryComponents of Creative Subtheory

NoveltyNoveltyInsights, synthesis and the ability to react to novel situations and stimuli; reflects how an individual connects internal world to external realityAutomationAutomation

Components of Practical Subtheory Components of Practical Subtheory AdaptationAdaptation "Street-smarts": to meet your goals: adapt to, change the, move

to a new environmentIncludes emotional intelligence

SelectionSelectionShapingShaping

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Measuring Creative Intelligence

• How would you measure creative intelligence?

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Measuring Practical Intelligence

• How would you measure practical intelligence?

• Sternberg and Wagner’s test measures if you: – Are you able to write effective memos? – Can you motivate other people? – Do you know when to delegate? – Can you read other people (non-verbal language)?

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Why intelligent people fail?

• Your thoughts?• Conventional intelligence tests do not tell us

about performance; intelligence must be linked to real-life success (Stenberg, 1986)

– Lack of motivation– Lack of perseverance– Lack of impulse control– Procrastination– Fear of failure– Inadequate level of self-efficacy

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Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

• People have multiple, distinct, intelligences, rather than a general ability to perform all tasks (Gardner, 1983, 1993, 1999)

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Gardner’s Five “Signs” of Intelligence

• Neuropsychological – Can intelligence be isolated neuropsychologically?

• Existence exceptionally talented individuals– Can an individual be competent in one domain but not others?

• Developmental evidence– Can an individual reach an expert end-state but lacking basic

manifestations?• Experimental evidence

– Can you perform two tasks at the same time? Autonomous operation?

• Psychometric evidence– Factor analysis shows two groups in intelligence: verbal and

spatial

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Gardner’s Seven Intelligences

1. Linguistic Intelligence2. Logical-Mathematic Intelligence3. Spatial Intelligence4. Musical Intelligence5. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence6. Intrapersonal Intelligence7. Interpersonal functioning

• What abilities do these additional intelligences involve?

• What intelligences are essential for your field of study/major?

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Gardner’s Additional “Candidates”

• Naturalistic intelligence (proposed by Gardner in 1999)

• Spiritual Intelligence• Existential intelligence– What abilities do these additional intelligences

involve?

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What are possible Strengths and Flaws of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory?

• Your thoughts?– […]

• Strengths: – Explaining individual differences of mental performance– Based in educational and developmental evidence

• Flaws:– No scientific evidence– Does not meet definition criteria: these intelligences are not

sufficient for adaptation– Does not explain the reasons why some individuals are more

intelligent– Are these intelligences or just “abilities”?

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Class Debate: Can a machine be intelligent?

• Computers can master many tasks that humans perform– Chess computer game beats Grand Masters

• Speed of processing– Important criteria for intelligence

• Can a machine meet Gardner’s criteria of intelligence? – Are these criteria valid?

• Is a rock intelligent? Is a fish intelligent? Is a dog intelligent? Is a machine intelligent? – Where is the borderline?

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Intelligence as Speed of Processing

• Are intelligent people faster at retrieving and processing information?

• Correlation between IQ and:– Inspection time– Reaction time– Evoked potentials

Deary and Stough, 1996

• Theory of Minimal Cognitive Architecture– Knowledge is obtained through thinking– Thinking is constrained by the speed of processing

infoAnderson, 1999

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Neuroscience and Intelligence

• Is there relationship between brain size and intelligence?– In animal world, the ratio of brain to body weights

does correlate with intelligence• Human population? – Correlation between brain size and a number of

cognitive measuresWitelson, Beresh, Kigar (2006)

– Intelligence arises from neural network in the frontal and parietal lobes of brain regions

Haier and Jung (2007)

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IQ Test

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Intelligence Quontient (IQ)

• IQ scores reflect ability to perform intellectual tasks– i.e. solving verbal and mathematical problems

• Who was the farther of the IQ test?• What is the average IQ score?

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Understanding and Interpreting IQ

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IQ Relation to Educational Level

Intelligence Interval Cognitive Designation Common Possessors

85 - 114 Average Pupils at junior high school

115 - 124 Above average Pupils at senior high school

125 - 134 Gifted University graduates

135 - 144 Highly gifted Intellectuals145 - 154 Genius Professors

155 - 164 Genius Nobel Prize Winners

165 - 179 High genius 180 - 200 Highest genius

>200 "Unmeasurable" genius

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Is there association between intelligence and learning?

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So, what do you think about…

• Intelligence and… Birth order: does it matter?– Family size and intelligence?

• Intelligence and… Diversity questions? – Intelligence testing and cultural bias

• IQ test… what about Flynn effect?– IQ is increasing over time

• Other intelligences… How important is emotional intelligence?– Four-branch model includes: perceiving, using,

understanding and managing emotions (Salovey and Grewal, 2005)

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Summing it all Up • Why Study Intelligence?• Intelligence Defined• Major psychologists who have studies intelligence• Theories of intelligence– Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence– Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences– Something more to consider

• Intelligence as Speed of Processing• Neuroscience and Intelligence

• IQ testing• What do you think: Intelligence and…

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ReferencesDeary, I.J., & Stough, C. (1996). Intelligence and inspection time:

Achievements, prospects, and problems. American Psychologist, 51, 599-608.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from http://wilderdom.com/personality/L2-4GardenerMultipleIntelligences.html

Haier, R. J., & Jung, R. E. (2007). Beautiful minds (I.e., brains) and the neural basis of intelligence. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(2), 174-187.

Salovey, P., and Grewal, D. (2005). The science of emotional intelligence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 281-285.

Sternberg, R. J. (1996) Successful intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster. Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Retrieved from

http://wilderdom.com/personality/L2-2SternbergTriarchicTheory.htmlWitelson, S.F., Beresh, H., & Kigar, D.L. (2006). Intelligence and brain size in

100 postmortem brains: sex, lateralization and age factors. Brain: a journal of neurology, 129 (2), 386-398.

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