Chapter 11 - Intelligence

Part 1: What is IntelligenceName: ______Period: _____

  1. Why is intelligence difficult to define?
  1. How does the textbook define intelligence?
  1. What are the two main controversies that remain about intelligence?
  1. Complete the following chart regarding the leading early theories of intelligence:

Theory / Creator / Major Components
General (g)
Intelligence
Primary Mental Abilities
  1. Complete the following chart regarding the leading contemporary (informal) theories of intelligence.

Theory / Creator / Major Components
Multiple Intelligences
Triarchic Theory
Emotional Intelligence
  1. What is savant syndrome?

What are some common factors/conditions that seem to go along with it?

  1. What are the links between intelligence and creativity?
  1. What is creativity?
  1. How can neurological/cognitive processing speed be related to intelligence?

Part 2: Assessing Intelligence

  1. Why did the French government commission Alfred Binet to assess intelligence of children?
  1. What is Binet’s concept of mental age?

How did Binet and Simon develop an assessment to determine it?

  1. How did Louis Terman adapt Binet’s work to suit his own purposes?

What famous test did he therefore create?

  1. What is meant by “IQ?”

Who devised it?

How is it calculated?

  1. What range of scores is deemed “average”?
  1. What was Louis Terman’s ultimate goal in the use of intelligence testing?
  1. What is the basic difference between aptitude and achievement tests?
  1. What are the WAIS and the WISC?

Who developed them?

What do these tests assess?

  1. What is the practice of standardization?

Why is it necessary?

How does a normal distribution/bell curve relate to this principle?

  1. What is the principle of reliability?
  1. What is validity?

What is the difference between content and predictive validity?

  1. Why do general aptitude tests seem to be poor predictors of performance even though they seem to be reliable and are standardized?

Part 3: The Dynamics of Intelligence

  1. What are the criteria for being labeled as “mentally retarded”?
  1. What were the main findings/results of Louis Terman’s study of highly intelligent people?
  1. What are the main criticisms of labeling children as “gifted”?

Part 4: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence

  1. What are the major pieces of evidence that indicate that intelligence is genetically determined (and it is not just the three bullet-pointed things!)?
  1. What is heritability?

To what extent is intelligence heritable?

  1. How does genetics and environment correlate when it comes to intelligence?
  1. In what way can intelligence tests be biased and not biased at the same time?
  1. What is Claude Steele’s concept of Stereotype Threat?

How does Steele feel that this affects differences in test scores by gender and race?

  1. In what ways do we want to have tests that discriminate between people yet not discriminate

between people at the same time?