Greetings,
I am covering this topic - as IQ seems to be one of those "hot"
topics. Someone got all bent out of shape ( on another list) with something
Marilynn Savant said in response to question she was ask about mental
abilities. The person was seemingly upset because Marilyn with the highest
IQ - should know better. I am curious why? What about having a high IQ makes
one omnipotent and all knowing? As a matter of fact - she had the highest
measurable IQ as a child 225 - but as an adult she only has a 185 - on a 200
scale hardly the highest. Regardless of IQ level - there are facts we all
know nothing about - if it hasn't crossed our path - we don't know it. If it
has crossed our path but doesn't interest us - we know only the basic fact
that crossed our path. Marilyn no doubt has no interest nor reason to peruse
- idiot savant as a topic. She knew exactly what I knew on the topic. I have
an IQ of 160, definitely 25 points below Marilyn's but still in the under 1%
of the population - and what does this mean? - It means both of us can
score well on IQ tests - primarily. What does it mean practically -
probably, we don't watch soap opera's nor survivor, nor have endless
discourses on fried chicken, we have high curiosity levels about things and
feed our curiosity - with interacting with other bright folks and readings
and learning. It means you make fun of us - just like you do the mentally
impaired, the bottom 3% and the top 2% are great comdey subjects. Just like
you scared you might not be like anyone else, you fear being less and
redicule being more. Fear and envy are the two motivating factors that keep
humanity in mediocrity. Well, people have differing abilities and varying
IQ's in different area's. There are factors that influence this - where
one's parents are intellectually, socially and monetarily and their view
points, goals and drives, one's own drives, and sometimes nothing more than
the country on lives in and the chances that come your way. Here an article
on it. I am not sure IQ is so important - as is the ability to think things
thru, not just gut react, be openminded and continue learning.
Intelligence and Creativity
Introduction - What is Intelligence?
* Intelligence is the capacity for goal-directed and adaptive
behavior. Involves the abilities to profit from experience, solve problems,
reason, and successfully meet challenges and achieve goals.
* It is misleading to reify concepts such as "intelligence" and
"giftedness" - to regard these abstract concepts as if they were real,
concrete things. To most psychologists, intelligence is the capacity for
goal-oriented and adaptive behavior.
The Nature of Intelligence
* The Search for Factors Underlying Intelligence
* Spearman and General Intelligence: The g Factor
* Spearman believed that there is a "general" ability that forms the
basis for all intelligence(s)
* Correlational analyses among the various subscales on typical
"intelligence" tests seem to support this notion.
* However, some correlations are higher than others.
* Thurston's Primary Mental Abilities: Primarily Seven
* Verbal comprehension
* Numerical ability
* Spatial relations
* Perceptual speed
* Word fluency
* Memory
* Reasoning
* Intelligence: More Than One Type?
* Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences
* Linguistic (language skills)
* Logical/mathematical (math and quantitative skills)
* Musical
* Spatial (skills used by painters, sculpters, architects, etc; the
ability to manipulate and create forms)
* Bodily kinesthetic (body control and dexterity)
* Interpersonal (the ability to understand others)
* Intrapersonal (the ability to understand oneself)
* Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: The Big Three
* Componential (analytical)
* Experiential (creative)
* Contextual (practical)
Measuring Intelligence - More than a century ago in Great Britain, Sir
Francis Galton sought to measure individual mental abilities. Although
Galton failed to develop simple, quantifiable measures of mental ability.
During the early part of this century, intelligence tests were sometimes
used in ways that, in hindsight, even their designers regretted - to
"document" a presumed innate inferiority of certain ethnic and immigrant
groups.
* Alfred Binet - Alfred Binet picked up from Galton the idea of
assessing intellectual aptitude. Binet developed questions that helped
predict children's future progress in the Paris school system.
* Intelligence Testing in the United States
* The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
* Developed by Lewis Terman, and based on a revision of the original
intelligence scale used by Binet
* Yield a normed score based on the ration of mental age and
chronological age, such that "100" is average
* Intelligence Testing for Adults
* Based on comparisons among same-age peers
* The Weschler Intelligence Tests - WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE
(WAIS): The current revision (WAIS-R) is the most widely used intelligence
test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.
* Requirements of Good Tests - A good test must be standardized, so
that any person's performance can be meaningfully compared to others';
reliable, so it yields dependably consistent scores; and valid, so it
measures what it is supposed to measure.
* Reliability - RELIABILITY: The extent to which a test yields
consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves
of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting.
* Aptitude tests tend to be highly reliable, but they are weak
predictors of success in life. Their predictive validity for academic
success is fairly strong in the early grades, however.
* Validity - VALIDITY: The extent to which a test measures or predicts
what it is supposed to (see also content validity and predictive validity).
* Test validity weakens for predicting grades in college and even more
so in graduate school, as the range of student abilities becomes more
restricted.
* Standardization - STANDARDIZATION: Defining meaningful scores by
comparison with the performance of a pretested "standardization group."
* Test scores usually fall into a bell-shaped distribution, the normal
curve.
* The average score is assigned an arbitrary number such as 100 on an
intelligence test).
* The Range of Intelligence
* Terman's Study of the Gifted - Like Galton, Lewis Terman of Stanford
University believed intelligence was inherited. Like Binet, he believed his
test (the Stanford-Binet) could help guide people toward appropriate
opportunities.
* Who Are the Gifted?
* Those with IQs in the top 2-3% of their age group, as well as those
who are exceptionally creative or artistic
* The Mentally Retarded
* Those with IQs in the bottom 2-3% of their age group
* Most (90%) are mildly retarded - IQ 55-70
* Extremes of Intelligence -- Comparing those who score extremely low
(the "challenged" or mentally retarded) versus high (the "gifted") magnifies
a test's apparent validity.
* Intelligence and Neural Processing
* Use of PET scans has revealed that highly intelligent have much more
efficient mental processing.
* Additionally, they tend to process information faster.
The IQ Controvery
* The Uses and Abuses of Intelligence Tests
* Predictive Ability of Intelligence Test Scores
* Abuses of Intelligence Tests
* The Nature-Nurture Controversy
* Behavioral Genetics
* Twin Studies - Studies of twins, family members, and adopted
children together point to a significant hereditary contribution to
intelligence scores.
* Environment - Several studies comparing children reared in extremely
neglectful or enriched environments or in different cultures, indicate that
life experiences also significantly influence intelligence test performance.
* Race and IQ - The Bell Curve
* Intelligence: Is it Fixed or Changeable?
* Adoption Studies - Effects of Enriched Environments
* Changes in SES (Standard of Living)
* Is Intelligence Stable, or Can it Change? - The stability of
intelligence test scores increases with age, with practical predictive value
beginning by age three and becoming fairly stable by age seven. Among
infants, those who become quickly bored with a picture, preferring to look
at a new one, tend to score well on later intelligence tests.
* Expectation, Effort, and Academic Achievement: Cross-Cultural
Comparisons
* Academic performance is related to the degree of importance placed
on it by culture
* Asians consider academic achievement to be the most import pursuit
of their children, whereas Americans do not value it as a central concern
Emotional Intelligence
* Personal Components of Emotional Intelligence
* Awareness of Our Own Emotions
* Managing One's Emotions
* Self-Motivation - Controlling Impulses
* Interpersonal Components of Emotional Intelligence
* Empathy
* Handling Relationships
* Optimism
Creativity - Intelligence correlates weakly with creativity. Increases in
intelligence beyond a necessary threshold level are not linked with
increased creativity.
* The Creative Process
* Preparation
* Incubation (perhaps most important, and occurs below the level of
awareness)
* Illumination
* Translation
* The Nature of Creative Thinking
* Divergent thinking - the ability to produce multiple ideas, answers,
or solutions to a problem for which there is no agreed-on solution
* Measuring Creativity
* Unusual Uses Test - asks respondents to name as many uses as
possible for an ordinary object
* Consequences Test - asks respondents to list as many consequences as
they can that would be likely to follow some basic change in the world
* Characteristics of Creative People
* Expertise
* Openess to Experience
* Independence of Mind
* Intrinsic Motivation
* Perseverance
* Savant Syndrome
OVERVIEW
This chapter combines the topics of intelligence and creativity. The authors
examine attempts to define intelligence by Spearman, Thurstone, Gardner, and
Sternberg. Both Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and Sternberg's
triarchic theory of intelligence suggest that there must be several kinds of
intelligence.
The emphasis of the chapter then shifts to Alfred Binet, who pioneered the
intelligence test as a tool to predict the performance of children in
school. The intelligence quotient was developed to express, numerically, the
relative performance of an individual on intelligence tests. Binet's
original test was modified and translated for use in the United States as
the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The development of adult scales, such
as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the development of group
testing are also discussed. In order for a test to be considered acceptable,
it must meet the criteria of reliability, validity and standardization.
Lewis Terman's study of over 1,500 students with high IQs began in 1921 and
continues today. Mental retardation is defined. The authors then discuss the
relationship between intelligence and neural speed and efficiency.
Problems with the uses of intelligence tests and with the apparent cultural
biases they reflect have formed the basis of a set of controversies about
intelligence testing. One problem is the abuse of tests; another is the
unanswered question of whether intelligence is a result of genetics or the
environment. The controversial views of Jensen and of Herrnstein and Murray
regarding race and IQ are discussed.
The topic of emotional intelligence is developed, including discussion of
the personal and interpersonal components of emotional intelligence.
The chapter then turns to a discussion of creativity and its unique and
useful productions. The four stages of the creative process are outlined,
and the nature of creative thinking is explored. The authors expand on the
reliability of measuring creativity and the characteristics of the creative
person. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the savant syndrome.
SUMMARY
THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
* What factors underlie intelligence, according to Spearman and
Thurstone?
- Spearman believed that intelligence is composed of a general ability (g
factor), which underlies all intellectual functions, and a number of
specific abilities (s factors). Thurstone points to seven primary mental
abilities, which singly or in combination are involved in all intellectual
activities.
* What types of intelligence did Gardner and Sternberg identify?
- Gardner claims that there are seven independent and equally important
types of intelligence. Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence
identifies three types: componential (conventional intelligence),
experiential (creative intelligence), and contextual (practical
intelligence).
MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
* What is Binet's major contribution to psychology?
- Binet's major contribution to psychology is the concept of mental age and
a method for measuring it -- the intelligence test.
* What is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale?
- The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a highly regarded individual
intelligence test for those aged 2 to 23. It yields one overall IQ score.
* What does IQ mean, and how has the method for calculating it changed
over time?
- IQ stands for intelligence quotient, an index of intelligence originally
derived by dividing a person's mental age by his or her chronological age
and then multiplying by 100. Now it is derived by comparing an individual's
score to the scores of others of the same age.
* What did Wechsler's tests provide that the Stanford-Binet did not?
- David Wechsler developed the first successful individual intelligence test
for adults, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R). His tests for
adults, children, and preschoolers yield separate verbal and performance
(nonverbal) IQ scores as well as an overall IQ score.
* What do the terms reliability, validity, and standardization mean?
- Reliability is the ability of a test to yield nearly the same score each
time a person takes the test or an alternative form of the test. Validity is
the power of a test to measure what it is intended to measure.
Standardization refers to prescribed procedures for administering a test and
to established norms that provide a means of evaluating test scores.
* What are the ranges of IQ scores considered average, superior, and
in the range of mental retardation?
- Fifty percent of the U.S. population have IQ scores ranging from 90 to
110; 2% have scores above 130, considered superior; and 2% have scores below
70, in the range of mental retardation.
* According to the Terman study, how do the gifted differ from the
general population?
- Terman's longitudinal study revealed that, in general, the gifted enjoy
better physical and mental health and are more successful than the general
population.
What two criteria must a person meet to be classified as mentally
retarded?
- To be classified as mentally retarded, an individual must have an IQ score
below 70 and show severe deficiencies in everyday adaptive functioning.
* What is the relationship between intelligence and the efficiency and
speed of neural processing?
- People who are more intelligent generally use less mental energy and have
a faster neural processing speed than less intelligent people.
THE IQ CONTROVERSY: BRAINY DISPUTE
* Of what are intelligence tests good predictors?
- IQ tests are good predictors of academic achievement and success in
school.
* What are some abuses of intelligence tests?
- Abuses occur when IQ tests are the only criterion for admitting people to
educational programs, for tracking children, or for placing them in classes
for the mentally retarded. Many people claim that IQ tests are biased in
favor of the urban middle or upper class.
* How does the nature-nurture controversy apply to intelligence?
- The nature-nurture controversy is the debate over whether intelligence is
primarily determined by heredity or environment.
* What is behavioral genetics, and what are the primary methods used
in the field today?
- Behavioral genetics is the study of the relative effects of heredity and
environment on behavior and ability. The twin study method and the adoption
method are the primary methods used.
* How do twin studies support the view that intelligence is inherited?
- Twin studies provide evidence that intelligence is primarily inherited
because identical twins are more alike in intelligence than fraternal twins,
even if they have been reared apart.
* What are Jensen's and Herrnstein and Murray's controversial views on
race and IQ?
- These researchers claim that the Black-White IQ gap is due to genetic
differences between the races that cannot be changed significantly through
environmental intervention.
* What kinds of evidence suggest that IQ is changeable rather than
fixed?
- Several adoption studies have revealed that when infants from
disadvantaged environments are adopted by middle- and upper-middle-class
parents, their IQ scores are higher on average than would otherwise be
expected. Also, IQ scores have been rising steadily over the past 50 years
in Western industrialized nations, presumably because of increases in the
standard of living and educational opportunities.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
* What are the personal components of emotional intelligence?
- The personal components of emotional intelligence are an awareness of and
an ability to control one's own emotions and the ability to motivate
oneself.
* What are the interpersonal components of emotional intelligence?
- The interpersonal components of emotional intelligence are empathy and the
ability to handle relationships.
CREATIVITY: UNIQUE AND USEFUL PRODUCTIONS
* What is creativity, and how is it related to intelligence?
- Creativity is the ability to produce original, appropriate, and valuable
ideas and/or solutions to problems. Highly creative people tend to have well
above average intelligence, but there seems to be little correlation between
very high IQ (above 120) and creativity.
* What are the four stages in the creative process?
- The four stages in the creative process are preparation, incubation,
illumination, and translation.
* What kinds of tests have been used to measure creativity, and how
good are they as predictors of creativity?
- Some tests used to measure creativity are the Unusual Uses Test, the
Consequences Test, and the Remote Associates Test. They are only mediocre as
predictors of creativity.
* What are some characteristics of creative people?
- Creative people share some characteristics that distinguish them:
expertise, openness to experience, independence of mind, intrinsic
motivation, and perseverance.
This information came from
http://wizard.ucr.edu/~kmcneill/psy201/woodch8.htm
Additional articled and information can be found at these URL's
http://family.go.com/Features/family_1998_08/pitt/pitt88iq/pitt88iq.html
http://www.pallisersd.ab.ca/services/sect3/defin.html
http://www.iqtest.com/scoreexplain.html
http://www.omnimag.com/IQtest/binet.html
http://www.bebbo.demon.co.uk/iq_art.html
http://www.swopnet.com/ed/TAG/7_Intelligences.html
http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/NODE-79-pg.html
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/Brain/miq.htm
http://www.uq.edu.au/~ednbahr/Glossary.htm
http://websites.ntl.com/~james.atherton/learning/intellig.htm
http://www.ediblebrain.com/iqandyou.htm
http://www.cfip.xtn.net/Manual/MR/mental_retardation_definition_an.htm
http://www.doctorjudith.com/disorder_info.htm
Enjoy - Trisha
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