Chapter 9- Intelligence

- adaptations, physical and psychological, are designed for and adapted to environments
- movement across Africa and North created many problems that required high intelligence, those that were intelligent survived
- intelligence evolved through predator-prey interaction and challenges that novel environments pose

See notebook

- steady increase in performance on IQ test from 1930s onwards
- long sustained increase in intelligence test scores in many parts of the world

- preschool
- testing
- nutrition
- educated parenting

- human intelligence is substantially influenced by financial income, parents' SES, or educational level
- controversy in comparing race and intelligence
- claims that those with higher IQs have better health and are likely to live longer

- general and fluid factor
- believed a general intelligence factor (g) underlies other, more specific aspects of intelligence
- came up with this by noting that those who did well on one test would do similarly well on others

- learning from past experiences
- ex: reading comprehension and vocabulary exams
- based on facts and rooted in experience
- becomes stronger as we age and accumulate new knowledge and understanding

Ability to think and reason abstractly and solve problems
- independent of learning, experience, and education
ex: coming up with problem solving strategy
- both types increase throughout childhood and adolescence
- fluid peaks in adolescence and declines progressively at 30-40 years of age onwards

"intelligence as a person's "pattern" of mental abilities"
- intelligence is a cluster of abilities
- believed there 7 different "primary mental abilities" each independent of one another
- ex: verbal comprehension, numerical ability, reasoning, perceptual speed
- g factor was simply an overall average score of all of these factors

- multiple intelligences
- consisting of 8 different types of intelligence
- each were independent mental abilities defined within the context of culture

1. Linguistic
2. Logical-Mathematical
3. Musical
4. Spatial
5. Bodily-Kinesthetics
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalistic

-triarchic theory of multiple intelligences consisting of 3 mental abilities
- disagrees with gardner in calling them intelligences, calls them abilities or talents
- intelligence is a general quality
- stresses universal aspects of intelligence AND adapting to your own social/cultural climate

1. Analytic Intelligence- solving problems
2. Creative Intelligence- dealing with novel situations drawing from past experience or knowledge
3. Practical Intelligence- ability to adapt to the environment (street smarts)

- measured (g) general intelligence by use of PET scan
- spatial task: high g test- symmetry- which one did not have an axis of symmetry, low g test- much simpler, 3 of the same shape, one different- identify the odd one out