Unit 3 intelligence

INTELLIGENCE
NATURE, THEORIES AND
MEASUREMENT

What is Intelligence ?
 Meaning and definition of Intelligence.
 Some established facts of intelligence.
 Misconception about intelligence.

Meaning and definition of Intelligence.
 Intelligence is a general capacity of an
individual consciously to adjust his
thinking to new requirements. It is a
general mental adaptability to new
problems and conditions of life. (Stern)
 Intelligence is the aggregate or global
capacity of an individual to act purposefully,
to think rationally and to deal effectively
with his environment.

What is Intelligence ?
 This general ability consist of a number of
specific abilities :
 Adaptability to a new environment or to
change in the current environment
 Capacity for knowledge and the ability to
acquire it
 Capacity for reason & abstract thought
 Ability to comprehend relationships
 Ability to evaluate & judge
 Capacity for original and productive
thought

Some established facts of intelligence.
 The relation of intelligence with nature and
nurture: Intelligence is the product of
heredity and environment. Both are equally
important.
 Distribution of intelligence: individual
difference is present. A majority are average,
few are bright and few are dull.
 Growth of Intelligence: as per the age. It
reaches its maximum at 16 to 20 years.
There after horizontal growth continues.
 Intelligence and sex differences: No
relation.

Some established facts of intelligence.
 Intelligence and racial or cultural difference:
It is not a birth right of a particular race or
group. The bright and the dull can be in any
race, caste, culture. The difference may be
due to influence of environment.

Misconception of intelligence.
 Intelligence is not knowledge though
acquisition of knowledge depends to great
extent and vice versa.
 Intelligence is not memory: Even without
memory Intelligence is possible.
 Intelligence can be seen in both normal and
abnormal behavior/ in delinquency etc.

Theories of intelligence.
 It helps to understand the structure of
intelligence.
 The theories are grouped into mainly two
types.
1. Factor theories.
2. Cognitive theories.

Factor theories.
 Unitary Theory or Monarchic Theory.
 Anarchic Theory or Multifactor Theory.
 Spearman’s two factor theory or Eclectic
Theory.
 Thurston’s Group Factor Theory.

Unitary Theory or Monarchic Theory.
 Intelligence consists of one factor.
 It believes on universal fund of intellectual
competency which can be used in all
aspects.
 Intelligence can be utilized in any area of
the life.
 It has some draw backs such as some
situation it does not suit well.
 A child may have good intelligence of Math
but may be poor in Civics.
 The Unitary theory stand rejected.

Anarchic Theory or Multifactor Theory.
 Propagated by Thorndike.
 This theory considers intelligence a combination
of numerous separate elements or factors.
 According to him, the mind is a host of highly
particularised and independent faculties.
 The theory maintains that from a man’s ability
to do one kind of work we can infer absolutely
nothing as to his ability to do another kind of
works.
 If a boy is good in literature, we can judge
absolutely nothing about his ability to study
Chemistry.
 There is certain positive relationship
between these factors still.

Spearman’s two factor theory or
Eclectic Theory.
• This as a very popular theory.
• According to Spearman intelligence is the ability to
think constructively.
• Spearman (1927) proposes that intelligence consists of
two abilities, viz. ‘G’- general ability and ‘S’- special
ability.
• General factor or ability works in conjunction with
special ability.
• In all intellectual activities of the human being along
with general ability, there will also be a special ability
which is related to such action.

Spearman’s two factor theory or
Eclectic Theory.
 Eg An individual’s
performance in
Hindi is primarily
due to his general
intelligence and
partly to some
kind of specific
ability in language.
(g+s1).
 The ability in
Math will be due
to (g+s2)

Thurston’s Group Factor Theory.
• Louis Thurston came out with the group factor theory
(1937) saying that Intelligence is a cluster of abilities
• These mental operations then constitute a group
• He pointed out that there were Seven Primary Mental
Abilities and later on added two more.

Thurston’s Group Factor Theory.
• Verbal comprehension Factor: words and ideas
• Verbal fluency Factor: rapid producing words, sentences
• Numerical Factor: arithmetic ability
• Perceptual speed Factor: rapid recognition of words and letters.
• Inductive reasoning Factor: reasoning from the specific to the
general
• Spatial visualization Factor: It is involved in visualizing shapes,
rotations of objects, and how pieces of a puzzle fit together
• Memory Factor: ability to recall
• Deductive Reasoning : Ability to use the generalized results
correctly
• Problem solving ability factor : Ability to solve problem
independently.

Cognition theories.
• These theories are otherwise called process-oriented
theories. They focus on intellectual processes; the
patterns of thinking and reasoning in people, used to
solve problems.
• These theories consider intelligence as a process which
helps to deal with problems and to find out the
answers. They are called cognitive theories because of
their focus on fundamental cognitive processes. The
important theories are:
1. Cattell and Horn’s Theory:
2. Information Processing Theory of Intelligence:
3. Jensen’s Theory of Mental Functioning:

Cattell and Horn’s Theory:
• Cattell (1971) and Horn (1978) have proposed this theory
in which they have distinguished two types of
intelligence.
Fluid intelligence:
a. This is an innate, biologically or genetically determined
capacity and not influenced by education or training.
b. This capacity helps the person in learning and problem
solving.
c. This is the ability which is useful in understanding and
adjusting to strange situations.
d. This ability develops fully in people by the end of an
individual’s adolescence.

Cattell and Horn’s Theory:
Crystallized intelligence:
a. It is a learned or acquired capacity.
b. It is influenced by environmental factors like education,
training, culture, knowledge and learned skills.
c. This ability can be observed in the behaviour of a
person while dealing within culture, traditions in
society, his knowledge in worldly affairs, through the
skills in handling machinery, tools, etc.
d. Generally it continues throughout life. Though both
types of intelligence are independent, they are
interrelated.

Information Processing Theory of Intelligence:
• This theory was proposed by American Psychologist
Robert Sternberg (1984).
• He distinguished between information processing
components and meta-components. Components are
the steps to solve a problem and the meta-components
are the basics of knowledge that one has to know to
solve the problem.
• The information processing is like a process of solving a
problem by an individual in which he proceeds to solve a
problem which he comes across, gathers the necessary
information and makes use of this information for
completing that task.

Information Processing Theory of Intelligence:
The steps are;
• Identifying the relevant information (encoding)
• Drawing the necessary inferences (inferring)
• Establishing relationship between past and present
experiences (mapping)
• Applying the inferred relationship (application)
• Justifying the correct solution (justification)
• Provide the correct solution (response).

Jensen’s Theory of Mental Functioning:
• Arther Jensen (1969) proposed this theory.
• According to him, the functioning of one’s mind depends upon
the type and degree of intelligence one possesses.
• Jensen splits intelligence into two types of abilities-
associative abilities and cognitive abilities.
• Associative ability is the capacity to learn, identify,
discriminate, remember and reproduce the learnt information
and experiences.
• Cognitive or conceptual ability is concerned with higher order
thinking, reasoning, analysing and problem solving.
• According to Jenson associative abilities are related to
biological maturation and the cognitive are dependent on
education and culture, leading to more individual differences.

Measurment of intelligence.
 The intelligence test can be classified as
follows;
Intelligence test
Individual test Group test
Verbal Verbal
& &
Nonverbal(performance) Nonverbal

Individual Verbal test
• The test involve the use of language and administered
to an individual at a time.
• An example for this is Stanford-Binet Scale.
• French Psychologist Alfred Binet (Father of intelligence)
has constructed this scale.
• This test contains 30 items arranged in order with
increasing difficulty.
• At age 3 Point out nose, eyes and mouth.
• At age 7 what is missing in the unfinished picture.
• The test is for people from 2 to 20 years.
• The Indian version is called Samanya Budhi Pariksha.
• The scores are used to calculate IQ.

Individual Verbal test
• Let us have a trail of this common test.
Stanford Binet scale.docx

Individual Performance test
• In this test the contents
and responses are in the
form of performance.
• Language is not used at
all.
• The performance in these
activities are tested.
• Some of them are;
Block Building/Cube
Construction: asked to
make a structure or
design by means of
blocks or cubes.

To fit the blocks in the hole:
Tracing a maze:
Picture arrangement:

• These test try to emphasize the significance of
performance.
• It is evaluated by number of attempts and the duration
taken to complete the test.

• Another commonly used individual performance test is
Wechsler Bellevue Intelligence test.
• It has two version such as WISC (Wechsler Intelligence
scale for children) and WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale).
• This is sometimes referred as both verbal and
performance scale simultaneously.
• The scale consists of 11 subsets. 6 are verbal and 5 are
performance. The scores are added to calculate the IQ.

Wechsler Bellevue Intelligence test
• Verbal Scale:
Test for General Information
Test for general comprehension.
Test for arithmetic reasoning.
Test for distinction between similarities.
Test for digits span.
Test fro vocabulary.
• Performance Scale:
Digit symbol test, Picture completion test.
Block design nest., Picture arrangement test.
Object assembly test.

• Wechsler scale..docx

• Some questions are
1. Consider all numbers from 1-60, in sequence. If you add
any two consecutive numbers, will the result be: Odd,
Even, It depends
2. When the letters are rearranged in ANGRIATEN, you get
the name of a: State, Country, Continent, Planet, Ocean
3. If Barry weighs 150 pounds, Ted weighs 125 pounds and
Matt weighs 175 pounds, any two of them together
weigh 300 pounds. True or False
4. The number, “three thousand, eight hundred, sixty-
eight,” when written backward, is read, “eight thousand,
six hundred, eighty-three.” True or False

Group Verbal Tests
• The tests which necessitate the use of language and are
applied to a group of individuals.
• Some of the common tests are;
 Army alpha test (developed during World War I)
 C.I.E verbal group test of intelligence (Hindi) developed
by Professor Uday Shankar
 The group test of general mental ability (Samuhik mansik
yogyata pariksha) constructed by S. Jalota (Hindi).
 Samuhik Budhi Pariksha developed by Sh. Shirmali
Vidhya Bhavan, Udaipur.

Group Non Verbal Tests
 These tests do not use language and applied to a group.
 Some of the common tests are Army Beta test, CIE Non
verbal group test etc.
• Advantages of group tests:
can be administered to very large numbers
simultaneously
simplified examiner role.
scoring typically more objective.
large, representative samples often used leading to
better established norms

Group Non Verbal Tests
Disadvantages of group tests:
 Examiner has less opportunity to obtain cooperation and
maintain interest
 Not readily detected if examinee tired, anxious, unwell.
 Evidence that emotionally disturbed children do better on
individual than group tests
 Examinee’s responses are more restricted
 Normally an individual is tested on all items in a group test
and may become boredom over easy items and frustrated or
anxious over difficult items.
 Individual tests typically provide for the examiner to choose
items based on the test takers prior responses - moving onto
quite difficult items or back to easier items. So individual tests
offer more flexibility.

Verbal Vs Non verbal test.
Advantages of performance test:
Useful for those without language.(Illiterate, foreign
language, problems with sense organs, etc.)
Good to understand skill in mechanical jobs etc.
Disadvantages of performance test:
Cannot predict scholastic ability.
Very costly.
Less reliable as chance of success are more.
Good for mental ability but not good enough for
abstractions and concepts.

Mental Age and Intelligence Quotient.
• Mental age is a concept related to intelligence.
• It looks at how a specific child, at a specific age—usually
today, now—performs intellectually, compared to
average intellectual performance for that physical age,
measured in years.
• The physical age of the child is compared to the
intellectual performance of the child, based on
performance in tests and live assessments by a
psychologist.
• Scores achieved by the child in question are compared to
scores in the middle of a bell curve for children of the
same age .

• An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived
from one of several standardized tests designed to assess
human intelligence.
• This term was initiated by the German Psychologist
William Stern.
• IQ is a score obtained by dividing a person’s mental age
score, obtained by administering an intelligence test, by
the person’s chronological age, both expressed in terms
of years and months.
• The resulting fraction is multiplied by 100 to obtain the
IQ score.

• There are two means of ding it.
1. According to Stanford Binet Scale:
I.Q = Mental Age(MA)/Chronological Age (CA)x 100
1. According to Wechsler scale:
I.Q = Attained or Actual Score/Expected mean score for age
x 100

Uses of intelligence tests.
• For the purpose of selection: Admission to a course,
decide scholarships, to give specific assignments,
selection for co curricular activities.
• For the purpose of classification: classification of
students to improve teaching learning experiences.
• For the purpose of promotion: promotion in educational,
occupational and social situations.
• Fro knowing one’s potentiality: This helps the teacher in
following ways; giving guidance, helps in learn process,
improve the level of aspiration etc.
• For diagnostic purpose.
• Helps in research work.

Limitations of intelligence tests.
• Intelligence tests and students: inferiority/superiority,
leads to problems and misbehaviour.
• Intelligence test and teachers: Prejudice on students,
lack of support for some students etc.
• It also creates segregation and conflicts: none of the
intelligence tests are non-biased. It is unjust to deny the
right of others in admission/promotion etc.
• Only cognitive aspects are touched by these facts.
Factors like interests, attitude, motives are not
considered in intelligence tests.

Unit 3 intelligence

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Unit 3 intelligence