intelligence and creativity chapter 8. who is the smartest person that you know? what makes this...
TRANSCRIPT
Intelligence and Creativity
Chapter 8
Who is the smartest person that you know?
What makes this person “smart”?
What qualities do smart/intelligent people possess?
What is intelligence?
• Ability to understand complex ideas
• To adapt effectively to the environment
• To learn from experience
• To reason
• To problem solve– American Psychological Association
What factors underlie intelligence?Spearman’s Two Factor Theory
• Charles Spearman (1863-1945)
• English psychologist
• Believed that people have general abilities which underlie all intellectual functions :
• g factors (score tells how generally intelligent that you are)
• s factors (represents a person’s ability within a particular area- put all together to get g factor)
Primary Mental AbilitiesThurstone (1938)
• 1. verbal comprehension
• 2. numerical ability
• 3.spatial relations
• 4. perceptual speed
• 5. word fluency
• 6. memory
• 7. reasoning• Involved in all mental abilities
Is there more than one type of intelligence?
Howard Gardner (Harvard University)
Multiple Intelligences
• Studies included brain damaged patients and reports of savant syndrome (mental retardation and unusual talent)
• Considers all forms of intelligence of equal importance, despite cultures assigning different value to the varying types
• Widely accepted by educators as differing orientations to learning
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
• Ability to use language both as an aid to thinking and in communication
• These students demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening
• Successful in traditional classrooms-traditional teaching styles
• Storytellers, teachers, orators, journalists, authors, gifted speakers, poets
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
• The ability to think logically and to solve mathematical problems
• Aptitude for numbers, reasoning• These children do well in traditional classrooms
where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform
• Architects, physicists, mathematicians, scientists
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
• The ability to use images that represent spatial relations, to navigate and move around in space, can picture 3D scenes in their minds
• These people learn best visually and organize things spatially
• They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand- enjoy charts, maps, tables, illustrations, puzzles, costumes
• Interior designers, architects, blind people with white canes who independently navigate their space
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
• The ability to learn and execute physical movements, superior eye-hand coordination, great sense of balance, keen understanding of and control over their bodies while engaged in physical activities
• These children learn best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building
• Often told to sit still and seen as overly active in traditional classrooms
• Dancers, athletes, Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong
Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence
• Sensitivity to and understanding of pitch, rhythm, and other aspects of music, natural ability to play, read, write music exceptionally well
• Children who learn best through songs, rhythms, instruments and musical expressions
• Musicians, vocalists, lyricists, Mozart
Interpersonal Intelligence
• The ability to communicate and engage in effective social relationships with others
• These children are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, enjoy cooperative groups or working with a partner
• Often talkative and thought to be too social• Known as “people person”
• Psychologists, Social Workers, car salesmen, Dr. Phil, Oprah
Intrapersonal Intelligence
• The ability to understand oneself
• These children are especially in touch with own feelings, values and ideas
• May be more reserved, actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to them
Naturalistic Intelligence
• The ability to identify patterns in nature and to determine how individual objects or beings fit into them
• These children love the outdoors, animals, field trips
• Pick up on subtle meanings
• Environmentalists, forest rangers
Existentialists
• These children learn in the context of the “big picture” of existence
• They ask “Why are we here?” and “What is our role of the world?”
• Philosophers, clergy, spiritualists, people who are devoted to their religious beliefs
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
• Proposes that there are three types of intelligence;– 1. componential– 2. experiential– 3. contextual
– Yale, 1985
Componential Intelligence
• Analytical intelligence- as found on conventional IQ and achievement tests
• “book smarts”
• Type of intelligence often disconnected from ordinary life, issues, and problems
• Einstein
Experiential Intelligence
• Creative thinking
• Problem solving
• Finding creative ways to do everyday tasks more efficiently- ability to recognize new problems, as apposed to everyday problems; search for and generate solutions; and implement the solutions
Contextual Intelligence
• Common sense• Street smart• People who are survivors- they capitalize on
their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses
• Practical intelligence that allows people to go on with their everyday lives without walking in front of a moving car, mouthing off to a police officer, letting trash pile up to the ceiling
• Psychologists see many people in their practices who are deficient in this type of intelligence
Two different types of knowledge
• 1. formal academic knowledge- measurable on IQ tests
• 2. tacit knowledge- action oriented, and acquired without help from others: according to Sternberg more important to real-world performance
• Educators like Sternberg’s theory- especially for low achievers
First Intelligence Test
• Paris, 20th century• sort out children who would not benefit
from regular classroom instruction• French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857-
1911)• Believed mental superiority and
retardation were the difference between chronological age (actual age in years) and mental age
Intelligence Quotient
• William Stern, German psychologist
• Child’s mental age divided by chronological age
Stanford-Binet Intelligence test
• Revised by Lewis Terman (Stanford)1916
• Individually administered to children aged 2-23
• Based on norms: standards based on the test scores of a large number of individuals and used as a bases of comparison for other tests
• Normal was considered a score of 100
Terman’s IQ Formula
• (mental age divided by chronological age) X 100 = IQ
• A 10 year-old with a mental age of 12: (12 divided by 10) X 100 = 120 IQ
• A 6 year-old with a mental age of 3: (3 divided by 6 X 100 = 50 IQ
– 4 subscales: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract visual reasoning, short-term memory
Intelligence testing for adults
• Based on comparisons among same age peers
• (WAIS) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-
• (WAIS-R) current revision- contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Requirements for good tests
• 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
• 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
• Ex. Aptitude tests tend to be highly reliable, but they are weak predictors of success in life- take same test 3 times and get about the same scores (SATs)
Validity
• The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
• Ex. Test validity is weak for predicting success in college and even more so for graduate school, as the range of student abilities becomes more restricted
Standardization
• Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pre-tested “standardization group”
• Uniform procedure for administering and scoring it
Good test scores
• Usually fall into a bell-shaped distribution called the normal curve
• See example of normal curve
The Range of Intelligence
• Terman’s Study of Genius (1921)• Believed intelligence was inherited and that IQ
was fixed at birth- how do gifted differ form general population?
• Study involved 1,528 students with genius IQ of 151
• Excelled in all areas- intellectual, physical, emotional, moral, and social abilities
• Believed Stanford-Binet test could help guide people toward appropriate opportunities
Gifted
• 1920’s- term described intellectually superior in upper 2-3 % of US population
• Today term includes exceptionally creative• Programs- acceleration: students able to
progress at a rate that is consistent with their ability
• Enrichment: aims to broaden student’s knowledge by giving them special courses and experiences to foster advanced skills
Mental retardation
• 2% of US population
• Characteristics-– IQ score below 70– Severe deficiency in everyday adaptive
functioning- ability to care for self and relate to others
– Degrees: mild to profound
continued
• Causes- brain injuries, chromosomal abnormalities (Down syndrome), chemical deficiencies
• Educational movement towards inclusion- mainstreaming
Intelligence and Neural Processing
• PET scan reveals that highly intelligent have more efficient mental processing
• Tend to process information faster
What do IQ tests predict?
• Academic performance
• Related to a wide range of social outcomes- job performance, income, social status, years of education completed
Abuses of IQ Tests
• Abuse if only or major criterion for admitting people to various educational programs
• Does not measure attitude or motivation (keys to success)
• May doom poor, minority, ESL, hearing-impaired children in special ed classes- cultural bias
Culture-fair intelligence test
• Uses questions that will not penalize those whose cultural background and/or language differs from that of the White middle and upper classes
IQ Controversy
• How important is a person’s IQ score?
• The IQ test is reliable and enables one to make predictions about intellectual capacity, ability, or potential, but they have limitations as well
Nature-nurture controversy
• Do we inherit our intelligence?
• Twin studies- adoption study method: children adopted shortly after birth have IQ scores more closely related to biological parents- family environment important early in life but diminishes with age
• Generally, both play a factor in IQ
Emotional Intelligence
• To ability to manage one’s feelings
• To apply knowledge about emotions to everyday life
• Awareness of one’s emotions
• Ability to manage self-motivation, express empathy
• Ability to handle relationships
Creativity
• Ability to produce original, appropriate, and valuable ideas and/or solutions to problems
The Creative Process
• 1. preparation- searching for information that may help solve the problem
• 2. incubation- letting the problem “sit” while relevant information is digested
• 3. illumination- being suddenly struck by the right solution
• 4. translation- transforming insight into useful action
Divergent thinking
• ability to produce multiple ideas, answers, or solutions to a problem for which there is no agreed to solution
• Highly creative thinking is associated with activity in both sides of the brain- significantly higher levels in the right hemisphere
Characteristics of Creative People
• Expertise: disciplined practice, high-quality training
• Openness to Experience: brainstorming, journey of discovery
• Independence of Mind: cherish independence, may take unpopular stand and often called non-conformist
• Intrinsic Motivation: internally motivated• Perseverance: hard work
Savant Syndrome
• Unusual combination of mental retardation and genius