INTELLIGENCE

B Y H U M A P E R VA I Z
TRIARCHIC THEORY
OF INTELLIGENCE
• In the 1980s and 1990s, Robert Sternberg proposed a triarchic
theory of intelligence that distinguishes among three aspects of
intelligence:
• Componential intelligence: the ability assessed by intelligence
tests
• Experiential intelligence: the ability to adapt to new situations and
produce new ideas
• Contextual intelligence: the ability to function effectively in daily
situations
IS INTELLIGENCE
N AT U R E O R
NURTURE?
MEASUREMENT OF
INTELLIGENCE
 MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
• Intelligence of a person can be measured through intelligence tests
through the use of a battery of tests (collection of tests)
is preferred over a single test.

• The History of Measurement of Intelligence

• Man was always interested in knowing their own ability level, or in
other words the intelligence, as well as that of others.
• People looked for capable persons while searching for life-mates,
companions, workers, architects, artists, and poets or authors.
• Even in case of chefs, tailors, carpenters, or barbers, those with the
fine skill and the ability to generate unique ideas were preferred
– Historically, the first effort at intelligence testing was based on an
uncomplicated but completely wrong assumption: that the size and shape of a
person’s head could be used as an objective measure of intelligence. The
idea was put forward by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911), an eminent English
scientist whose ideas in other domains proved to be considerably better than his
notions about intelligence
– The first real intelligence tests were developed by the French psychologist
Alfred Binet (1857–1911). His tests followed from a simple premise: If
performance on certain tasks or test items improved with chronological, or
physical, age, performance could be used to distinguish more intelligent people
from less intelligent ones within a particular age group. On the basis of this
principle, Binet devised the first formal intelligence test, which was designed
to identify the “dullest” students in the Paris school system in order to provide
them with remedial aid
• The main idea was that intelligence can be measured in terms of
performance of a child. If performance on certain tasks, that were the test
items, improved with age then it could betaken as an indication of
intelligence of a person.
• By developing tasks on which people's performance improved with age, a
measure could be devised which could distinguish intelligent people from
those not intelligent.
• Using the same concept Binet developed the first intelligence test in 1905.
The test could identify more intelligent children within a particular age
group. It could differentiate intelligent children from the less intelligent
ones. The test was devised for locating the `dullest' students’ in the Paris
school system so that remedial assistance could be provided to them before
they were denied instruction.
• Here are some sample items from Simon-Binet Test (1911)
Three years
• Shows nose, eyes and mouth. Repeats two digits. Describes objects in a picture.
Gives family name. Repeats a sentence of six syllables.
Four years
• Gives own sex. Names key, knife, and penny. Repeats three digits. Compares the length of two lines.
Five years
• Compares two weights. Copies a square. Repeats a sentence of ten syllables. Counts four pennies.
Six years
• Distinguishes between morning and afternoon. Defines objects in terms of their use. Copies a shape.
Counts 13 pennies. Compares faces from the aesthetic point of view.
Seven years
• Identifies right hand and left ear. Describes a picture. Follows precise directions. Names four colors.
Eight years
• Compares two remembered objects. Counts from 20 to 0.
Fifteen years
• Repeats seven digits. Gives three rhymes. Repeats a sentence of
26 syllables. Interprets a picture. Solves a problem from several facts.

• The original Binet- Simon scale was revised a number of times

• Stanford- Binet is one of the most widely used tests even today
• The Concept of Mental Age
• Children taking the Binet- Simon test were assigned a score that corresponded to the age group
they belonged to. This score indicated their "mental age".
• Mental age referred to the average age of children who secured the same score. Mental age can be
understood as the typical intelligence level found for people at a given chronological age.
• Mental age of a person can be different from his or her chronological age i.e., it can be above or
below that. It could reflect whether or not a child was performing at a level at which his age
mates were.
• Mental age, which is your cognitive abilities relative to what others can do of
different ages. In other words, what do you think an average five year old can
do? Can they read? Can they do math? What about the average ten year old?
Or how about someone who is 40 years old? Your mental age is what you are
capable of doing, scaled to what the average people of different ages can do.
In other words, if you're capable of doing what an average 25-year old can
do, then your mental age is 25. If you can do what an average 10-year old can
do, but not anything more advanced than that, then your mental age is only
• Chronological age is a measure of an individual’s age based on the
calendar date on which he or she was born. Chronological age is
calculated on most psychological tests. It is measured in days,
months and years.
• If we compare the mental age of a person to the person’s chronological age, the
result is the intelligence quotient (IQ), a measure of intelligence that is adjusted for
age. A simple way to calculate IQ is by using the following formula:
• IQ = mental age ÷ chronological age × 100.
 RELIABILITY AND
VALIDITY OF
INTELLIGENCE TEST
 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF
INTELLIGENCE TESTS
• Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure.
• When researchers measure a construct that they assume to be
consistent across time, then the scores they obtain should also be
consistent across time
• Validity refers to the degree to which a test or other measure of some
psychological construct actually measures that construct, it measures
what it is suppose to measure. Hence, validity refers to the accuracy of
the test.
VARIATIONS IN INTELLECTUAL
ABILITY
• Mental retardation (or intellectual disability)
– A condition characterized by significant limitations both in
intellectual functioning and in conceptual, social, and practical
adaptive skills.

• Intellectually gifted
– The 2%–4% segment of the population who have IQ scores
greater than 130.
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (SB5)
• The questions we use to measure intelligence change with age. A 3-year-
old who could accurately multiply 183 by 39 would certainly be
intelligent, but a 25-year-old who could not do so might be seen as
unintelligent. Thus, understanding intelligence requires that we know
the norms or standards in a given population of people at a given age.
The standardization of a test involves giving it to a large
number of people at different ages and computing the
average score on the test at each age level.
 FLYNN EFFECT
• James Flynn, a New Zealand researcher, discovered that the mean IQ score
of 100 between the years 1918 and 1995 had actually risen by about 25
points. This is called the Flynn effect, referring to the observation that
scores on intelligence tests worldwide have increased substantially over the
past decades.
• Although the increase varies somewhat from country to country, the average
increase is about 3 IQ points every 10 years. It is uncertain what causes this
increase in intelligence on IQ tests. But some of the explanations for the
Flynn effect include better nutrition, increased access to information, and
more familiarity with multiple-choice tests. Whether people are actually
getting smarter is debatable.
 INTELLIGENCE, APTITUDE AND
ACHIEVEMENT
• Intelligence is a general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems,
think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. Intellectual ability involves
comprehension; understanding, and learning from experience. Intelligence tests are aimed at
assessing a person's underlying intellectual ability.
• An aptitude is the ability to learn or to develop proficiency in an area (if provided with
appropriate education or training). It is like talent. Examples are various types of reasoning, artistic
ability, motor coordination, musical talent. There are aptitude tests that measure mechanical and
linguistic ability, as well as more specific skills, such as military flight and computer programming.
• Achievement tests measure the extent to which a person has "achieved"
something, acquired certain information, or mastered certain skills - usually as
a result of planned instruction or training. It is designed to efficiently measure
the amount of knowledge and/or skill a person has acquired, usually as a result
of classroom instruction.