INTELLIGENCE
What do you think when you hear the word "intelligence"? Do you think about how intelligent you are? Or do you think about how you are more intelligent in certain areas of life? Have you ever wondered who sorts out and decides what intelligence is and how it is measured? Well, I hope you will find some of those answers in this blog post.
When talking about intelligence, remember that intelligence is the ability to process and adapt to new situations and environments. This is the intelligence, or psychometric, perspective, which concentrates on testing and measurement. The more questions answered correctly on a test, the higher the test score will be. Since the intelligence perspective is quantitative, the more questions answered correctly on a test, shows the student's ability to adapt to a new environment, intelligence, and it measures how intelligent by the number of correctly answered questions.
There is so much history and information on this topic, but a few things that will be discussed here are early and modern theories and theorists, types of testing, and benefits of testing.
When talking about intelligence, remember that intelligence is the ability to process and adapt to new situations and environments. This is the intelligence, or psychometric, perspective, which concentrates on testing and measurement. The more questions answered correctly on a test, the higher the test score will be. Since the intelligence perspective is quantitative, the more questions answered correctly on a test, shows the student's ability to adapt to a new environment, intelligence, and it measures how intelligent by the number of correctly answered questions.
There is so much history and information on this topic, but a few things that will be discussed here are early and modern theories and theorists, types of testing, and benefits of testing.
Early Theories
In the early 1900s, Alfred Binet and his student, Theodore Simon, developed the first intelligence test called the 1905 Scale. Binet's adventure started in Paris when he was hired to sort out an overcrowded school system by testing the children. Binet and Simon created a baseline measurement, Mental Age, to use as the standard for comparing test scores. This baseline information was gathered from testing students of every age group who were considered to be average. To test for a student's mental age, if the 6 year old child answered all the questions an average 6 year old could answer, the mental age given was 6. If the 6 year old could answer questions an 8 year old could answer, the mental age given was 8. However, if the 6 year old could only answer 4 year old questions, the mental age given was 4.
Mental age is still used today, however, it has been modified. In 1914, William Stern developed mental quotient, which calculates the mental age divided by the chronological age. Take our 6 year old for example, if he/she were to have a mental age of 9, yet her chronological age were 6, her mental age would be 1.5. In 1916, Lewis Terman took it one step further by multiplying the mental quotient by 100 in order to obtain an Intelligence Quotient. Our 6 year old's 1.5 score would then be multiplied by 100 to give her an IQ score of 150. Terman renamed the Simon-Binet Scale and it is today called the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
Mental age is still used today, however, it has been modified. In 1914, William Stern developed mental quotient, which calculates the mental age divided by the chronological age. Take our 6 year old for example, if he/she were to have a mental age of 9, yet her chronological age were 6, her mental age would be 1.5. In 1916, Lewis Terman took it one step further by multiplying the mental quotient by 100 in order to obtain an Intelligence Quotient. Our 6 year old's 1.5 score would then be multiplied by 100 to give her an IQ score of 150. Terman renamed the Simon-Binet Scale and it is today called the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
The scoring of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is based off of 100 being the average score. Most people score within one standard deviation (15 points per deviation) above or below 100, making an average IQ score 85-115. Scores that are two standard deviations above the mean, are considered gifted. Scores that are two standard deviations below the mean are people with intellectual disabilities. Knowing how to understand IQ scores will help in my future teaching career. Without this knowledge, an IQ score of 150 or 70 would have just been another number to me, but now I will know which accommodations are needed.
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A few other important theorists were Charles Spearman, L.L. Thurstone & Joy Paul Guilford.
Charles Spearman is responsible for the generalized intelligence, "g" factor, and specialized abilities, "s" factor. The "g" factors are the common knowledge aspects of intelligence. The "s" factors are different depending on interests of the person and will eventually increase forming the individuals "S" factor, which is usually their career area.
Charles Spearman is responsible for the generalized intelligence, "g" factor, and specialized abilities, "s" factor. The "g" factors are the common knowledge aspects of intelligence. The "s" factors are different depending on interests of the person and will eventually increase forming the individuals "S" factor, which is usually their career area.
![Picture](/uploads/4/7/1/5/47157909/3213900.jpg?120)
LL Thurstone disagreed with Spearman's theory. He developed 7 independent factors he named Primary Mental Abilities.
1. Number facilities
2. Reasoning
3. Memory
4. Spatial Perception
5. Perceptual Speed
6. Verbal Comprehension
7. Word Fluency
1. Number facilities
2. Reasoning
3. Memory
4. Spatial Perception
5. Perceptual Speed
6. Verbal Comprehension
7. Word Fluency