Intelligence Unknowns
Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns
Ulric Neisser (Chair)
Gwyneth Boodoo
Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.
A. Wade Boykin
Nathan Brody
Stephen J. Ceci
Diane E Halpern
John C. Loehlin
Robert Perloff
Robert J. Sternberg
Susana Urbina
In the fall of 1994, the publication of Herrnstein and
Murray 's book The Bell Curve sparked a new round of debate about the meaning of intelligence test scores and the nature of intelligence. The debate was characterized by strong assertions as well as by strong feelings. Unfortunately, those assertions often revealed serious misunderstandings of what has (and has not) been demonstrated by scientific research in this field. Although a great deal is now known, the issues remain complex and in many cases still …show more content…
(The standard deviation is a measure of the variability of the distribution of scores.)
Approximately 95% of the population has scores within two standard deviations of the mean, i.e., between 70 and
130. For historical reasons, the term " I Q " is often used to describe scores on tests of intelligence. It originally referred to an "Intelligence Quotient" that was formed by dividing a so-called mental age by a chronological age, but this procedure is no longer used.
Intercorrelations among tests. Individuals rarely perform equally well on all the different kinds of items included in a test of intelligence. One person may do relatively better on verbal than on spatial items, for example, while another may show the opposite pattern.
Nevertheless, subtests measuring different abilities tend to be positively correlated: people who score high on one such subtest are likely to be above average on others as well. These complex patterns of correlation can be clarified by factor analysis, but the results of such analyses are often controversial themselves. Some theorists …show more content…
These considerations have led him to include musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and various forms of personal intelligence in the scope of his theory along with more familiar linguistic, logical-mathematical, and spatial abilities. (Critics of the theory argue, however, that some of these are more appropriately described as special talents than as forms of "intelligence.")
In Gardner 's view, the scope of psychometric tests includes only linguistic, logical, and some aspects of spatial intelligence; other forms have been almost entirely ignored. Even in the domains on which they are ostensibly focused, the paper-and-pencil format of most tests rules out many kinds of intelligent performance that matter a great deal in everyday life, such as giving an extemporaneous talk (linguistic) or being able to find one 's way in a new town (spatial). While the stability and validity of performance tests in these new domains are not yet clear, Gardner 's argument has attracted considerable interest among educators as well as psychologists.
Sternberg 's theory. Robert Sternberg 's
Ulric Neisser (Chair)
Gwyneth Boodoo
Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.
A. Wade Boykin
Nathan Brody
Stephen J. Ceci
Diane E Halpern
John C. Loehlin
Robert Perloff
Robert J. Sternberg
Susana Urbina
In the fall of 1994, the publication of Herrnstein and
Murray 's book The Bell Curve sparked a new round of debate about the meaning of intelligence test scores and the nature of intelligence. The debate was characterized by strong assertions as well as by strong feelings. Unfortunately, those assertions often revealed serious misunderstandings of what has (and has not) been demonstrated by scientific research in this field. Although a great deal is now known, the issues remain complex and in many cases still …show more content…
(The standard deviation is a measure of the variability of the distribution of scores.)
Approximately 95% of the population has scores within two standard deviations of the mean, i.e., between 70 and
130. For historical reasons, the term " I Q " is often used to describe scores on tests of intelligence. It originally referred to an "Intelligence Quotient" that was formed by dividing a so-called mental age by a chronological age, but this procedure is no longer used.
Intercorrelations among tests. Individuals rarely perform equally well on all the different kinds of items included in a test of intelligence. One person may do relatively better on verbal than on spatial items, for example, while another may show the opposite pattern.
Nevertheless, subtests measuring different abilities tend to be positively correlated: people who score high on one such subtest are likely to be above average on others as well. These complex patterns of correlation can be clarified by factor analysis, but the results of such analyses are often controversial themselves. Some theorists …show more content…
These considerations have led him to include musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and various forms of personal intelligence in the scope of his theory along with more familiar linguistic, logical-mathematical, and spatial abilities. (Critics of the theory argue, however, that some of these are more appropriately described as special talents than as forms of "intelligence.")
In Gardner 's view, the scope of psychometric tests includes only linguistic, logical, and some aspects of spatial intelligence; other forms have been almost entirely ignored. Even in the domains on which they are ostensibly focused, the paper-and-pencil format of most tests rules out many kinds of intelligent performance that matter a great deal in everyday life, such as giving an extemporaneous talk (linguistic) or being able to find one 's way in a new town (spatial). While the stability and validity of performance tests in these new domains are not yet clear, Gardner 's argument has attracted considerable interest among educators as well as psychologists.
Sternberg 's theory. Robert Sternberg 's