Psychology 110

Neil Lutsky, Carleton College
November 12, 2002

Class Outline: Intelligence and Cognitive Testing

I. Why are we so interested in intelligence?

  1. Presumed relationship to educational and leadership potential:
    Criticism and appreciations.
     
  2. Functioning in a rapidly changing knowledge-based culture.
    Hernstein & Murray's The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
     
  3. Data, data, data and science.

II. What do we mean by the term "intelligence" conceptually?

  1. A loose working definition.
  2. Is intelligence a generalized ability?

III. What do we mean by intelligence operationally? Measuring intelligence.

  1. Problems in isolating capacity from achievement.
  2. Two primary intelligence tests.
    1. The Stanford-Binet.
    2. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
  3. Evaluations of these tests: Psychometrics.
    1. Test-retest reliability.
    2. Validity.
    3. Bias.

IV. Is intelligence important in our lives?

  1. Terman's study of exceptionally gifted individuals.
  2. The Bell Curve's arguments and findings: Toward a meritocracy?
  3. What the psychological literature shows.

V. The origins of intelligence: Heredity and environment revisited.

  1. Behavioral genetics.
  2. Lifespan stability, cross-sectional difference, and the Flynn effect.
  3. Examples of environmental effects.
    1. Zajonc's confluence model.
    2. IQ instability studies.

VI. The concern and debate about race/ethnic differences.

VII. The natures of intelligence? New directions in the study of intelligence.