UNIT 3

THEORIES
OF
INTELLIGENCE
CLASSIFICATION OF THEORIES-
 Factor theories
 Identifyfactors that constitute intelligence
 Factor analysis method
 Process oriented theories
 Focus on the processes involved in intellectual
activity/ability
 FACTOR THEORIES
G Factor theories
 Multifactor theories
 Thurstone’s theory
 Guilford’s theory
 Hierarchial theory
 Gardner’s theory
 Sternberg’s theory
 Cattell’s theory
 PROCESS ORIENTED THEORIES
 Bruner’s theory
 Jean Piaget’s theory
 Information Processing theory
 1. ‘G’ –FACTOR THEORY/TWO
FACTOR THEORY
 Proponent- Charles Spearman (1927)
 Theory- there is a general factor (‘g’ factor) in all
cognitive performances
 G factor is a general fund of cortical energy which
lies beneath the surface.
 In addition to ‘g’ factor, intellectual activity involves
‘s’ factor-a specific ability for a particular activity
 Thus intelligence involves both ‘g’ and ‘s’ factors in
varying degrees- hence 2 factor theory
 2.MULTIFACTOR THEORIES
(A) L.L.THURSTONE’S THEORY (1938)

 Theory- intelligence has multiple components

 Identified 7 primary mental abilities (PMA) that
make up intelligence-
 Verbal comprehension
 Word fluency
 Perceptual speed
 Memory
 Numerical ability
 Spatial ability
 Reasoning
 Formulated PMA test to asses intelligence
measuring these abilities
(B)J.P.GUILFORD’S THEORY/THREE-
DIMENSIONAL THEORY (1967)

 Proposed a cubical model - consisting of 120 factors

of intelligence in 3 different dimensions-
4 kinds of contents: figural, symbolic, semantic,
behavioural
 5 kinds of operations: evaluation, memory, convergent
thinking, divergent production, cognition
 6 kinds of products: Units, classes, relations, systems,
transformations, implications
 (4x5x6= 120)
(C) HIERARCHIAL THEORIES/
VERNON’S THEORY (1950)
 Elements of g factor and multifactor theory
can be combined to form this theory
 Here intelligence is pictured as a pyramid-
‘g’ factor at the top, below this lie several
moderately specific abilities like PMA,
bottom of the pyramid large no. of specific
abilities or ‘s’ factor
(D)GARDNER’S THEORY(1993)
 Proposed that there are 7 distinct kinds of
intelligence that are independent of one
another, each operating as a separate system
in the brain according to its own rules
 They are- linguistic intelligence, musical
int., logical and mathematical, spatial,
bodily kinesthetic, intrapersonal,
interpersonal intelligence.
(E) STERNBERG’S THEORY/
TRIARCHIC THEORY
 Proposed that there are 3 basic forms of
intelligence-
1. Componential /analytical intelligence –
think critically and analytically
2. Experiential/ creative intelligence –
insight and the ability to formulate new
ideas
3. Contextual / practical intelligence –
solving everyday problems.
(F) CATTELL’S THEORY (1963)
 Identified 2 major clusters of mental abilities-
1. Fluid intelligence – refers to our inherited abilities to
think and reason
2. Crystallized intelligence – refers to accumulated
knowledge, the information that we store over a
lifetime of experience, plus the application of skills and
knowledge to solve specific problems.
 CI is the outcome of experience acting over our FI;
FI decreases with age, CI increases with age.
Process oriented theories
(a) bruner’s theory (1973)
 Intellectual development depends on
growing reliance on internal
representations
 How growing abilities are influenced by the
environment-the rewards and punishments
people receive
(B) Jean Piaget’s Theory
 Proposed the stage theory of cognitive
development
 Intelligence is an adaptive process that
involves an interplay of biological maturation
and interaction with the environment
 Intellectual development is an evolution of
cognitive processes- laws of nature,
principles of grammar, mathematics rules etc
(C) Information Processing
Theory
 Proposed by Robert Sternberg
 Intelligence is made up of various basic skills
that people emoploy to take in information,
process it, then use it to reason and solve
problems
 Proposed the concept of components and
metacomponents.
Measuring Intelligence
 Initial tests of intelligence- developed by Alfred
Binet- a French Psychologist
 He proposed the concept of Mental Age (MA)
 Mental Age is the age group to which one’s
psychological functioning belongs
 MA is defined as the typical intelligence found for
people at a given chronological age (CA)
 MA grows along with CA proportionately upto 16
years.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 Concept of IQ proposed by – William Stern
 IQ is the intelligence of an individual
expressed as a ratio between MA and CA
 IQ = MA / CA x 100
 MA- obtained from the score of the person on
intelligence tests; CA- actual age of the
person; multiplied by 100 to avoid decimals
Examples Of IQ Computation
 a ten year old: scores at the level of the
average 12 year old on a given test
12/10 * 100 = 120 (a bright 10 year
old)
 a ten year old: scores at the level of the
average 8 year old on a given test
8/10 * 100 = 80 (a below average
10 year old)
Wechsler’s Interpretation Of
IQ Scores

140 and above – very superior

120 - 139 --superior
110 – 119 -- above average/bright average
90 – 109 -- average
80 – 89 --below average/ low average
70 – 79 -- borderline defective
69 and below --mentally defective/ retarded
Extreme Scores Of Intelligence
 giftedness: Refers to superior IQ combined
with demonstrated or potential ability in
such areas as academic aptitude, creativity,
and leadership. Genius : IQ range above 140
 According to Anastasi genius implies a superlative
degree of those abilities which have high social
significance within a particular culture
 mental retardation: The condition of
significantly sub average intelligence (IQ
below 70 or 83) combined with deficiencies
in adaptive behavior
APA Classification Of Mental
Retardation

68 - 83 -- borderline MR
52 – 67 -- mild MR
36 – 51 --moderate MR
20 – 25 -- severe MR
Below 20 -- profound MR
Distribution Of Intelligence In The
General Population
• The “Normal” Distribution (“Bell
Curve”) or Normal Probability
Curve (NPC)
• IQ is “normally distributed.” Mean = 100, SD = 15
• In any given population:68 % have IQs between + and - 1
SD (85 - 115); 95 % have IQs between + and - 2 SD (70 -
130)

2.5% 13.5% 34% 34% 13.5% 2.5%

-2 -1 0 +1 +2 < SD
70 85 100 115 130 < IQ
Mental Ability Tests
 Intelligence tests measure general mental
ability
 Aptitude tests- specific types of mental
abilities
 Achievement tests –person’s mastery and
knowledge of various subjects
 All these tests are tests of mental ability
CHARACTERISTICS OF TESTS
1. Standardization and Norms:
 Standardization refers to the uniform
procedures used in the administration and
scoring of a test, hence the scores can be
compared
 Standardization of a tests’ norms includes the
development test norms
 Test norms provide information about where
a score on a psychological test ranks in
relation to other scores on that test.
2. Reliability : refers to the measurement of
consistency of a test – a reliable test is one that
yields similar results on repetition of the test
 Represented through correlation coefficient- the
degree of relationship between 2 variables
 It can be positive or negative
3. Validity: refers to the ability of a test to
measure what it was designed to measure
Three types:1. content validity
2. criterion related validity
3. construct validity
INTELLIGENCE TESTING
Types of tests/ classification of tests:
1. Verbal, Non Verbal & Performance tests
 Verbal tests – Test of General Mental Abilities,
Stanford-Binet tests
 Non Verbal tests – Raven’s Progressive matrices
 Performance tests (culture fair tests)– Bhatia’s
battery of performance test, Alexander’s battery of
performance test, Wechsler’s tests
2. Individual and group tests
3. Power tests
4. Speed tests
1. time – limit tests
2. work – limit tests
5. Breadth Tests.
DETERMINANTS OF
INTELLIGENCE
1. Genetic factors
2. Bio - Chemical factors
3. Environmental factors
 INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
CONCEPT AND NATURE OF
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
 Individuals are different due to their age,
sex/gender, intelligence, personality,
aptitudes
 These differences occur among human
species as well as animals
 The branch of psychology that studies
Individual Differences is called Differential
Psychology
 Differential Psychology- aims to undertake an
objective and quantitative study of
individual differences in the behaviour of
human beings
Aspects of behaviour studied in differential
psychology:
 Nature & extent of such differences
 Their possible causes
 Extent to which the differences can be
affected by learning & factors like growth &
physical conditions
 The way these differences in various traits
are related to one another
 Differential psychology is also concerned
with the objective analysis of the nature and
characteristics of various groups such as age,
sex, race, nationality etc
 Such studies are undertaken : -

i) With the intention of understanding them

more meaningfully so that inter group
relations can be made
ii) Comparative study of different groups can
reveal the origin and extent of individual
differences
iii) Such studies can lead to a better
understanding of the individual themselves
GENDER DIFFERENCES
 Sex: biologically determined
 Gender: socially determined along with sex
 Gender is determined by : -
i) Gender stereotypes : preconceived
notions of the traits supposedly
possessed by males & females
ii) Gender roles : masculinity, femininity
refers to the expectations concerning
the roles people of each sex should
fulfil and behave
ASPECTS OF GENDER
DIFFERENCES
Gender differences in Social Behaviour:
 Social behaviour differ due to gender
stereotypes & gender roles
 Aspects/ areas of social behaviour where
gender differences are seen :
1) Emotional expression: nonverbal cues,
expression of emotions
2) Social influence
3) Style of leadership
4) Aggression
5) Friendship
1) emotional expression:
 a:Non verbal Cues – are subtle cues involving
facial expressions, eye contact, body
posture/ movements etc
 Studies by De Paulo 1992, Rosenthal & De
Paulo : females are better in transmitting
their own feelings to others through
nonverbal cues and also at understanding the
nonverbal messages sent by others – reason
for female intuition
b. Expression of Emotions: (what kind of
emotions are expressed)
 Females express more of positive emotions
towards others than males
 Not expected to express positive emotions
about them & their own accomplishments
 Males can express about their own
accomplishments
2) Social influence: refers to the susceptibility
to be influenced by society to change
attitudes/ behaviour
 Studies on reactions to feedback from others
by Roberts & Hocks, 1990, showed that
women’s evaluations of their own
performance in achievement situations are
more strongly influenced by feedback than
men’s self evaluation
ii) Less evaluative attention in school &
elsewhere, hence it is considered more
informative
iii) Difference in approaching achievement
situations: for males- competitive
challenges; for females- opportunities to
learn about oneself
- Males view feedback with skepticism & tend
to ignore if it is negative; females- consider
feedback seriously
3) Style of leadership:
 Studies made with 2 dimensions

a) Leadership with concern over good

interpretational relations vs task
performance
b) Participate Vs Autocratic decision making
styles
- Results : female leaders more concerned with
task performance as against the stereotype;
females adopt democratic styles than males
Studies on how much males & female leaders
are evaluated with level of performance:
 Tendency for female leaders to be rated
lower than male leaders
 Down rating of female leaders was stronger
when masculine leadership style adopted and
when the evaluators were made
4) Aggression:
Stereotype- males more aggressive than females
Studies show:
 women are aggressive than men
 However men involve in direct physical aggression
more than women
 Women involve in more indirect aggression &
withdrawal
 However females engage in aggressive behaviour
less frequently or intensely, due to social norms
 Harder norms for female aggresive behavior than
males
5) Friendships:
 Males hang out with friends for participating in
shared activities ; females – to discuss feelings
& thoughts and to obtain social support
 Both gender report having same no. of close
friends, but females report greater satisfaction
with these friendships
 Close friendships- more beneficial for females
than males with respect to reducing
unhappiness and raising self esteem
 Both need friends- emotional & social support
Gender Differences In Mate Selection,
Relationships And Sexuality
1) Mate selection & Relationships
 Males seek youth, physical beauty in potential
partners, while females seek high status,
ambitiousness, intelligence etc
2) Sexuality:
 Sexual attitudes & behaviours vary from culture to
culture; affected by religious & moral principles
 Study by Oliver & Hyde (1993) on sexual attitudes &
behaviour : - males reported much more permissive
attitudes about premarital sex & extra marital sex/
multiple partners than females
 Magnitude of differences between males & females in
their attitudes of sexuality tend to decrease over time
 Judgement of attractiveness: males- it is a automatic
process based on outward appearance; females-
complex judgements involving attention to
characteristics aside from physical appearance
Gender Differences In
Psychological Adjustment
 Females:
 More incidence of depression
 Feelings of helplessness
 Eating disorders
 Mathematics anxiety
 Concepts of masculinity/ femininity
Cognitive Abilities
 Relatively small differences between both genders
 Differences decrease with age
 Study by Feingold (page 451):
 vocabulary: no difference between them
 Reading: girls score higher, but this difference
disappears in adolescence
 Spelling: girls score higher than boys
 General information: males higher at all ages
 Mathematics: girls better in first 2years of high
school, but difference disappear after that
 Spatial Visualization: boys slightly higher than
girls
 Perceptual speed: females higher than males
 Memory: no difference between the 2 genders
Origins Of Gender Differences
1:- Biological Origins of Gender Differences
i) Hormones
 Both males & females embryos are the same
until about 8-12 weeks after conception, but
once gonads begin to produce diff hormones the
differentiate starts
 Males high levels of androgens, and low levels
in females- differentiation of genitals
 Level of male & female hormones in prenatal
development influence the behaviour of children
2) Brain Organization
 Males tend to exhibit more cerebral specialization
than females; females- more evenly distributed
(eg: language abilities, spatial abilities)
 Females show larger Corpus Callosum which
allow for better inter hemispheric transfer of info;
hence more bilateral organization in females
Environmental Origins Of Gender
Differences
 Socialization process: cultural/social factors
 Socialization is the acquisition of the norms and
behaviours expected of people in a particular
society ; society ensures that its members learn to
behave in a manner that’s considered appropriate
 Trains children about gender roles
 3 key processes involved in the socialization of
gender roles:
(i) Operant conditioning: reward and punishment of
gender appropriate behaviours
(ii) Observational learning: models of same sex
(iii) Self socialization: 3 steps
 Children learn to classify themselves as male or
female and recognise their sex as a permanent
quality
 Self categorization motivates them to value those
characteristics and behaviours associated with their
sex
 Strive to bring their behaviour in line with what is
considered gender- appropriate in their culture
 Sources of Gender-Role socialization: Family,
School, Media