Can you measure intelligence? | Introduction to Psychology 10 of 30 | Study Hall

Summary

This video from Study Hall's 'Intro to Psychology' explores the complexity of intelligence, examining how the concept has evolved over time. It highlights different theories, from Spearman's general intelligence to Gardner's multiple intelligences. It also delves into the limitations of IQ tests, discussing how they often reflect cultural biases. The video emphasizes that intelligence is not one-dimensional but multifaceted, including reasoning, problem-solving, and creativity. It concludes by suggesting that intelligence can't be easily measured, as it involves various mental abilities that manifest in different ways depending on context.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Intelligence is multifaceted and difficult to define, with various theories proposing different aspects of it.
• 👨‍🔬 Sir Francis Galton was an early researcher into intelligence, investigating whether it was inherited.
• 📊 Charles Spearman introduced the 'g factor' for general intelligence, suggesting a common factor behind all intellectual abilities.
• 🤔 Raymond Cattell differentiated between fluid and crystallized intelligence, highlighting different ways people can be smart.
• 🎓 Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence includes practical, academic, and creative intelligence.
• 🎨 Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences recognizes at least eight distinct types of intelligence, including emotional and musical.
• 📉 IQ tests, like the Stanford-Binet scale, measure intelligence but have flaws and biases.
• 🚫 IQ tests can disadvantage certain groups due to cultural and racial biases in their construction.
• 🗣 Language plays a significant role in measuring intelligence, as it's a primary means of expressing cognitive abilities.
• 🤷‍♀️ Code-switching is an example of intelligence in action, showing adaptability in communication based on context.
• 🧩 Schemas and heuristics are cognitive tools that influence decision-making and illustrate the complexity of intelligence.

Q & A

What is intelligence according to the video?

Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn, understand, and use reasoning skills. It's a general concept that includes various forms of mental abilities.

How did Sir Francis Galton contribute to the study of intelligence?

Sir Francis Galton was one of the first scholars to try and figure out if intelligence was inherited, starting the scientific study of intelligence in the mid-19th century.

What is the 'g factor' proposed by Charles Spearman?

The 'g factor' is a theory proposed by Charles Spearman, which refers to general intelligence. It suggests that intelligence is like athletic ability, where someone good at one thing may be good at others as well.

What is the difference between fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence?

Fluid intelligence involves quick thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving, while crystallized intelligence involves knowledge, memory, and experience that have been stored over time.

What is Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that there are at least eight different forms of intelligence, including artistic, musical, emotional, and interpersonal intelligence.

Why are IQ tests considered flawed?

IQ tests are flawed because they often include culturally biased questions, favoring certain groups while disadvantaging others, and intelligence is too complex to be fully captured by a single number.

What is code-switching, and how does it relate to intelligence?

Code-switching is the ability to adjust the way we speak based on the context or audience. It demonstrates intelligence by showing an understanding of social norms and communication strategies.

What is bounded rationality in decision-making?

Bounded rationality refers to the idea that decision-making is not always perfectly logical due to limitations like schemas, time constraints, and the information available.

What are heuristics in decision-making?

Heuristics are mental shortcuts we use to make decisions quickly. While they can be helpful, they aren't always accurate and can lead to biases or incorrect assumptions.

What are schemas, and how do they influence cognition?

Schemas are mental templates or simplified concepts that help us understand and categorize the world around us. They influence how we make decisions and reason about the world.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 The Complexity of Intelligence

Intelligence is a multifaceted concept that is hard to define and measure. People tend to associate intelligence with famous individuals like Stephen Hawking or Hermione Granger. However, intelligence varies from person to person and is challenging to quantify. Psychologists have studied intelligence for over a century, revealing its complexity. Theories like the g factor, proposed by Charles Spearman, and others demonstrate that intelligence encompasses various skills and is similar to physical athleticism in that strengths in one area may translate to others.

05:04

📚 The Evolution of Intelligence Theories

Over time, psychologists have developed multiple theories to explain intelligence. Raymond Cattell proposed fluid and crystallized intelligence, while Robert Sternberg introduced the triarchic theory, which includes practical, analytical, and creative intelligence. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences suggests at least eight distinct types, such as musical and emotional intelligence. Despite these efforts, a clear definition of intelligence remains elusive, and modern definitions tend to focus on the general ability to learn, understand, and reason.

10:08

🧩 IQ Tests: Strengths and Limitations

IQ tests, often associated with measuring intelligence, were pioneered by Alfred Binet in the early 20th century. While helpful in some contexts, these tests have significant flaws, especially in their cultural biases. Historically, IQ tests favored privileged groups, often marginalizing minorities and people from diverse backgrounds. Even Binet himself cautioned against reducing intelligence to a single number, noting that intelligence can change over time. As a result, IQ tests are considered flawed and not fully representative of a person’s cognitive abilities.

🗣️ The Role of Language in Intelligence

Language plays a critical role in how intelligence is expressed and measured. Different languages shape thought processes, as shown in examples like the Hopi language’s unique way of expressing time. Intelligence can also manifest in diverse forms of language use, such as code-switching, which involves adapting language based on social context. These variations make it difficult to capture intelligence through standardized tests, which often fail to account for such complexity.

💡 Cognition and Decision Making

Cognition, which involves mental processes like attention and reasoning, is closely tied to intelligence. People rely on schemas, or simplified mental templates, to make sense of the world and make decisions. However, decision-making is often limited by ‘bounded rationality,’ where cognitive limitations, such as time or incomplete information, prevent perfectly logical decisions. This applies in real-world scenarios, such as choosing a kickball team in gym class, where strategies like elimination or heuristics (mental shortcuts) are used to make quick, but sometimes flawed, decisions.

🧠 Intelligence, Context, and Decision Making

Intelligence is expressed through decision-making, which is influenced by the context and cognitive strategies a person uses. Mental shortcuts, or heuristics, play a role in quick decisions, but they may not always be accurate. This highlights how context affects both cognition and the expression of intelligence. Whether it's making decisions in everyday situations or solving puzzles under pressure, intelligence is shaped by the environment and limitations people face.

🏆 The Challenge of Measuring Intelligence

Measuring intelligence is a complex task. IQ tests and other measures struggle to capture the diverse ways intelligence is expressed, particularly given the influence of context, language, and cultural factors. Theories of intelligence have evolved to become more inclusive, recognizing that there are many forms of intelligence. A truly comprehensive test would have to assess a wide range of skills and mental abilities, something no single test can accomplish. As a result, appreciating intelligence means valuing its many forms and expressions.

Keywords

💡Intelligence

Intelligence is the central theme of the video, referring to the ability to learn, understand, and use reasoning skills. It is multifaceted, as humans can be smart in various ways, such as reasoning, problem-solving, or creativity. The video explores different theories and perspectives on intelligence, demonstrating how the concept has evolved over time.

💡Fluid Intelligence

Fluid intelligence is one of the two types of intelligence proposed by psychologist Raymond Cattell. It involves the ability to reason, think quickly, and solve problems in novel situations. In the video, it is exemplified as the ability to think abstractly and adapt to new challenges, which is distinct from crystallized intelligence.

💡Crystallized Intelligence

Crystallized intelligence refers to the knowledge and skills that one has acquired over time, including facts, experiences, and expertise. In the video, this concept is used to explain how intelligence can be based on accumulated learning, such as having an extensive vocabulary or understanding historical events.

💡IQ Test

IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests are standardized tests used to measure human intelligence. The video discusses the limitations and biases of IQ tests, noting that they may not fully capture the diverse ways in which people express intelligence. The script highlights how such tests often favor certain cultural or racial groups, which can lead to unfair assessments of intelligence.

💡g factor

The 'g factor,' or general intelligence, was a concept introduced by Charles Spearman to represent a single measure of cognitive abilities. It suggests that people who are good at one type of cognitive task are likely to be good at others. The video relates this to the idea of being 'athletic,' where someone good at one sport may also excel in others.

💡Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence, proposed by Robert Sternberg, posits that there are three types of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical. The video explains this theory as an expansion of the understanding of intelligence, showing that intelligence goes beyond traditional academic abilities and includes problem-solving and creative thinking.

💡Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences argues that there are at least eight different forms of intelligence, including musical, linguistic, logical-mathematical, and interpersonal intelligence. The video uses this theory to emphasize that intelligence is not limited to a single type but can manifest in various domains, such as art, music, or understanding emotions.

💡Bounded Rationality

Bounded rationality refers to the idea that human decision-making is limited by cognitive constraints, such as limited information and time. The video uses this concept to show that our ability to make decisions is not always perfectly logical, as we often rely on schemas and heuristics, which can lead to errors or biases in judgment.

💡Schema

A schema is a mental framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. In the video, schemas are used as examples of how people form ideas about the world, such as having assumptions about certain roles or behaviors, like the 'car salesman' schema. These frameworks influence how we perceive and interact with the world around us.

💡Code-switching

Code-switching is the practice of altering language, tone, or behavior depending on the context or audience. The video uses this concept to demonstrate how intelligence is often expressed differently depending on the situation, such as when someone changes their way of speaking in different social settings, indicating adaptability and understanding of social norms.

Highlights

Intelligence is a complex and multifaceted concept, difficult to define and measure.

Early attempts to study intelligence began with Sir Francis Galton in the mid-19th century.

Charles Spearman introduced the idea of general intelligence (g factor) in the 20th century.

Raymond Cattell proposed two types of intelligence: fluid intelligence (quick thinking) and crystallized intelligence (knowledge and experience).

Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence (1988) included analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposed at least eight forms, including musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence.

The concept of intelligence has evolved over time, becoming more inclusive to encompass different types of mental abilities.

IQ tests, like the Stanford-Binet, are often used to measure intelligence but have limitations and biases, especially against marginalized groups.

Psychologists like Alfred Binet warned that intelligence cannot be reduced to a single number and may change over time.

Measuring intelligence is difficult because it often relies on language, which varies greatly between cultures and individuals.

Code-switching, the ability to adjust language based on context, is a form of intelligence that is hard to capture in tests.

Schemas, mental templates that help us categorize the world, play a role in how we reason and make decisions.

Bounded rationality explains that decision-making is limited by factors such as time, information, and mental shortcuts like heuristics.

Heuristics, or mental shortcuts, are used in decision-making but are not always accurate and can lead to errors.

Intelligence is expressed in many forms, and its measurement must be flexible to accommodate different cognitive abilities and cultural contexts.

Transcripts

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Take a moment to think of someone who’s  really smart. A friend, a relative, heck,  

even a fictional character! I bet someone came  to mind pretty quickly. Maybe Stephen Hawking,  

Ursula K. LeGuin, me, Enola Holmes, or  Barack Obama. Or my all-time favorites,  

Wade from Kim Possible and Hermione Granger.

What makes them intelligent? Is  it their command of a particular  

kind of knowledge? Razor-sharp  reasoning skills? Resourcefulness?

Now think about another person who is also really  smart. Are they intelligent in the same way?

We all have an idea of what intelligence  is, but when we really think about it,  

intelligence is difficult to really pin down.

Even for psychologists! Because it turns  out that intelligence is as multifaceted  

as humans are. It’s not easy to describe,  and it’s even harder to quantify. That makes  

intelligence a fascinating subject of research.  As intelligent beings, we love a good puzzle.

Hi, I’m Deja Fitzgerald, and this  is Study Hall: Intro to Psychology.

Intelligence might seem like it should be a simple  concept to get a handle on – I mean, we talk about  

how smart people are all the time! But like many  things in psychology, intelligence is complex,  

and our concept of it has changed over time. That  change shows how difficult it is to pin down.

People have been pondering intelligence  for ages, but it wasn’t until the mid 19th  

century that scientists really began to  study it. That’s when the English scholar  

Sir Francis Galton tried to figure out if  intelligence, as he defined it, was inherited.

And, in the 20th century, the British  psychologist Charles Spearman proposed  

something called the g factor, which is short  for general intelligence—and coincidentally  

the name of my next mixtape. General  intelligence wasn’t exactly a new concept,  

but Spearman was the first to  express it in statistical terms.

The idea is that intelligence is  like being athletic. An olympic  

sprinter is probably not going to  be the star player in the World Cup,  

but they’re probably going  to be better than, well, me.

So maybe the same thing applies to  intelligence. Someone who’s really  

good at one thing, like computer  programming, might also be better  

than a random person at something else  brainy, like learning a second language.

But then, in the 1940s, psychologist  Raymond Cattell theorized that no,  

wait, we don’t have one g, we  have two kinds of intelligence.

There’s fluid intelligence, which is all  about being able to reason and solve problems  

abstractly – basically quick thinking.  And then there’s crystalized intelligence,  

which is about knowledge that’s been stored or  crystallized in your brain and involves facts,  

memory, and experiences.  This is more like expertise.

This idea of 2 different kinds of intelligence  opened up new perspectives on how people are  

intelligent in different ways. But it didn’t  explain some key things, like creativity.

In 1988, psychologist Robert Sternburg  developed the triarchic theory of intelligence,  

which proposed that we have 3 kinds of  intelligence that cover our common sense,  

academic abilities, and creativity.

And around the same time, psychologist  Howard Gardner argued that there are  

at least 8 forms of intelligence in  his theory of multiple intelligences.  

This theory includes everything from  artistic and musical intelligence to  

the abilities to understand emotions  and values in yourself and others.

So, over time psychologists have  been breaking up intelligence  

into more and more kinds as views on what  intelligence encompasses continue to evolve.

Each of the theories we’ve discussed  has its merits, but none of them is a  

definitive explanation of intelligence.  And while we still don’t have a precise  

idea of what intelligence is, we do have  a working definition that smushes together  

what we’ve learned by exploring all these  theories and more over the last century.

Intelligence is the ability to learn, understand,  and use your reasoning skills. It’s pretty  

general, and that makes it inclusive and allows  us to value different forms this ability can take.

These theories about what is and isn’t  intelligence all developed because psychologists  

first tried to measure intelligence. And  when it comes to assessing intelligence,  

there’s one number that often comes to  mind: the intelligence quotient – aka IQ.

While not the first to develop  a test to measure intelligence,  

early attempts at a reliable IQ test came  from experiments by French psychologist  

Alfred Binet and his colleague Henri Simon  around the turn of the 20th century. Their  

work helped create an IQ test called the  Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. There  

are other types of IQ tests out there, but  most of them give the same kind of score,  

and all were designed to at least partly assess  certain aptitudes and weaknesses of students.

These tests follow something  called a normal distribution,  

or a bell curve. Most people will  score around average, which is 100,  

with extreme scores on either side  occurring with less and less frequency.

Now it seems helpful to have a number  for gauging relative intelligence,  

but there are some serious issues with IQ tests.

For example, parts of intelligence tests  include questions about facts that are  

assumed to be common knowledge. Like asking  people to identify a historical explorer.  

Those questions leave out people who may  not have learned the information or for  

whom the information is irrelevant to their  culture or the area where they live. And  

they favor groups who are ideologically  or racially similar to the test-makers.

As you may have guessed, most of these test-makers  were white men with a certain level of privilege.  

Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, immigrants,  and people born or raised outside the US have  

been systematically disadvantaged  by these tests which have, at times,  

served to further marginalize and perpetuate  stereotypes of already minoritized groups.

So we have to wonder what IQ tests are  really measuring. And these concerns  

aren't new - even Binet was cautious to  note that intelligence is too complex of  

a thing to be reduced to a number,  and that it can change over time.

Bottom line: IQ tests are flawed. Big time.

Does that mean what we need is a  test with better questions? Well,  

it’s probably going to take a lot more than  designing questions to measure intelligence.  

To understand why, we’ll need to look  at some things related to intelligence.

One reason why measuring intelligence is difficult  is because researchers can really only measure how  

people show their intelligence. And  that’s often done through language.

Language is just a system of socially  shared symbols that can be written,  

spoken, or physically expressed, as in  languages like American Sign Language.

Language requires common rules, called grammar,  which dictates how we can express ourselves and  

even what we think. Like in Hopi, an Indigenous  language from what’s now the Southwestern US,  

events that occur in the past or  future are given spatial terms.

Basically, instead of adding  ‘-ed’ to the end of a word,  

a Hopi speaker would say that the  event occurred at a great distance  

away from them. This is very different  from how time is communicated in English!

So languages can work in different  ways, and that means intelligence can  

be expressed in different ways, and it  can be hard to decide what to look for.

But even when people share a common language,  testing intelligence is hard because people’s  

ability to use language can vary. We  often associate a large vocabulary with  

intelligence. But someone with a more modest  vocabulary can also express their intelligence  

through language. Their intelligence might  just be expressed differently, like with  

code-switching. That’s when a person changes  the way they speak depending on the situation,  

maybe by using a different tone, different  words, or even an entirely different language.  

Like how I might use a more serious tone  if I’m negotiating with a car salesman.

Changing the way we speak is intelligence  in action. Code-switching shows that  

we understand the context we’re in and  reasoning about how we should communicate  

in that context. And that’s something an  intelligence test can’t easily capture.

Behaviors like code-switching sit at the  intersection of language and cognition,  

which is the mental process of knowing,  which can involve abilities ranging from  

attention to reasoning. And cognition is  crucial to our intelligence, because our  

ways of knowing about the world feed into our  understanding and reasoning about the world.

We can see that with code-switching.  We adjust our language based on what  

we know about the context, like the  kind of person we’re talking with.

Our response to context often uses  schemas. A schema is our basic idea  

about a thing – a simplified concept  of that thing. So at a car dealership,  

I might have a “car salesman” schema,  which is like a mental template or  

a set of assumptions for what a car  salesman is like and how they behave.

Categories of people are just one kind of  schema. And we have schemas for basically  

everything we use to imagine the world,  especially social norms: like no talking  

during movies because I am paying too much  to be there already, and I will shush you!.

Schemas also feed into decision making,  which is another aspect of cognition.  

While we might like to think that we  make decisions in a purely rational way,  

the human mind is often limited by our  schemas and other aspects of cognition.

This is called bounded rationality,  the idea that our decision-making  

is not perfectly logical because of  limitations. Like the accuracy of our  

schemas, the amount of information  available, and time constraints.

But even if they’re not completely logical,  there are a few strategies we can use to  

make decisions. And we can explore some of  them through everyone’s favorite class… gym.

Let’s pretend you’re in fourth grade.  You’re captain of the kickball team  

and you want to put together the very best team.

You could use a single-feature strategy and pick  one criteria to make decisions. For kickball,  

that one criteria might be leg  length. Maybe people with long  

legs can really knock that  ball far out into the field.

Or you could use an additive strategy. That’s when  we think of multiple important aspects, and score  

each option using these aspects. Then, we choose  the option or options with the highest score.

For kickball, you might consider 3  aspects: athletic ability, teamwork,  

and gym clothes that also  have yellow and blue – I mean,  

you’ll for sure perform better  if your team has color harmony!

Then you’d do a quick ranking of all  your classmates with these criteria  

to pick team members. That might mean  picking a classmate in a blue t-shirt  

who is pretty good at sports and  teamwork, and also picking someone  

who is OK at athletics but really good at  teamwork, even though she’s wearing green.

Then there’s a strategy that’s sort of the  opposite: elimination by aspects. This is  

when you think of an aspect that’s critical, and  then eliminate all options that don’t have this  

aspect. Using this strategy, you can eliminate  all the kids who just don’t like kickball.

We also have heuristics, which are mental  shortcuts we use in decision-making.  

Heuristics are interesting because they vary  from person to person. If you associate taller  

people with athleticism, you’d probably pick  all the tallest classmates for your team.

But heuristics aren’t necessarily true. Maybe  your very tall friend isn’t very coordinated and  

strikes out in the first inning. Thanks, Andrea,  for cutting my professional kickball career short.

By looking at decision making and other  aspects of cognition, we can better  

understand intelligence and why measuring it is  challenging. In order to use our intelligence,  

we must use our cognition, and how we  use our cognition depends on the context.

If we’re pressed for time, like picking  all the team members for our kickball  

team in just 1 minute, we may resort  to heuristics that are fast but could  

be inaccurate. Whether we’re in gym class or  at work, when we use these mental shortcuts  

or other cognitive approaches, our decisions  may not be as perfectly logical as we’d like.

And, if our cognition is limited by  the situations we’re in, so too is our  

expression of intelligence. But we’re always  in some kind of situation, whether it’s taking  

a test under time pressure or talking with  people who have certain expectations of us.

We couldn’t lead the lives we  do without our ability to learn,  

understand, and use reasoning skills.  We use our intelligence every day,  

and even after over a century  of study, it remains mysterious.

But not for lack of trying. And that effort has  expanded our views on intelligence and made them  

more inclusive. That allows us to recognize and  better value a wide range of mental abilities.

And what would it take to measure those  abilities? A lot. In TV show terms,  

an intelligence test would be like Jeopardy  crossed with Big Brother and Survivor crossed  

with some Iron Chef and The Price is Right  and... well, you get the picture. It would  

be the sort of test none of us would ace.  And that says something important about  

how we can appreciate intelligence. It takes  all kinds to make humanity as rich as it is.

If you’re enjoying Study Hall Intro  to Psychology and are interested in  

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