PSY10004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Numerical Analysis, Fluid And Crystallized Intelligence, Factor Analysis
PSYCH 101 - PSY10004 WEEK 8
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence refers to personal attributed that centre on skill at information processing, problem
solving, and adapting to new or changing environments!
Intelligence includes three main characteristics:!
•Abstract thinking or reasoning abilities!
•Problem solving!
•The capacity to acquire knowledge !
Intelligence As Sensory Capacity!
Sir Francis Galton is credited with the first systematic attempt to measure intelligence. Galton
proposed that the building blocks of intelligence were sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities!
Intelligence As Abstract Thinking!
Alfred Binet believed that intelligence was an individual’s performance on a complex task of
memory, judgement, and comprehension.!
Binet and his colleague, Theodore Simon, noted that problem solving abilities increased with age.
They introduced the concept of mental age, or the average at which children achieve a particular
score.!
The Psychometric Approach!
The psychometric approach refers to a way of studying intelligence that emphasises analysis of
the products of intelligence, especially scores on intelligence tests. It attempts to identify groups
of items in a test that correlate highly with one another in order to discover underlying skills or
abilities.
FACTOR ANALYSIS
Factor analysis reduces interrelate items down into a number of underlying factors!
General Vs Specific
Charles Spearman used factor analysis to propose the existence of two factors to explain
intelligence, namely a single shared factor across difference tests called g-factor, or general
intelligence, and a unique s-factor or specific abilities, which are unique to certain tests or shared
by a small number of tests.!
Primary Mental Abilities
Other researchers such as L.L. Thurstone also used factor analysis and revealed that is was
several group factors — and not a single factor — that could best explain empirical results. In
particular, he even found seven factors called primary mental abilities.!
The seven PMAs included word fluent, comprehension, numerical computation, spatial skills,
associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed.!
Fluid and Crystallised Intelligence
Another approach to intelligence that doesn’t support a single general intelligence but
distinguished between two general intelligence facts is the Gf-Gc Theory.!
•Fluid intelligence refers to the intellectual capacities that have no specific content but are
used in processing information and approaching novel problems.!
•Crystallised intelligence refers to people’s store of knowledge.!
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Information Processing Approach!
The information processing approach tries to understand the processes that underlie intelligence
behaviour (eg — attention, memory).!
Researchers from this perspective have focused on three variables that explain individual
differences observed on intelligence tests, namely processing speed, knowledge base and the
ability to acquire and apply mental strategies.!
PROCESSING SPEED
One measure of processing speed is to use pairs of letters (e.g., AA, Aa) and ask participants
whether the letters are identical physically or identical in name. The difference in response time
provides an index of processing speed.!
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Knowledge base refers to the information stored in LTM. !
Differences in knowledge base include the amount of information stored, the way it is organised,
and its accessibility for retrieval.!
ABILITY TO ACQUIRE AND APPLY STRATEGIES
How we acquire mental strategies to solve problems and apply them to knew situations is also
correlated with intelligence.!
This includes both cognitive and metacognitive strategies!
Cognitive Strategies
Cognitive learning strategies is a plan for orchestrating cognitive resources, such as attention and
long-term memory to help reach a learning goal’. !
It is indicated that there are several characteristics of cognitive learning strategies, including that
they are goal-directed, intentionally invoked, effortful and are not universally applicable, but
situation specific.!
Metacognitive Strategies
Metacognitive strategies appear to share most of these characteristics, with the exception of the
last one, since they involve more universal application through focus upon planning for
implementation, monitoring and evaluation.!
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