Psychology 2040A/B Lecture Notes - Twin, Early Head Start, Richard Lewontin

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2040A/B
• Professor: Jackie Sullivan

Document Summary

Constructed the first successful intelligence test (binet & simon) Believed that test items should tap complex mental activities involved in intelligent behaviour (memory & reasoning) Thus, devised a test of general ability (variety of verbal and non-verbal items requiring thought & judgment) Also the first test to associate items of increasing difficulty with chronological age: able to estimate if the child is behind or ahead of their average classmates. Terman (stanford university) adapted the test for english speakers (known as stanford-binet intelligence scale: the scale has changed greatly, no longer provides just a single, holistic measure of intelligence. Found that all test items correlated with another; proposed underlying general intelligence (g), influenced each of them. Indicated that unrelated factors exist, called these factors primary mental abilities. Current theorists combine spearman & thurstone approaches, propose hierarchical models of mental abilities: at highest level, g, assumed to be present to some degree in all separate factors.