Child Development

Intelligence and School

Achievement

Dean McDonnell
CTYI DCU
Key Questions
● What is intelligence?
● How do we see intelligence?
● What determines intelligence?
● How is intelligence linked to school achievement?
● What else might predict school achievement?
What is intelligence?
● No universally accepted definition of intelligence
● A common theme in the definition of intelligence over the
years has been that of adaptation
● The mental abilities necessary for adaptation to, as well as
selection and shaping of, any environmental context
(Sternberg, 1997)
● Distinction between intelligence, intelligent behaviour and
performance on intelligence tests
Issues in Intelligence
● Three primary issues in intelligence theorise as to whether
IQ is;
1. The extent to which it is determined by genetic or
environmental influences

2. A unitary or multifaceted construct

3. How well it predicts school achievement and other real-life

factors
IQ Tests
● 1. How many days does it take for a chicken egg to
hatch?
● 2. What colour is a Holstein cow?
● 3. How many stomachs does a cow have?
● 4. Is a rooster necessary for a hen to lay eggs?

● 21; black and white; 4; no, unless you want fertilized eggs
Sir Francis Galton
● Hereditary Genius (1869)
● Mental ability inherited in a similar manner to physical
characteristics
● ‘Brighter’ versus ‘duller’ individuals distinguished by;
● Overall energy level
● Sensitivity to stimuli
● Influenced the physical-sensory tradition of assessing
intelligence
● Influenced Cattell to develop the ‘mental test’ (Cattell,
1890)
History of Intelligence Testing
● Binet & Simon (1905)
● Designed to identify children who would need extra assistance in school
in France after compulsory attendance made law
● Became known as the 1905 Binet Scales
● Higher order mental functions such as judgement, reading and
comprehension (mental age ranges applied)
● Empirically tested and standardized

However, Binet himself stressed limitations of test suggesting intelligence

too broad a concept to be quantified by a single number-influenced by a
number of factors, changes over time and can only be compared among
children with similar backgrounds (Siegler, 1992)

● Terman (1916)
● Modified the tests, extended the age range for use with adults and
standardized to an American sample (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale)
● Often used in a prejudiced manner to weed out the “feeble-minded”
 IQ (Intelligence Quotient) –
William Stern
● MA = Mental age CA = Chronological age
● IQ = (MA/CA) X 100
● 100 IQ points is the mathematical average (mean)

● High IQ means child is functioning at higher level on tests than

would be expected for someone their age

● Original IQ meaningless beyond 16 years (mental maturity)

● Modern IQ tests have a mean (average) score within a specific age
group set to 100 with a standard deviation (SD) of 15
 Validity
● Validity – How well a test measures what it is designed
to measure
● Construct validity – Whether an IQ test assesses
intelligence and nothing else
● Content Validity – Whether the items used encompass
all of the construct under investigation
● Predictive validity refers to the ability to predict related
performance
 Reliability
● Reliability = consistency
● Test-retest (Same test repeated on same individual)
● Alternate forms (Two different forms of the same test
given to an individual- Usually 1 week)

● Standardisation

● Norms
 Variability
● “Normal distribution”
● Frequency distributions of many human traits form a symmetrical bell-shaped
curve
● IQ: Mean of 100, Standard Deviation of 15
Theories of Intelligence: The Factor Analytic
Approach

● Early theorists took the unitary view of intelligence

which viewed intelligence as one general factor

● Factor Analysis – a statistical procedure used to

determine which of several factors are closely related
to one-another and independent of other factors
Charles Spearman (1863-1945)
● Two factor theory of intelligence
● All intellectual functions are based
on a common ability
● A general intelligence ‘g’
● Applied to any intellectual task
● ‘Mental energy’ -
● But also subsets of intelligence (s)
applied to specific tasks
● E.g., math needs g and specialized
arithmetic ability
● There are as many s factors as there
are tasks
Crystallised and Fluid
Intelligence
● Raymond Cattell (1971) and John Horn (1985)

● Crystallised intelligence refers to the application of previously

acquired knowledge to current problems. Knowledge comes
from prior learning and past experiences.
● Examples: Reading, Vocabulary and comprehension tests
● Relies heavily on long term memory

● As we age and accumulate new knowledge and understand this

crystallised intelligence strengthens.
Fluid Intelligence
● Cattell described fluid intelligence as
“the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous
specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships”
● Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to deal with novel
problem solving situations – biological capacity
● Involves creative problem solving skills
● Relies heavily on working memory
● Examples: Solving Puzzles or Problems
● Over our lifetimes we progress from using fluid intelligence to
depending more on crystallised intelligence
The nine dot problem – Scheerer (1963)
The nine dot problem – Scheerer (1963)
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
● Intelligence is not one singular unitary quality
● Proposed seven different kinds of intelligence are generated
from separate pools of mental energy

● Linguistic intelligence
● Logical-mathematical ability
● Spatial intelligence
● Musical intelligence
● Bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence
● Interpersonal intelligence
● Intrapersonal intelligence
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
● “ An intelligence is the ability to solve problems or to create product, that are
valued within one or more cultural settings.”
- Howard Gardner (1983)

• Added two new types in 1999 (Intelligence Reframed)

• Naturalist Intelligence (ability to recognise/categorise plants, animals and other
objects in nature
• Existential Intelligence- sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human
existence, such as meaning of life, why we die, how do we get here?

● Evidence for multiple separate intelligences comes from prodigies, brain damage
and savants

● Brain lesions can cause specific disruptions

● E.g. some damage language ability but spatial/math abilities are left intact
● Localisation of function within the brain
Interpersonal Intelligence and
Intrapersonal Intelligence
‘The capacity to know oneself and to know others is an
inalienable a part of the human condition as is the capacity
to know objects or sounds and it deserves to be investigated
in no less than these other ‘less charged’ forms’ (Howard
Gardner, 1983, p 245)
Social and Emotional
Intelligence
● Social Intelligence
● The ability to navigate and negotiate complex situations
● The ability to get along with others
● Emotional Intelligence
● The ability to perceive, use, understand and manage emotions
● An important adaptive skill in everyday life
● Is it reflective of the original concept of intelligence focused on
mental ability?
● Models of EI (Such as Goleman’s) were criticised by some
● ‘exemplifies more clearly than most the fundamental absurdity of
the tendency to class almost any behaviour as intelligent’
(Eysenck, 2000)
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of
Intelligence
● Defined intelligence as ‘mental activity central to one’s
life in real world environments; individuals succeed in life
when they use mental skills to adapt to; select, and shape
external environments.’ (In late 1990’s changed theory
name to the Theory of Successful Intelligence)
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
● Cognitive Processes Theory
● Concerned not with how people differ from one another but why
people differ in intelligence
● Divides the cognitive processes that contribute to intelligent
behaviour into three classes;
● Metacomponents: higher order processes used to plan and regulate task
performance including problem solving skills
● Performance components: the actual mental processes used to perform
the task including perceptual processing, retrieving memories and
making responses
● Knowledge acquisition components: allows us to learn from our
experiences, store information in memory and combine new insights
with previously acquired information
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
● Three components of intelligent behaviour
● Analytical intelligence – academically orientated problem
solving skills assessed by traditional intelligence tests

● Practical intelligence – skills needed to cope with everyday

demands and to manage oneself and other people effectively.
Emotional intelligence

● Creative intelligence – the mental skills needed to deal adaptively

with novel problems
Gene or the Environment?
● Arthur Jenssen (1969) 80% of IQ is due to inherited factors. Claimed that general
cognitive ability is an inherited trait, determined predominantly by genetic factors,
rather than environmental conditions.

● Thought by some as racist, Jenssen also contended that while associative learning
or memorising ability is equally distributed among races, conceptual learning or
synthesising ability occurs with greater frequency in whites than blacks. (Even
suggested that on average white Americans are more intelligent than
African-Americans and that difference in average performance between the two
groups on intelligence tests might be result of innate differences rather than
contrasts in parental upbringing, formal schooling or other environmental factors)
Genes or the Environment?
● Others suggest approximately 40-50% due to heredity
● Biological reaction range to IQ- refers to the limits placed on IQ by
heredity. Heredity places an upper and lower limit on the IQ attained
by a given person. The environment determines where within these
limits the person’s IQ will lie.
● Environmental Factors
● Pregnancy and birth
● The family
● School and peer group
● The community (Any other examples?)
Extremes of Intelligence
● The intellectually disabled
● APA devised a four-level classification system based on IQ
scores
● Mild (IQ = 50-70)
● Moderate (IQ = 35-50)
● Severe (IQ = 20-35)
● Profound (IQ below 20)
● The intellectually gifted
● IQ of 130 and above
School Achievement
● A myriad of factors have been linked to academic achievement with
the two most important being
● Intelligence: Average correlation between IQ scores and grades is
approximately 0.5 (Neisser et al., 1996)
● Relationship between IQ and school achievement decreases
with age
● Personality
● No clear relationship
● Intellect/Openness and Conscientiousness
● Neuroticism and Extraversion positively related to academic
achievement in middle school but negatively related in college
(Barbaranelli et al., 2003)
School Achievement
● Influence of teachers
● Teachers’ impression of a child’s ability
● Rosenthall & Jacobsen (1968)
● Teachers were told at start of school year that based on an
intelligence test certain children were ‘intellectual bloomers’
● Children’s names were actually picked at random. Any
increase in intelligence existed only in mind of the teacher.
● Eight months later these children showed a greater increase in
their IQ scores than other children in the school
● The differences were more marked in the younger children –
the lower the grade the greater the effect
● Became known as ‘the Pygmalion effect’ – the tendency of a
teacher’s expectation about a child’s academic performance to
become a self-fulfilling prophecy
School Achievement
• Achievement Motivation
● The tendency to strive for successful performance, to evaluate performance and to experience
pleasure as a result of having performed successfully
● Heckhausen and Dweck (1998)
● ‘Mastery-orientated’ children and ‘helpless’ children
● Two groups do not differ in their ability but they think differently about their ability
● Dweck posited that the difference between the helpless response and its opposite—the
determination to master new things and surmount challenges—lay in people’s beliefs
about why they had failed. People who attributed their failures to lack of ability,
Dweck thought, would become discouraged even in areas where they were capable.
Those who thought they simply hadn’t tried hard enough, on the other hand, would be
fuelled by setbacks.
References
● Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., Rabasca, A. and Pastorelli, C.
(2003). A questionnaire for measuring the big five in late
childhood. Personality and Individual Differences, 32,
645–664.
● Binet, A., & Simon, Th. A. (1905). Méthode nouvelle pour le
diagnostic du niveau intellectuel des anormaux. L'Année
Psychologique, 11, 191-244.Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of
mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic
Books.
● Cattell, J.M. (1890). Mental tests and
measurements. Mind,15,373-381 Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple
intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.
● Galton, F. (1869). Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws
and Consequences. London: Macmillan, p. 1 (Reprinted,
Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1999)
●
References
● Heckhausen, J., & Dweck, C. S. (Eds.) (1998). Motivation and self-regulation
across the life span. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Jensen, A. (1969)
"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" Harvard Education
Review 39 1-123; 449-83
● Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Cesi, S. J., et
al. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns. American Psychologist, 51,
77–101.
● Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. 1968. Pygmalion in the classroom. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston
● Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful intelligence. New York, USA: Plume
● Terman, L. M. (1916). The measurement of intelligence: An explanation of and a
complete guide for the use of the Stanford revision and extension of the
Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Tutorial
● Get into your groups
● Decide as a group whether you will be presenting on the
case for nature or nurture or both in the development of
aggression.
● Using evidence from your research papers (and any other
extra readings), make your arguments and back them up.
● Remember, you are presenting other people’s research,
these are not your own ideas.
For Next Week…..
● Please submit a written piece on Friday next (24th October) that
summarises your paper.
● This is NOT your critique! I just want a summary of the main
findings of your paper. You are not expected to understand the
statistics in the results section, and you are not expected to
know how to critique yet
● Check your discussion section and summarise the main
findings of the paper (At least 2 paragraphs).