Intelligence - ability and capacity to acquire and apply new knowledge fluid vs crystallised fluid - ability to solve new problems, identify patterns and use logic (new stuff) crystallised - ability to use learned knowledge and experiences Francis Galton · Convinced that higher intelligence was caused by superior qualities passed down to children by heredity · Forefather of intelligence tests who believed there were differences in intelligence . The ability to respond to the large range of information available to the senses - e.g. discriminate between hot and cold; reaction time; keenness of sight and hearing O some measures since discarded; however some of his measures including reaction time is still very much in use · felt people of low intelligence wil show less response to sensory information e.g. the ability to differentiate between heat and cold and being unable to recognise pain Alfred Binet created the first intelligence test - In 1904 French government commissioned Binet to devise techniques to identify children who needed extra/alternative schooling. Developed (with Theodore Simon) a series of 30 short tasks related to everyday life known as the Binet-Simon scale (easy to hard to indicate levels of intensity): · Following a lighted match with your eyes (easy) · Naming parts of the body; repeating sentences (medium) · Reproduce a drawing; recall digit strings (difficult) - used around 50 children Introduced the concept of age · used to determine a child's mental age How well is child doing compared to his/her age group e.g. a 7-year old child who passed the tests of 7 year olds but not 8 year olds would have a mental age of 7 . This legacy is still with us today e.g. reading age in which children are judged on their ability in reading in relation to where they should be at a certain age final publication of tests in 1911 had tests for 3 to 10 year olds, as well as 12 and 15 year olds and adults Is now in its fifth edition (Roid, 2003) and is used among people aged 2 - 90+ yrs and measures fluid reasoning, working memory, visuo-spatial processing etc. Lewis Terman · US based, Terman uses the Binet-Simon test on Californian school-children
· found the age norms that Binet and Simon devised for children in France didn't work very well for children in California · Made revisions: Stanford-Binet test which was applicable to children aged from 4 to 14 yrs. At 4 yrs, children would be asked which line is longer after comparing two horizontal lines or copy a square etc. At age 9, would be asked what day of the week it is and year. · Highlighted the need for standardised tests based on representative samples - tested over 1,000 children which is much larger compared to the 50 used by Binet so gained more accurate and representative scores for standardised testing · what is a normal score/range of scores? · Stern (1912) developed the idea of an intelligent quotient = ratio