HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR
SMS 354

Dr. Mrs Emma Sethina Adjaottor

INTELLIGENCE

PART 2
15 YEAR OLD NIGERIAN
MATHEMATICIAN

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
THE PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH: THE
STRUCTURE OF THE INTELLECT
• Psychometrics is the statistical study of
psychological tests. The psychometric
approach to intelligence tries to select and
calculate the abilities that underlie individual
differences in performance

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
• FACTOR ANALYSIS: Two Factor Theory
Factor Analysis looks at the building blocks of
intelligence.
➢Its emphasis is on what intelligence is made
of?
➢Intelligence is made of various factors
➢These are established by giving individuals
different kinds of mental tasks and calculating
scores among them.
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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
➢Groups of tests which tend to perform
similarly are identified and put together
(cluster)
➢If a strong positive correlation exists between
scores on tests of sentence completion,
vocabulary and paragraph comprehension,
researchers might forecast that all three
reflect the underlying factor of verbal ability
of a language

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
• 70 – Reading
• 72 – comprehension
• 68 – writing
• These are underlying factors of verbal ability
of a language

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
➢ Spearman postulates a general intelligence factor
exists
➢The – “g” factor
➢Individuals own this in different degrees thus
describing somebody as generally bright or generally
dull.
➢ Scores on a wide range of mental tests are to
some extent related.
➢ What contributes to these positive correlations is
a general intelligence factor

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

➢This school of thought believes that the “g”

factor underlies all our intelligent behaviour
➢For instance from excelling in ones field of
study to performing house chores
➢The lawyer, the fashion designer, and
carpenter all have these in varying degrees

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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

➢Spearman also proposed special factors each

called “S” – these are specific to particular
abilities.

➢An individual’s tested intelligence would

reflect the amount of a “g” plus the
magnitude of the “S”. They are specific
factors.
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 THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
➢Efia is a medical scientist. Her exam results
are:
➢Physiology – 65
➢Anatomy – 75
➢Pharmacology – 67
➢The above result reflect her general intelligence in
Medical Science
➢The score in Anatomy reflect the “S” (ie, specific
factors, hence people excelling in certain fields
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➢ Kwame is studying Materials Engineering, His
scores are as follows:
• Mathematics - 79
• Principles of Material Science - 65
• Chemistry - 70
• The above result reflect his general intelligence in
Materials Engineering
• The score in Mathematics reflect the “S” (i.e.,
specific factors)

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 CRYSTALLIZED AND FLUID
INTELLIGENCE
CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE

• Crystallized intelligence is the ability to apply

knowledge acquired earlier to current
problems.
• Proponents of this view are John Horn and
Raymond Cattel
• Vocabulary and information tests are good
measures of crystalized intelligence
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 CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE
• It is the basis of expertise and depends on the
ability to retrieve information acquired earlier
and problem solving schemes from long-term
memory

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 FLUID INTELLIGENCE
FLUID INTELLIGENCE
• Their second general factor is fluid intelligence
(gf).
• Fluid intelligence is the ability to deal with
novel problem-solving situations
• Problems for which personal experience does
not provide a solution

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 CONT’D
• It relies mainly on the well organised
functioning of the CNS rather than on past
experience and cultural context

• Individuals high in fluid intelligence can view

relations among stimulus patterns and draw
conclusions from them.

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 CONT’D
• Fluid intelligence demands the ability to
reason abstractly, think logically and manage
information in working memory so that new
problems can be solved

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COGNITIVE PROCESS APPROACHES: THE
NATURE OF INTELLIGENT THINKING

• The cognitive process approach look into

differences in the way people take in and process
information
• Robert Sternberg is one of the leading advocates
to the cognitive process approach to intelligence
• He formulated the triarchic theory of intelligence
• It proposes 3 types of intelligence and the
cognitive processes underlying them

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COGNITIVE PROCESS APPROACHES
• Its main emphasis is to focus on the cognitive
steps used in solving problems, i.e. the mental
operations involved in answering questions
1) Planning a strategy
2) Monitoring its appropriateness
3) Evaluating the quality of the solution that is
reached

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COGNITIVE PROCESS APPROACHES
• Consider this simple example
• Wing is to bird as tire is to ___________
a) fuel
b) Transportation
c) Car

Ankle is to knee as wrist is to __________

a) leg
b) hand
c) elbow

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COGNITIVE PROCESS APPROACHES
• (1) ATOM is to MOLECULE as letter is to word
– Atoms combine to form a molecule, letters
combine to form a word
• (2) PHOTOSYNTHESIS is to PLANTS as
DIGESTION is to ANIMALS
– The process in each case converts nutrients into
fuel needed to grow and develop.

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METACOMPONENTS: They refer to the thinking
processes needed to plan and control task
performance. These include:
• Problem solving skills such as identifying
difficulties in a situation
• Formulating hypothesis (idea or explanation
based on a few known facts) and strategies
• Testing them logically and assessing
performance feedback
• Sternberg proposed that differences in
metacomponents form the basis in fluid
intelligence.
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• Intelligent people spend more time framing
problems and developing strategies
• Less intelligent people, tend to dive right into
a task without sufficient foresight.

PERFORMANCE COMPONENTS: These are the

actual mental processes used to perform the
task.
• These include perceptual processing,
receiving appropriate memories and schema
from LTM and generating responses.
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 KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION COMPONENTS:
• This component helps us learn from our
experiences
• Stores information in memory
• Combine new insights with previously
acquired information
• Sternberg proposed that there is more than
one kind of intelligence. Environmental
demands may call for 3 different classes of
adaptive problem solving and that people
differ in their intellectual strengths in these
areas.
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• Analytical intelligence: This involves the kinds
of academically oriented problem-solving skills
measured by traditional intelligence tests

• Practical intelligence: It refers to skills needed

to cope with daily demands and to manage
oneself and others effectively.

• Creative intelligence: This is made up of the

mental skills needed to deal adaptively with
novel problems

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• Sternberg proposes that these 3 kinds of
intelligence are distinct from one another,
however they have a basic g factor.

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