Deck 8: Measuring the Mind: Galton and Individual Differences

Question 1

When measurements such as height and weight are collected from large populations,the collective data will invariably show all of the following features EXCEPT

A) many more measurements that fall in the middle ranges than at the extremes.
B) individual scores most widely separated from each other at the extremes.
C) it will demonstrate the effect called regression towards the mean.
D) it will arrange itself into a bell-shaped distribution.

Answer 1

it will demonstrate the effect called regression towards the mean.

Question 2

Galton's book English Men of Science is notable today because it was

A) the first to prove that scientific interests are innate.
B) the first to use the self-questionnaire method to study a psychological problem and to analyze the results statistically.
C) the first major work to use the correlation coefficient.
D) a conclusive demonstration of the heritability of scientific intelligence.

Answer 2

the first to use the self-questionnaire method to study a psychological problem and to analyze the results statistically.

Question 3

Which of the following was included among Galton's tests of "intelligence" at his 1884 anthropometric laboratory?

A) arithmetic
B) reaction time
C) vocabulary
D) word association

Answer 3

reaction time

Question 4

Unlike Wundt and Fechner,who focused on establishing general psychological principles,Francis Galton was interested in developing a psychology that focused on

A) individual differences.
B) personality.
C) mental illness.
D) sensory experience.

Question 5

Francis Galton and Alphonse de Candolle both studied scientific eminence and each a published book on the subject.Although they investigated the same subject matter,Galton emphasized the relative importance of __________ for scientific eminence,while de Candolle placed more importance on __________.

A) heredity; environment
B) environment; heredity
C) birth order; early education
D) early education; birth order

Question 6

A flaw in Galton's tests of intelligence at the 1884 anthropometric laboratory was the

A) crudity of his measuring instruments.
B) small number of subjects on which they were tried.
C) underlying assumption of a strong correlation between practical intelligence and sensory acuity.
D) statistical methods by which he analyzed his results.

Question 7

Francis Galton's formal academic training was primarily in the fields of

A) medicine and mathematics.
B) biology and psychology.
C) geography and statistics.
D) history and botany.

Question 8

Swiss botanist Alphonse de Candolle's 1872 book History of the Sciences and Scientists over Two Centuries was important for all the following reasons EXCEPT

A) it showed the importance of environmental factors such as climate, government, and religious institutions in producing eminent scientists.
B) it stimulated Galton to do the research for English Men of Science.
C) it fully supported the strongly hereditarian position of Hereditary Genius.
D) its criticism of many popular uses of the word nature inspired Galton to propose the phrase nature and nurture.

Question 9

According to Galton's data in Hereditary Genius,which kinds of relatives are most likely to share the trait of eminence?

A) any relatives of the first three degrees, so long as they have similar environments
B) uncles and nephews
C) grandfathers and grandsons
D) brothers

Question 10

Which of the following books first made a strong case for the inheritance of human psychological characteristics?

A) Darwin's Origin of Species
B) De Candolle's History of the Sciences and Scientists Over Two Centuries
C) Galton's Natural Inheritance
D) Galton's Hereditary Genius

Question 11

The fact that physical variables such as height or weight fall into normal distributions when measured in large numbers of people was initially documented by

A) Adolph Quetelet.
B) Charles Darwin.
C) Francis Galton.
D) Karl Pearson.

Question 12

The idea that the human race may be improved by selective breeding,in much the same manner as animal breeders carefully select for certain traits,is known as

A) eugenics.
B) evolution by natural selection.
C) social Darwinism.
D) evolution by artificial selection.

Question 13

Galton's personal conviction that differences in intellectual ability are largely innate arose in part because

A) in school he found himself easily surpassing other students who came from much more privileged backgrounds than himself.
B) in school he found that he could not compete successfully against the very top students, despite his own privileged background.
C) he observed that the top scientists tended to come from specific countries.
D) males tended to outperform females in academic tasks.

Question 14

The major purpose for which Galton devised the idea of intelligence tests was to

A) help stream children into appropriate school classes.
B) prove that men were more intelligent than women.
C) show that psychology could be a quantitative science.
D) select the most able young people for eugenic breeding.

Question 15

Francis Galton made important contributions to all of the following fields EXCEPT

A) meteorology.
B) geology.
C) genetics.
D) statistics.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT true of Francis Galton's early life?

A) He could read and write before the age of 3.
B) He quoted from the Iliad and the Odyssey by the age of 6.
C) He enrolled as a medical student at Birmingham General Hospital when he was 16.
D) He earned the title of senior "wrangler" on the Mathematical Tripos Examination at age 18.

Question 17

A psychology that focuses on the measurement and study of variations among people on a psychological characteristic rather than general qualities of that characteristic is known as

A) psychophysics.
B) self-psychology.
C) psychology of individual differences.
D) structuralism.

Question 18

Francis Galton's first entrée into the British scientific world came primarily through his

A) contacts with Charles Darwin.
B) African exploration and affiliation with the Royal Geographical Society.
C) fingerprinting work and collaboration with Scotland Yard.
D) prize-winning work in mathematics as a Cambridge undergraduate.

Question 19

As a young man,Francis Galton was profoundly influenced by

A) an uncle who taught him elementary statistics.
B) a phrenologist who told him his brain and intelligence were naturally better suited to practical than to academic pursuits.
C) a minister who convinced him to pursue altruistic goals.
D) his grandfather Erasmus Darwin, who taught him evolution.

Question 20

If we randomly select 100 people and arrange them in order of height,which of the following pairs will probably show the greatest differences between their two heights?

A) 10ᵗʰ tallest and 11ᵗʰ tallest
B) 49ᵗʰ tallest and 50ᵗʰ tallest
C) shortest to second shortest
D) The differences between all adjacent pairs will be about the same.

Question 21

The most definitive estimate of the heritability of intelligence is currently represented by

A) Galton's original assertion that "nature prevails enormously over nurture."
B) Newman, Freeman, and Holzinger's estimate of about 50-50.
C) Cyril Burt's reported correlations of .80 and above.
D) the Minnesota study (MISTRA)'s estimate of about .70 for a middle-class population that did not include impoverished or underprivileged subjects.

Question 22

Which of the following represents the strongest correlation coefficient?

A) -.5
B) +.7
C) 0
D) +10

Question 23

As a result of organizing his data into __________,Galton noticed a pattern he termed regression toward the mean.

A) normal distributions
B) regression lines
C) scatter plots
D) bell curves

Question 24

When there is a complete absence of a relationship between two variables,the regression line representing that relationship will be

A) horizontal.
B) 45 degrees from the horizontal.
C) U-shaped.
D) irregular and curved.

Question 25

Although Galton is best known to psychologists for his work on behavior genetics,statistical methods,and intelligence testing,he also contributed importantly to

A) meteorology.
B) computer science.
C) geology.
D) social influence theory.

Question 26

Galton's word association experiments may well have had an influence on

A) Sigmund Freud.
B) Alphonse de Candolle.
C) Adolphe Quetelet.
D) Gustav Fechner.

Question 27

All of the following are true of Galton's studies of mental imagery EXCEPT that he

A) concluded normal people vary dramatically in the frequency, intensity, and vividness of their visualization.
B) found scientists possessed an extremely vivid visualizing capacity.
C) used a self-administered questionnaire to collect his data.
D) asked subjects to describe their mental images in terms of qualities such as brightness, color, and distinctness.

Question 28

In the 1920s behavioral geneticists realized that research on "separated" twins could be used to determine the "heritability" of any measurable trait,but only if certain conditions were met.Which of the following was NOT one of those conditions?

A) The twins must come from a representative sample of biological parents.
B) The twins must be dizygotic.
C) The twins must have been randomly placed in a representative sample of adoptive foster homes.
D) The twins must have been separated completely and very early.

Question 29

Galton justified his neurophysiological approach to intelligence testing with all of the following arguments EXCEPT that

A) mentally subnormal people supposedly cannot distinguish well between hot and cold.
B) women are supposedly both less intelligent than men and less able to select a fine wine.
C) large head sizes must reflect large and powerful brains within.
D) people with quick reaction times also have large vocabularies.

Question 30

In the 1960s British psychologist Sir Cyril Burt published a study on separated twins indicating that nature was much more important than nurture in determining intelligence.All of the following statements about Burt's study are true EXCEPT it

A) temporarily tipped the balance of informed opinion toward the hereditarian view.
B) was influenced by the ideas of Galton.
C) was later found to be deeply flawed and perhaps fraudulent.
D) introduced new research techniques that have continued to be employed in later twin studies.

Question 31

The phrase nature and nurture was introduced and popularized by

A) de Candolle in History of the Sciences and Scientists over Two Centuries.
B) Darwin in The Origin of Species.
C) Galton in English Men of Science.
D) Newman, Freeman, and Holzinger in their study of separated twins.

Question 32

Who devised the computing formula now commonly used to calculate correlation coefficients?

A) Karl Holzinger
B) Karl Pearson
C) Adolph Quetelet
D) Alphonse de Candolle

Question 33

When a student scores extremely poorly on one examination but then improves on the next,he or she demonstrates what statisticians call

A) the law of regular deviations.
B) the rebound effect.
C) random fluctuation.
D) regression toward the mean.

Question 34

Which of the following has NOT been a problem in conducting a scientifically definitive study of separated identical twins?

A) finding twin pairs who were completely separated from each other at an early age
B) finding twin pairs reared randomly in environments representative of the full range of the general population
C) finding intelligence tests suitable for administration to close relatives
D) including a representative number of twins who had been placed in impoverished adoptive environments

Question 35

Arthur Jensen relied heavily on the work of __________ in making his argument that Head Start programs have been ineffective because intelligence is primarily__________.

A) Leon Kamin; hereditary
B) Cyril Burt; hereditary
C) Leon Kamin; environmentally caused
D) Cyril Burt; environmentally caused

Question 36

If the educational environments of all children could be made more equal,then the heritability value for their IQ scores would tend to

A) remain the same.
B) increase.
C) decrease.
D) be impossible to predict.

Question 37

The first major study of separated twins was done in 1937 by a biologist,a psychologist,and a statistician.All of the following are true about this study EXCEPT

A) there was a positive correlation between the twins' IQ, indicating a significant role for heredity.
B) those twin pairs who had been most completely separated and reared in different environments showed the greatest IQ differences, indicating a significant role for environment.
C) it was difficult to find identical twin pairs who had been fully separated.
D) the study involved more than 100 twin pairs.

Question 38

Cyril Burt's study of separated identical twins was briefly considered to be the best of its kind primarily because of its claim that

A) its twin pairs had been placed completely randomly in a full range of adoptive families.
B) its twin sample had been collected over a period of several decades.
C) the intelligence tests it employed were more reliable than in other studies.
D) it used the most sophisticated statistical procedures to arrive at its results.

Question 39

Studies of separated identical twins have had the purpose of measuring the "heritability" of various characteristics including IQ.That heritability figure is defined as the

A) proportion of each person's intelligence that was determined by heredity.
B) proportion of the IQ variability within the tested population that was determined by heredity.
C) "leftover" variability in intelligence after all environmental influences have been accounted for.
D) variability in intelligence after errors in measurement have been accounted for.

Question 40

When Galton studied his own associations,he discovered that

A) they flowed and could be recorded surprisingly easily.
B) most were determined by his immediate settings.
C) many dated from childhood and some were embarrassing to recall.
D) very few were ever repeated.

Question 41

Match the contribution with its major originator(s).
Adolphe Quetelet

A)basic idea for statistical correlation and regression
B)concept of the normal distribution
C)developed the computing formula for coefficient of correlation

Question 42

Match the contribution with its major originator(s).
Karl Pearson

A)basic idea for statistical correlation and regression
B)concept of the normal distribution
C)developed the computing formula for coefficient of correlation

Question 43

Match the publication with its author.
Arthur Jensen

A)Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study
B)"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?"
C)"The History of Twins,as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nur-ture"
D)The Science and Politics of I.Q.

Question 44

Match the publication with its author.
Alphonse de Candolle

A)English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture
B)History of the Sciences and Scientists over Two Centuries
C)The Descent of Man

Question 45

Match the controversy with the individual.
Francis Galton

A)He published studies of twin pairs reared apart,now discredited but supposedly conducted under nearly ideal scientific conditions,and suggesting a heritability of IQ is as high as .8.
B)He hypothesized that the average IQ difference between African American and white Americans is significantly determined by genetic factors.
C)His idea for eugenics,initially envisioned as a positive program to promote breed-ing by the gifted,was later taken up in negative programs designed to eliminate breeding by the unfit.

Question 46

Match the controversy with the individual.
Cyril Burt

A)He published studies of twin pairs reared apart,now discredited but supposedly conducted under nearly ideal scientific conditions,and suggesting a heritability of IQ is as high as .8.
B)He hypothesized that the average IQ difference between African American and white Americans is significantly determined by genetic factors.
C)His idea for eugenics,initially envisioned as a positive program to promote breed-ing by the gifted,was later taken up in negative programs designed to eliminate breeding by the unfit.

Question 47

Leon Kamin has said that his initial questions about Burt's twin research were aroused because

A) Burt's studies were not published in reputable psychology journals.
B) Burt's sample sizes were too small to enable firm conclusions.
C) Burt's reported results were too theoretically "perfect" to be statistically credible.
D) Burt had had little experience in measuring intelligence.

Question 48

Match the twin study with its corresponding author(s).
Cyril Burt

A)a now discredited study suggesting an extremely high heritability for intelligence
B)a questionnaire study completed by more than 100 adult twin pairs
C)the first major study of separated identical twins
D)the largest twin study yet conducted

Question 49

Match the publication with its author.
Francis Galton

A)English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture
B)History of the Sciences and Scientists over Two Centuries
C)The Descent of Man

Question 50

Galton's stated arguments in support of his anthropometric tests as measures of intellectual ability included all of the following EXCEPT his belief that

A) women are inferior to men in sensory discrimination as well as in intelligence.
B) mentally subnormal people are also deficient in sensory acuity.
C) quickness in reaction times was associated with general efficiency in mental activity.
D) children's poorer performance than adults on these tests was because of their still undeveloped intelligence.

Question 51

Galton's theories were substantially influenced by all of the following scientists EXCEPT

A) John Stuart Mill.
B) Charles Darwin.
C) Adolphe Quetelet.
D) Alphonse de Candolle.

Question 52

For Galton,the most important goal of an ideal eugenic society would be to

A) replace the educational system's emphasis on classics with more focus on science.
B) provide the ideal environment for children's intellectual development.
C) promote breeding among the most gifted young men and women.
D) discourage breeding among the least gifted young men and women.

Question 53

Arthur Jensen's analysis of the effectiveness of compensatory education programs for inner-city children arose especially great controversy because it

A) suggested the programs had not worked as well as hoped.
B) hypothesized that racial differences may have played a role in the disappointing performance of African American children.
C) questioned the value of early education in mathematics.
D) questioned the competence of the people who teach in inner city environments.

Question 54

Match the publication with its author.
Charles Darwin

A)English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture
B)History of the Sciences and Scientists over Two Centuries
C)The Descent of Man

Question 55

After adopting the concept of "nature and nurture" Galton argued that

A) in general nature is more important than nurture.
B) the two factors are equal in importance.
C) in general nurture is more important than nature.
D) the two factors interact in such complex ways that it is impossible to separate their effects.

Question 56

Match the twin study with its corresponding author(s).
Francis Galton

A)a now discredited study suggesting an extremely high heritability for intelligence
B)a questionnaire study completed by more than 100 adult twin pairs
C)the first major study of separated identical twins
D)the largest twin study yet conducted

Question 57

Match the controversy with the individual.
Arthur Jensen

A)He published studies of twin pairs reared apart,now discredited but supposedly conducted under nearly ideal scientific conditions,and suggesting a heritability of IQ is as high as .8.
B)He hypothesized that the average IQ difference between African American and white Americans is significantly determined by genetic factors.
C)His idea for eugenics,initially envisioned as a positive program to promote breed-ing by the gifted,was later taken up in negative programs designed to eliminate breeding by the unfit.

Question 58

Match the contribution with its major originator(s).
Francis Galton

A)basic idea for statistical correlation and regression
B)concept of the normal distribution
C)developed the computing formula for coefficient of correlation

Question 59

Match the twin study with its corresponding author(s).
Horatio Newman,Frank Freeman,and Karl Holzinger

A)a now discredited study suggesting an extremely high heritability for intelligence
B)a questionnaire study completed by more than 100 adult twin pairs
C)the first major study of separated identical twins
D)the largest twin study yet conducted

Question 60

Match the twin study with its corresponding author(s).
Thomas Bouchard and colleagues at the University of Minnesota

A)a now discredited study suggesting an extremely high heritability for intelligence
B)a questionnaire study completed by more than 100 adult twin pairs
C)the first major study of separated identical twins
D)the largest twin study yet conducted

Question 61

Match the definition with the term.
heritability

A)a discipline that focuses on the measurement and study of variations among peo-ple on a psychological characteristic
B)the percentage of a characteristic's variability within a population that is deter-mined by genetics
C)the project of improving the human race through selective breeding

Question 62

Match the definition with the term.
regression toward the mean

A)derived by following a convenient formula for computing product moment corre-lation coefficients,which can also account for negative relationships
B)a numerically precise value of the strength of a relationship between two variables
C)the tendency for extreme scores on one variable to be associated with less extreme scores on another variable

Question 63

Match the publication with its author.
Nancy Segal

A)Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study
B)"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?"
C)"The History of Twins,as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nur-ture"
D)The Science and Politics of I.Q.

Question 64

Match the definition with the term.
coefficient of correlation

A)derived by following a convenient formula for computing product moment corre-lation coefficients,which can also account for negative relationships
B)a numerically precise value of the strength of a relationship between two variables
C)the tendency for extreme scores on one variable to be associated with less extreme scores on another variable

Question 65

Match the definition with the term.
psychology of individual differences

A)a discipline that focuses on the measurement and study of variations among peo-ple on a psychological characteristic
B)the percentage of a characteristic's variability within a population that is deter-mined by genetics
C)the project of improving the human race through selective breeding

Question 66

Match the understanding of intelligence with the individual.
Francis Galton

A)hypothesized that the average lower IQ scores of African Americans,compared to white Americans,was partly the result of genetic factors
B)assumed a strong correlation between practical intelligence and sensory acuity
C)emphasized the role of heredity in determining intelligence and calculated the her-itability of intelligence to be .8

Question 67

Match the definition with the term.
normal distribution

A)a bell-shaped curve representing measurements in which more scores fall in the middle ranges than at the extremes
B)a grid in which the scores for two variables can be plotted against each other
C)a mathematical means of measuring the strength of the association between two imperfectly related variables

Question 68

Match the publication with its author.
Leon Kamin

A)Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study
B)"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?"
C)"The History of Twins,as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nur-ture"
D)The Science and Politics of I.Q.

Question 69

Match the definition with the term.
statistical correlation

A)a bell-shaped curve representing measurements in which more scores fall in the middle ranges than at the extremes
B)a grid in which the scores for two variables can be plotted against each other
C)a mathematical means of measuring the strength of the association between two imperfectly related variables

Question 70

Match the understanding of intelligence with the individual.
Cyril Burt

A)hypothesized that the average lower IQ scores of African Americans,compared to white Americans,was partly the result of genetic factors
B)assumed a strong correlation between practical intelligence and sensory acuity
C)emphasized the role of heredity in determining intelligence and calculated the her-itability of intelligence to be .8

Question 71

Match the definition with the term.
separated-twin study

A)recording the first reactions that come to mind following the random presentation of stimulus words
B)the distribution of a standard set of questions to a large sample of respondents
C)the investigation of the characteristics of adult monozygotic twins raised in dif-ferent adoptive environments
D)the investigation the similarities and differences between different categories of twin pairs

Question 72

Match the definition with the term.
word-association technique

A)recording the first reactions that come to mind following the random presentation of stimulus words
B)the distribution of a standard set of questions to a large sample of respondents
C)the investigation of the characteristics of adult monozygotic twins raised in dif-ferent adoptive environments
D)the investigation the similarities and differences between different categories of twin pairs

Question 73

Match the understanding of intelligence with the individual.
Arthur Jensen

A)hypothesized that the average lower IQ scores of African Americans,compared to white Americans,was partly the result of genetic factors
B)assumed a strong correlation between practical intelligence and sensory acuity
C)emphasized the role of heredity in determining intelligence and calculated the her-itability of intelligence to be .8

Question 74

Define heritability.

Question 75

Match the definition with the term.
scatter plot

A)a bell-shaped curve representing measurements in which more scores fall in the middle ranges than at the extremes
B)a grid in which the scores for two variables can be plotted against each other
C)a mathematical means of measuring the strength of the association between two imperfectly related variables

Question 76

Match the definition with the term.
eugenics

A)a discipline that focuses on the measurement and study of variations among peo-ple on a psychological characteristic
B)the percentage of a characteristic's variability within a population that is deter-mined by genetics
C)the project of improving the human race through selective breeding

Question 77

Match the definition with the term.
twin-study method

A)recording the first reactions that come to mind following the random presentation of stimulus words
B)the distribution of a standard set of questions to a large sample of respondents
C)the investigation of the characteristics of adult monozygotic twins raised in dif-ferent adoptive environments
D)the investigation the similarities and differences between different categories of twin pairs

Question 78

Match the publication with its author.
Francis Galton

A)Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study
B)"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?"
C)"The History of Twins,as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nur-ture"
D)The Science and Politics of I.Q.

Question 79

Match the definition with the term.
Pearson's r

A)derived by following a convenient formula for computing product moment corre-lation coefficients,which can also account for negative relationships
B)a numerically precise value of the strength of a relationship between two variables
C)the tendency for extreme scores on one variable to be associated with less extreme scores on another variable

Question 80

Match the definition with the term.
self-questionnaire method

A)recording the first reactions that come to mind following the random presentation of stimulus words
B)the distribution of a standard set of questions to a large sample of respondents
C)the investigation of the characteristics of adult monozygotic twins raised in dif-ferent adoptive environments
D)the investigation the similarities and differences between different categories of twin pairs