Deck 9: D: Intelligence Testing

Question 1

Alfred Binet's insight regarding a method of measuring achievement had an international impact in the twentieth century.What was the original purpose of his test and how did he quantify (measure)achievement? What scoring system did later researchers base on Binet's method,and how was it originally calculated?

Answer 1

The French government asked Alfred Binet to develop a test that would assist with identifying school children who may need extra help.Binet thought that intelligence allows a person to think,understand,reason,and adapt to overcome obstacles.He also thought that it was the result of a complex interaction of processes including memory,attention,and comprehension.Binet and his colleague,Theodore Simon,developed thirty tasks of increasing difficulty that,when completed,would demonstrate the child's current abilities.The researchers gave the tests to children of different ages thus creating a "standard score" for each age.When the test was administered to a child,the score was compared to Binet's standards to determine the child's "mental age." The mental age was divided by the child's actual age to create an "intelligence quotient" (IQ).The notion of dividing a test score by a standard score was carried over to the United States in the form of the Stanford-Binet intelligence test.However,administrators of this test claimed it measured innate intelligence instead of current abilities (which was the premise of Binet's tests).

Question 2

Some researchers,including Howard Gardner,have proposed the idea that there are multiple types of intelligences.Explain Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and give three examples of evidence that supports this theory.

Answer 2

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences claims that there are different forms of intelligence,with each being independent from the others.Those intelligences include: verbal/linguistic,logical/mathematical,visual/spatial,bodily/kinesthetic,musical/rhythmical,interpersonal,intrapersonal,naturalist,and existential.
There are many individuals who show extreme abilities in a specific domain,such as music,art,math,memory,or sports,but display very limited abilities in other domains such as language,social skills,or the ability to care for oneself.Evidence for Gardner's theory can be found in:
(1)savants,who have extraordinary abilities in limited domains,very poor abilities in many others,and low g;
(2)cases of people with brain damage.This indicates that some specific abilities can be dramatically affected while others remained intact;and
(3)normal people who differ widely in their abilities and talents,having a knack for some things but being hopeless at others (this doesn't fit the notion that intelligence is a single,overarching ability).