Presentation on Intelligence

Clever as a Fox? A Look at Intelligence

If you’re so smart…what exactly is intelligence?

Some ideas • "Intelligence is the ability to recognize connections.“ - Carolus Slovinec • "To respond like a human being" -Alan Turing • "The entropy of control responses" - G.N. Saridis • A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do. – "Mainstream Science on Intelligence“ signed by 52 researchers in 1994

Multiple intelligences…better than multiple personalities. • Theory proposed by Howard Gardener that there are several different types of intelligences and that each person has their own “cognitive profile.” • Intelligence based on 8 criteria. • Focused on case studies of individuals with specialized intelligence (child prodigies, autistic savants), people with brain damage in certain areas, evolutionary relevance of certain capacities, the existence of symbolic notation

8 types of intelligences ..not quite 31 flavors • Bodily-Kinesthetic- movement and doing. Muscle memory. Athletes, dancers, actors, comedians ..etc.

• Interpersonal- relationships!

Usually extroverted and sensitive to others emotions. Politicians, managers, teachers…

• Linguistic- control of language.

Learn best through notes/reading. Good at explaining/foreign language. Writers, lawyers, philosophers, politicians and teachers.

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Logical-Mathematical- logic, reasoning, abstraction and numbers. Ability to perform difficult calculations. Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors and economists.

4 more years…4 more intelligences! • Naturalistic- nature, nurturing and relating information to one's natural surroundings. Ability to grow things and nurture animals. Scientists, naturalists, conservationists, gardeners and farmers. One of the “fuzzier” and newer intelligences.

• Intrapersonal- introspective. Self aware of own emotions, goals, and motivations. Philosophers, psychologists, theologians, writers and scientists.

• Spatial- vision and spatial judgments. Overlap with mathematic intelligence. Artists, engineers, and architects.

• Musical- Rhythm, music, and hearing.

Absolute pitch or play instruments. Musicians, singers, conductors, and composers.

•Where does intelligence come from? (Or in other words, did you do the reading?)

Non-traditional intelligences. • Savant syndrome describes a person having a severe developmental or mental handicap with extraordinary mental abilities not found in most people. This means a lower than average general intelligence (IQ) but very high narrow intelligence in one or more fields. • Male savants outnumber females by 6 to 1, slightly higher than autistic disparities. • Can have extensive memory, be “mental calculators.” Usually abilities are concrete, non-symbolic (right hemisphere.) • Some savants have obvious neurological abnormalities but the brains of most savants are anatomically and physiologically normal; at least, there is no abnormality that modern science can detect.

Kim Peek • Inspiration for the Rain man. • Was born with macrocephaly and the bundle of nerves connecting the two hemispheres of the brain were missing. • He reads a book in about an hour and remembers approximately 98% of everything he has read. • Sense of humor emerging since 1994. • http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=AfDEAIszuQI

How do we measure intelligence? Can we use a ruler? • As early as 2200 B.C, Chinese emperors used large scale aptitude tests to select civil servants. • Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the precursor to modern day intelligence tests in 1905. • The most widely used measure of intelligence today is the IQ test. (Standardized and Norm referenced at 100.) There are several different types.

IQ? No you Q! • The IQ test was not originally developed to measure intelligence. Although some argue that it does not represent all forms of intelligence, it is a very accurate predictor of educational and often occupational success. • How important is your IQ? Can you increase your intelligence? What are some of the controversies facing the IQ measurement?

The Mozart Effect…does it fall “bflat” on it’s face? • In 1993, researchers at the University of California discovered that after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata, the average IQ of 36 college students improved by 8-9 points and lasted 10-15 minutes. • Similar neural firings in the cerebral cortex, when listening to music and performing spatial tasks. (Warm up neurons.) • No tests have been performed on babies to see if their spatial intelligence improves with music. However, in 1998, the Governor of Georgia proposed to spend $105,000 to provide newborns free classical music CDs.

IQ on the rise! • Flynn Effect- IQ scores have increased from one generation to the next for all of the countries for which data existed. (5-25 points!) • Some of the tests with the greatest increases are those which are “culturally reduced” (minimize influence of education.) • Why? IQ not a good measure? Education? Societal changes? Better nutrition?

The Bell Curve, ring a bell? • Herrnstein and Murray published book in 1994 which re-united the nature vs. nurture debate. • Argued that IQ has a greater influence on life experiences than Socioeconomic status. • Also argued that since intelligence was mostly inherited, money was wasted in interventionalist policies. • Country composed of “cognitive classes” and “genetic capital” was being eroded by overreproduction of the less intelligent population.

Intelligence Questions from Mensa • • • • • • • • •

24 H in a D 26 L of the A 66 B of the B 52 C in a P (W J) 90 D in a R A 100 C in a D 13 is U F S 1000 Y in a M 60 M in an H

• • • • • • • • •

9 L of a C 6 is H a D 101 K on a S K 25 P is 1 Q N C be D to 0 4 S of the Y 2MaP 7DS 9 M of P

Fun Website • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligen ces • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_savant • http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.shtml • http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/flynneffect.shtml • http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/04/intercourse-andintelligence.php • http://wilderdom.com/personality/L41IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve • http://www.mensa-test.com/