Invitation to Psychology

246 Chapter 7 Thinking and Intelligence

You are about to learn...

•    how the ability to control attention enhances

intelligence.

•    about some proposed kinds of intelligence that

are not measured by IQ tests.

•    why “emotional intelligence” might be as

important as IQ.

Dissecting Intelligence:

the Cognitive approach

Critics of standard intelligence tests point out

that such tests tell us little about how a per-

son goes about answering questions and solving

effects (Good, Aronson, & Harder, 2008; Johns,

Schmader, & Martens, 2005; Schmader, 2010).

Watch the Video In the Real World: Intelligence

Tests and Stereotypes at MyPsychLab

Stereotype threat is thus an important con-

tributing factor in group differences in test

performance, but it is not the only one. Group dif-

ferences remain, and that fact points to a dilemma

at the heart of intelligence and mental-ability

testing. Intelligence and other mental-ability tests

put some groups of people at a disadvantage, yet

they also measure skills and knowledge useful in

the classroom and on the job. How can psycholo-

gists and educators recognize and accept cultural

differences and, at the same time, promote the

mastery of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes

that can help people succeed in school and in the

larger society?

Whether or not you feel stereotype threat depends on

what category you are identifying with at the time. Asian

women do worse on math tests when they see them-

selves as “women” (stereotype = poor at math) rather

than as “Asians” (stereotype = good at math) (Shih,

Pittinsky, & Ambady, 1999).

Recite & Review

Recite: Check your Quiz Quotient (QQ) by saying aloud everything you can about intelligence, the

psychometric approach, factor analysis, the g factor, the intelligence quotient, IQ tests, and stereo-

type threat.

Review: Next, reread this section and make sure you really understand it.

Now act intelligently by taking this Quick Quiz:

1. What is the difference between crystallized and fluid intelligence?


2. What was Binet’s great insight?


3. Hilda, who is 68, is about to take an IQ test, but she is worried because she knows that
   older people are often assumed to have diminished mental abilities. Hilda is being affected by
   __.
   Answers:

Study and Review at MyPsychLab

Crystallized intelligence consists of cognitive skills and specific knowledge; it is heavily dependent on education and tends to 1.

be stable. Fluid intelligence is the capacity to reason and solve problems; it is relatively independent of education and tends to

stereotype threat 3. Mental age does not necessarily correspond to chronological age.2. decrease in old age.

problems. Nor do the tests explain why peo-

ple with low scores often do intelligent things

in real life, from

making smart con-

sumer decisions to

devising a winning

betting strategy

at the racetrack.

Therefore, many

psychological sci-

entists believe that the psychometric approach

yields an incomplete picture of intelligence.

They take a cognitive approach to intelligence, aim-

ing to identify the cognitive processes and strat-

egies that people use when they are thinking and

behaving intelligently.

About What It Means to

Be Smart

Thinking

CriTiCally