Introduction to Psychology

(Axel Boer) #1

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org



  • Extremely intelligent individuals are not unhealthy or poorly adjusted, but rather are above average in physical health
    and taller and heavier than individuals in the general population.

  • Men and women have almost identical intelligence, but men have more variability in their IQ scores than do women.

  • On average, men do better than women on tasks requiring spatial ability, whereas women do better on verbal tasks
    and score higher on emotional intelligence.

  • Although their bell curves overlap considerably, there are also average group differences for members of different
    racial and ethnic groups.

  • The observed average differences in intelligence between racial and ethnic groups has at times led to malicious
    attempts to correct for them, such as the eugenics movement in the early part of the 20th century.

  • The situation in which one takes a test may create stereotype threat—performance decrements that are caused by
    the knowledge of cultural stereotypes.
    EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING



  1. Were Lawrence Summers’s ideas about the potential causes of differences between men and women math and hard
    sciences careers offensive to you? Why or why not?

  2. Do you think that we should give intelligence tests? Why or why not? Does it matter to you whether or not the tests
    have been standardized and shown to be reliable and valid?

  3. Give your ideas about the practice of providing accelerated classes to children listed as “gifted” in high school. What
    are the potential positive and negative outcomes of doing so? What research evidence has helped you form your
    opinion?

  4. Consider the observed sex and racial differences in intelligence. What implications do you think the differences have
    for education and career choices?
    [1] Baral, B. D., & Das, J. P. (2004). Intelligence: What is indigenous to India and what is shared? In R. J. Sternberg
    (Ed.), International handbook of intelligence (pp. 270–301). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; Sternberg, R. J. (2007).
    Intelligence and culture. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 547–568). New York, NY:
    Guilford Press.
    [2] Johnson, W., Carothers, A., & Deary, I. J. (2009). A role for the X chromosome in sex differences in variability in general
    intelligence? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(6), 598–611.
    [3] Halpern, D. F. (1992). Sex differences in cognitive abilities (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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