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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper No 1: Cognitive Science

Module No and Title Module No 25: Human Intelligence - I

Module Tag PSY_P1_M25

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Learning Outcomes 2. Introduction 3. What do you mean by human intelligence? 4. Theories of human intelligence 4.1. Spearman’s two-factor theory 4.2. Thurstone and the specific mental abilities 4.3. Cattell and Horn’s theory 4.4. Carroll’s Three-Stratum Model 4.5. Sternberg’s triarchic theory 4.6. Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence 4.7. Mayer-Salovey-Caruso’s structure of emotional intelligence 5. Neurocognition in intelligence 5.1. What do you understand by neurocognitive psychology? 5.2. What role does neurocognition play in intelligence? 6. Summary

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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Learning

1. Learning Outcomes

After studying this module, you shall be able to:

 Understand and define human intelligence

 Understand the historical perspective of intelligence

 Understand different theories of intelligence

 Understand the role of neurocognition in human intelligence

2. Introduction

The moment we talk about intelligent people, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkins and Steve Jobs are some of the most frequently occurring names in our minds. But, how do we consider these people intelligent? What do we actually understand by human intelligence? How did the concept of intelligence come into being? What did people infer from intelligence in the historical times? What are the different theories through which we can better understand this concept? Also, what is the significant role of neurocognition in human intelligence? We will be able to fetch answers to all such questions in this module. With the help of various examples we will understand the concept of intelligence, its emergence, theories and the role of neurocognition.

Fig. 1. Stephen Hawking, British cosmologist

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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3. What do you mean by Human Intelligence?

For more than a century, many of the psychologists and researchers have been trying to formulate the most agreeable definition of human intelligence, but in vain. In our discussion, we would dwell on the following definition given by American psychologist David Wechsler, “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his or her environment (Wechsler, 1944, p. 3)”.

Let’s consider an example wherein, Sara has to complete her school assignment which is to be submitted the next day and her computer is not working. In such a situation, rather than crying over the computer, she walks over to the cyber café to complete her assignment. Can we say Sara is intelligent? Yes, because she thought rationally and acted purposefully to solve her problem. She also dealt effectively with her environment. Thus, intelligence is majorly about cognitive processes, which involve problem solving, using higher-order mental processes and memory. Now, intelligence is an ability possessed by each human being, but differs from person to person. These individual differences are what attract researchers to study about it. Thus, the concept of intelligence majorly focuses on two areas- individual differences in intelligence and assessment of intelligence. As we have studied about these two areas in the previous module, we would now move backward in the historical times and focus on how this concept emerged.

4. Theories of Human Intelligence

As we studied in the previous section, human intelligence cannot be confined to merely verbal mental competencies, but also the non-verbal ones. Wechsler emphasized intelligence to be a group of two distinct but related mental abilities. But what does a layman understand of these verbal and non-verbal competencies? To broaden the nature and understanding of intelligence, various theories have been developed by the psychologists, about which we would be reading in the following sections.

4.1 Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory Charles Edward Spearman (1863-1945) was an English psychologist, who advanced the two-factor theory in 1927. In his theory, he stated that intelligence consists of two factors, namely ‘g’ factor and ‘s’ factor. He described ‘g’ factor as the general intelligence, which refers to the overall score obtained in an intelligence test. Spearman used the statistical technique of factor analysis to identify different clusters (such as, PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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verbal and mathematical reasoning) under which lie the highly correlating behaviours, and thus defined the specific mental abilities. For instance, Ana and Peter took an intelligence test which consisted of 20 items, having 10 verbal and 10 mathematical reasoning based items. Both of them answered 80% of the items correctly and hence, have the same level of general intelligence. However, when analysed closely, it was found that Ana answered 100% of the mathematical reasoning items correctly and 75% of the verbal reasoning items correctly. On the other hand, Peter was found to answer 75% of the mathematical reasoning items correctly and 100% of the verbal reasoning items correctly. Thus, even if Ana and Peter have same level of general intelligence, they don’t possess same specific mental abilities. Ana clearly has a higher ability on the domain of mathematical reasoning, whereas Peter has higher verbal reasoning capacity.

Fig. 8. Spearman’s theory stated that general intelligence consisted of specific mental abilities which differs from person to person

4.2 Thurstone and the Specific Mental Abilities Louis Leon Thurstone (1887-1955) was a pioneer in the fields of psychophysics and psychometrics. He proposed the Multiple-Factor Theory, denying the importance of PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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general intelligence, as he believed that it minimizes the importance of specific abilities which constitutes the human intelligence. Like Spearman, Thurstone also used factor analysis to identify 7 specific mental abilities by forming clusters. These abilities were:

 Verbal comprehension: the ability to read, define and understand words

 Number: the ability to apply arithmetic operations and, understand and solve arithmetic problems

 Word fluency: the ability to produce words fluently

 Spatial visualization: the ability to mentally visualize objects (e.g., 3-D objects)

 Associative memory: the ability to associate unrelated items and the skill of memorizing and recalling

 Inductive reasoning: the ability to identify the problems and their rules and reason the solution

 Perceptual speed: the ability to perceive the similarities and differences of the objects 4.3 Cattell and Horn’s Theory Raymond Cattell (1905-1998) proposed a theory of the structure of intelligence in 1941, which was revised and extended by John L. Horn (1929-2006) in 1965. Cattell and Horn used the statistical technique of factor analysis to breakdown Spearman’s ‘g’ factor and identify two major factors of intelligence, which they named Crystallized intelligence (gc) and Fluid intelligence (gf).

Crystallized intelligence is defined as the ability to use previously acquired knowledge to solve current problems and deal with his or her environment. For example, Kiara was given a mathematical problem by her tuition teacher to be solved within half an hour. She used the formulae learnt in the previous class to solve the given problem. Thus, she used her crystallized intelligence for solving the problem. Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to reason or solve current problems by producing novel and innovative ideas. This part of intelligence doesn’t require previously learnt information to deal with current situations. For example, it was the use of their fluid intelligence, i.e. creative thinking, which lead the Wright Brothers to the invention of airplane. Thus, fluid intelligence simply means the ability to think differently and uniquely.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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4.4 Carroll’s Three Stratum Model American psychologist John Bissell Carroll (1916-2003) proposed a model of intelligence in 1993, in which he gave three layers of intelligence. It was based on the factor-analytic study of 460 different sets of data acquired by researchers around the world between the years 1935 to 1980. This model consists of the contents of all the three: Spearman’s, Thurstones’s and Cattell-Horn’s theory. The three layers or stratums of cognitive ability this model consists of are: general, broad and narrow, set in a hierarchical manner.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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General (Stratum III): The topmost layer consists of the g factor, which is believed to underlie most of the cognitive activities. Broad (Stratum II): The second layer consists of the eight broad cognitive factors arranged in descending order from left to right, in terms of the extent to which they are influenced by the g factor. Fluid intelligence is most strongly influenced and processing speed is the least influenced by ‘g’. Narrow (Stratum I): The bottom most layer consists of almost 70 highly specific abilities that are correlated with the second-stratum factors. They reflect the common g factor at the top. Carroll believed that his model provided a complete and in-depth map of the human cognitive abilities, derived with the help of psychometric approach.

4.5 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Robert Jeffrey Sternberg is an American cognitive psychologist, who expressed a much wider view of intelligence. He proposed a theory in 1986, in which he defined the psychological processes that influence intellectual behaviour and also defined diverse forms of intelligence. This theory consists of three forms of intelligence and the three underlying psychological processes, thus its name Triarchic Theory of Intelligence.

Fig. 11. Robert Sternberg, a pioneer in the field of cognitive psychology The processes that underlie intelligent behaviour are divided into three specific components: PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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 Metacomponents: these are the high-order components used to plan out a task performance, execute and regulate it. They include cognitive skills such as, identifying a problem, formulating a hypothesis, planning out strategies, testing them and evaluating feedback of the performance. For example, Maria was stuck in a stressful problem of how to complete all her work and enjoy with friends at the same time in the coming week. Hence, to deal with this problem, she used her problem-solving skills to plan out a schedule for the whole week so that she could balance both, work as well as friends.

 Performance components: these are the mental processes used during the task performance. They include perceptual processing, retrieving schemas from long-term memory and generating responses. For example, on the first morning of the week, Maria revised her schedule for the day which she had planned earlier and created a to-do list in her mind to carry on with her tasks during the day. Thus, she used her performance components for the execution of the planned schedule.

 Knowledge-acquisition components: these are the components which help us learn from our previous experiences, store the information derived from it in the memory and combine new information with the previously acquired information. These abilities cause the individual differences, which exist in the crystallized intelligence. For example, Maria successfully completed her work and also enjoyed with her friends during the week she had planned for. She was again stuck in a similar situation a few months later where she had to balance both, her work as well as family. But, as she had learnt from her previous experience, this time she immediately planned a schedule for the week and was able to deal effectively with the situation. This theory defined three forms of intelligence that Sternberg believed exists: 1. Analytical intelligence: it involves the problem solving skills which are academically oriented and are measured by traditional intelligence tests. 2. Practical intelligence: it involves the skills required to cope with the problems and challenges of day-to-day life, and the ability to meet the daily contextual demands. 3. Creative intelligence: it involves the skills to creatively adapt with and solve the novel problems. It involves the ability to produce innovative solutions.

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4.6 Gardner’s Tgeory of Multiple Intelligence Howard Gardener is a strong believer of the concept that intelligence is much more than just mental competence and that intelligence consists of relatively independent intelligences that fulfil various demands to adapt with the environment. Thus, he advanced a theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, in which he defined eight distinct varieties of adaptive abilities and a possible ninth variety. The eight intellectual abilities are: 1. Linguistic Intelligence: it is the ability to use words to express your feelings. E.g., speakers and journalists use their linguistic intelligence to express their view-point. 2. Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence: it is the ability to control the movements of the body and manipulate objects in a skilful manner. E.g., doctors use their bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence to conduct surgeries. 3. Visuospatial Intelligence: it is the ability to visualize objects (such as, 2-d, 3-d, or 4-d objects) mentally and solve spatial problems. E.g., architects use their visuospatial intelligence to layout construction plans of buildings. 4. Musical Intelligence: it is the ability to perceive and understand pitch, tone, melody and rhythm and produce music. E.g., singers use their musical intelligence to produce and sing songs. 5. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: it is the ability to reason mathematically and logically solve arithmetic operations. E.g., mathematicians use their mathematical intelligence to reason logically and solve problems and derive theorems. 6. Interpersonal Intelligence: it is the ability to understand, connect and relate well to other people. E.g., mental health professionals such as, psychiatrists use their interpersonal intelligence to understand their patients and help them improve. 7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: it is the ability to understand oneself. E.g., a 40 year old working woman Priya uses her intrapersonal intelligence to understand herself and her needs, which makes it easier for her to live peacefully and satisfied. 8. Naturalistic Intelligence: it is the ability to understand the mechanisms of nature. E.g., zoologists use their natural intelligence to understand the mechanisms of the life of animals. Gardener also gave a ninth possible variety of intelligence, which is as follows:

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9. Existential Intelligence: it is a philosophically oriented ability, which is used to find answers to the questions about the meaning of one’s existence, life and death. 4.7 Mayer-Salovey-Caruso’s Structure of Emotional Intelligence Another form of adaptive intelligence is emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to perceive other’s emotions accurately, to respond to those emotions appropriately, to understand one’s own emotions, and to regulate and control one’s own emotional responses. Psychologists John Mayer, Peter Salovey and David Caruso advanced a theory of the structure of emotional intelligence, called Mayer-Salovey-Caruso’s structure of Emotional Intelligence. This theory states that emotional intelligence consists of four components. These components or branches are: 1. Perceiving emotions: it consists of measuring people’s ability to perceive others’ emotional expressions and understand these expressions. For example, in photographs, as well as the emotional meaning conveyed by different landscapes. 2. Using emotions to facilitate thoughts: it consists of measuring people’s ability to identify emotions and accordingly facilitate their own thought in order to deal effectively with other people or situations. For example, a girl finds her friend weeping and immediately processes her thoughts that she is required to console her friend. Thus, she is good at using emotions to facilitate thoughts. 3. Understanding emotions: it consists of measuring people’s ability to be aware of and understand one’s own emotions. People who are well aware of how, when and why their emotions change in intensity or type, they are good at understanding emotions of their own as well as of others. 4. Managing emotions: it consists of measuring people’s ability to manage and control one’s own emotions and of others’ as well. It is important to manage one’s own emotions to maintain harmony and achieve personal success and others’ emotions to maintain peaceful relationships. For example, a manager is required to manage his own as well as his subordinates’ emotions in order to work in harmony and achieve goals successfully.

The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was developed to measure each component of this theory. It consists of specific tasks to measure these components and evaluate a person’s emotional intelligence. PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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5. Neurocognition In Intelligence

So far we have studied what human intelligence means, its historical view and how modern theories have described its nature and structure. Now let’s study the role of neurocognition in the field of intelligence. But before that, let’s understand the meaning of neurocognitive psychology. 5.1 What do you understand by Neurocognitive psychology? Neurocognitive psychology is a branch of psychology which studies about the neurocognitive functions, which are the cognitive functions that are associated with the neural pathways of the brain or specific brain areas. It studies about the influence of these functions on the psychological behaviour of the person. In simple words, it is a study of the impact of brain functions on the behavioural patterns of the person.

5.2 What role does Neurocognition plays in Intelligence? The field of neurocognition plays a significant role in intelligence, as it addresses various biological factors to measure intelligence. These distinct biological factors are:

 Head size correlates to the brain volume: As we have read, the historical perspective of intelligence believed that size of the head defined the volume of the brain and thus, intelligence. However, significant findings have revealed that not the size of brain, but several other properties of the brain may define intelligence. These properties, which are expected to define intelligence, include number of neurons in the brain, the efficiency of the process of myelination (formation of myelin sheath around the nerve) and the number of creases of the brain.

 Information-Processing Speed: the structuralist view of psychology measured the intelligence by measuring the reaction time. It attempted to find out how quickly does the brain process and react to the information it receives from the sensory stimuli. Thus, information-processing speed is correlated with the traditional intelligence tests. E.g., musicians are found to be sensitive towards sound variations, as they quickly process the sensory information received from sound-producing stimuli and produce music.

 Brain Electrical Activity: Electrical activity in the brain is significantly correlated to the intelligence tests scores. This electrical activity is studied by the field of neuroscience, to identify its relationship with cognitive abilities. These activities include the process in which, sensory information is received by PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I

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the neurotransmitters in the neuron and transferred by them to the receiving dendrites. The speed of this transfer is studied by neurocognitive psychology to identify its relationship with intelligence.

 Energy Consumption in the Brain: Various researches conducted by the neuroscientists have revealed that the neurons consume energy just like other body cells do. They have further found out that brains consume and break down glucose at a fast pace when it is performing any cognitive activity by its choice. Whereas, it consumes less glucose when it is performing any cognitive activity that is assigned to it. Intelligent people thus, utilize extensive brain power and in effective ways.

6. Summary

 Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his or her environment.

 Psychologists and researchers developed theories to determine and explain in detail the structure of intelligence, namely, Spearman’s two- factor theory, Thurstone’s specific mental abilities, crystallized and fluid intelligence, the three-stratum model, Sternberg’s triarchic theory, Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligence and, model of emotional intelligence.

 Neurocognition and various studies and researches made in this field reveal that the biological factors of brain and the electrical activities taking place inside the brain reflects the intelligence of a person.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I