Key Terms
Intelligence
The ability to think, to learn from experience, to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations.
Fluid intelligence
Capacity to learn new ways of solving problems. Tends to decrease with age.
Crystallized intelligence
Accumulated knowledge built up over a lifetime. Tends to increase with age.
Five components of creativity
Expertise, imaginative thinking, risk taking, intrinsic interest, and working in a creative environment.
Evidence supporting multiple intelligences
Autistic savants score low overall on IQ tests but show exceptional ability in specific domains such as math, music, or
Criticism
These "intelligences" may actually be talents or abilities rather than intelligence; the different types still correlate
Reliable
Gives consistent results over time. Construct validity: actually measures intelligence, not something else.
Standardization
Administering a test to a large number of people at different ages and computing the average score at each age level.
Mental age
The age at which a person is performing intellectually.
Chronological age
Actual age.
IQ formula
Mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.
Example
An 8-year-old performing at the level of the average 10-year- old has an IQ of 125. (10 divided by 8, times 100.)
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
The most widely used IQ test for adults. The WAIS-IV was standardized on 2,200 people aged 16 to 90.
It yields scores on four domains
Verbal, perceptual, working memory, and processing speed. Reliability exceeds 0.95.
Adaptations
WISC-IV for children and adolescents; WPPSI-III for preschool children.