Psychology and the Concept of Intelligence

I have been writing up support notes for developmental psychology based on questions from students. Here is a sample of what the final pdf/audio/power point will contain. Feeback is appreciated…

Intelligence remains undefined. The North American journalist Walter Lippman (1920) stated that, “We cannot measure intelligence when we have not defined it.”

A solitary definition of intelligence does not seem to exist. Not knowing how to operationalise a concept makes measuring it difficult.

The consensus to date is that intelligence is not unifactor in structure (i.e., a general intelligence).

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) a French philosopher stated that “I think therefore I exist.” To Descartes a person’s intelligence was responsible for creating knowledge and for validating the truth. And although he recognised that intelligence is at least partly responsible for what it is that makes each human unique, he maintained that mind and matter (body) were separate entities.

John Locke (1632-1704) an English philosopher and political theorist said,

“Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes this to be furnished? . . . whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in a word, from experience.“

Locke believed that a person was born as a blank slate (tabula rosa) and that intelligence was the ability to reason built up over time by interactions with the environment.

In the 19^th century the practice of craniometry became highly popular amongst academics. Cranial measurement in the west was used to classify people; intelligence, temperament and morals were thought to be revealed in the shape and size of the cranial cavity. Also known as physiognomy, the method is not to be confused with the Oriental arts of face reading which informs about wellbeing.

The low empirical evidence to support this method of testing intelligence was not realised until early in the 20^th with the introduction of psychometric testing.

A multi-factorial structure appears better able to answer pertinent questions about intelligence: What abilities define intelligence? Can these be measured?

A multifactorial structure of intelligence would encompass many of the various types of intelligence; e.g., spatial, visual, auditory, adaptive. However, not all intelligences can be measured, such as creativity, curiosity, vision, charm.

A first step in identifying the factors that make up “intelligence” is to separate the concepts of Achievement and Aptitude;

Achievement: experience leading to knowledge and skills in a specific area; e.g., statistics in psychology

Aptitude: a measure of the capability to learn or become skilled in one or more areas; e.g., obtain psychology degree

Intelligence: ability to adapt in all aspects of life; e.g., fulltime-student with part-time work and two kids

A popular definition of intelligence for the 21^st century includes four general factors; skills of logical reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking and adaption.

Across time, the ability to learn and apply new information seems to be a constant factor in the definition of intelligence. How a person navigates the world and their level of resiliency during adversity seems to be a key determinant of intelligence. The ability to cope may be the defining element of intelligence.

Further reading with:

 

Inventing Intelligence: A Social History of Smart

Online IQ Test Reviews 

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Test (aka IQ’s Corner) 

 

 

Keep Things Central: The Tendency to Overlook the Big Picture

Like a bag tied in the middle, the Chautauqua approach to learning about statistics in psychology focuses attention at the centre of things. However, that does not mean that we ignore what is to each side of the centre, for this is what defines the centre’s shape, height and width. What makes the centre value unique is a synthesis of all the data points (Gestalt?). Distances between individual scores create patterns of meaningful information, and a measure of central tendency gives an overall summary of what is happening across a set of raw data.

Who cares?

A contentious social debate at the moment here in Australia is whether medication should be the primary intervention for children diagnosed as ADHD. Myself as a foster mum of a special needs child can relate to aspects on both sides of the fence; my boy does have a low tolerance for stress (this means happiness and/or distress) and the meds do help him to cope during these times; although we have found changes to diet (nutrition), lifestyle (boundaries) and self-esteem (relationships) have allowed us to cut down on the amount of medication.

Our foster support team, counsellors, education providers and GP listen to my requests to cut medication and to have a whole food supplement prescribed (when he can’t eat cause of the meds~ ironic), because I point to research where the significant mean value indicates a viable alternative.

We emphasise protein at most meals in our home; we do not ban sugar~ just its ingestion before protein (and of course its excess). My boy now actively reads labels when shopping, and selects his meals based on protein and carbohydrate inclusions. He needs as much fat as he can get, tho we do prefer the unsaturated kind.

We are tracking his dietary habits, medication intake and behaviour-cognitive-affect responses (using SPSS v.15 as a database) I will use the mean and other measures of central tendency, to coordinate with my boy and others in our lives, how to best meet his needs so he can function independently and safely within wider society.

Hopefully, the results of our observations will inform ourselves and other foster parents and their children diagnosed as ADHD. The kids tend to identify themselves as “having a problem” and feel “forced” to take medication that defines them as being “different”. Ultimately, I view ADHD as a state of being which is temporary if the person has some supports to lean on; people, medication, nutrition, resiliency etc.

Further reading on the ADHD debate;

Anti-Psychotic Drugs Found as Lethal as Antidepressant and ADHD Drugs on Kids

ADHD: It’s a Family Affair

What Does this Mean, Mean?

A measure of central tendency is a statistics phrase that could be a Buddhist metaphor as to how to live life:

take heed of the middle way

Behaviours-thoughts-affects tend to cluster at the centre of a persons character, to act as a fulcrum to decision-making and responses within an environment.

In psychology, statistics identify behaviors-thoughts-affects that are central to a group of people, known as a population.

This post will give you three benefits as a psychology undergrad;

• understanding one “measure of central tendency“
• practice using math formula
• greater confidence talking about, reading about and thinking about the mean (one measure of central tendency)

There is a semantic difference between the “average” and the “mean”. The average can be any measure of central tendency (e.g., median, mode, geometric mean, weighted mean); the mean is one example of a measure of central tendency.

Choosing a measure of central tendency to observe/report depends on what you are measuring (e.g., eye colour, number of smiles in 5-minutes, student rankings of a tutors skills). When measuring continuous numbers, such as the number of smiles in 5-minutes, the mean can provide a lot of information.

Finding the mean: M = ΣX/N

1. Sum all the scores

2. Divide by the number of scores

e.g., number of smiles in 5-minutes of people in tutorial; 0, 2, 2, 5, 1, 1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 0, 0, 4

1. 0+2+2+5+1+1+3+4+2+1+0+0+4 = 25

2. 25 /13 = 1.9 smiles in 5-minutes per student in this tutorial is the mean

What does this mean, mean? That, on average, during this tutorial, each class member smiled 1.9 times. The relevance of the mean will depend on the research question. Why were smiles in a psychology tute being measured in the first place?

As it happens, it was a first year stats class, and the tutor as a post-grad is doing his Master’s research on the state of Happiness and the effects on Learning Ability. The tutor used his literature review to identify what measure of central tendency had been used in other research on the topic. The first three weeks of tutes provide the baseline data for the mean number of smiles per class. The tutor will then use a self-developed method to facilitate learning which is expected to enhance feelings of happiness amongst students, and so enable them to learn more effectively. Number of smiles in a 5-minute period one of the dependent variables for the study. Time before, during and after the intervention is the independent variable. To determine if there really is a change in smiling behaviour made by the intervention (between times/groups) the mean is needed.

However, the most frequent score was “0″, so the mean can be misleading if the range or standard deviation are not shown as well (for another post). For this reason three weeks of baseline data were collected to compute one overall mean of number of smiles in a 5-minute period (week 1 mean+week 2 mean+week 3 mean/3 = ?.?).

The mean goes beyond just describing data, and provides a value that can be used to make inferences about the likelihood of events occurring, the degree of risk, or the strength of a relationship between variables, for example. Statistical tests such as t-test, factor analysis and multiple regression rely on the mean for a measure of central tendency.

An interesting tangent on this subject is that the mean of a population is called mu (µ), the term in Zen Buddhism referring to being and non-being simultaneously. A population does and does not exist! A population only exists in terms of the group of characteristics a researcher decides will be used to describe it. How serendipic~

Why Study Statistics in Psychology?

Many students of psychology (including myself) are shocked when they discover that the study of statistics is necessary. “Maths!!! I just want to help people!” is the usual cry of derision. is there a purpose in having potential psychologists, who do not intend to do research, suffer through the complexities and esoteric boredom of stats?

Simply put: Yes.

The statistical arts are basically a numerical summary of a set of recorded data. A sexual abuse therapist may see over 150 children in a year. Of these, 50 have anger management issues, 14 are promiscuous, 75 are diagnosed as experiencing ADHD, 10 are withdrawn, 5 appear to have no negative psycho-social behaviours, affect or cognitions, whilst another 5 have already perpetrated against other children.

The therapist would have more difficulty developing an awareness of the differences and similarities across the children if statistics were not available to summarise observations.

Statistics will also inform the therapist to associations and relationships between the characteristics and experiences of the children. For example, between diagnoses of ADHD, sexual abuse, age, gender and likelihood to experience abuse again.

The statistical information helps the children because the therapist grows in knowledge by reflecting on patterns of behaviour and psychological well being.  The therapist is now able to formulate hypotheses about interventions to aid a specific set of inappropriate behaviours, affect or cognitions. Using statistics the hypotheses can be tested, leading the therapist to better methods of intervention & evaluation; the child is lead to a better quality of life.

Communication of the therapist’s observations and research conclusions to other sexual abuse workers extends understanding and creates better interventions and supports for abused children.

 

 

 

This is an example of why we have statistics in psychology…to achieve our goal to help people.

 

Florence Nightingale (pioneer nurse, writer and avid statistician) agreed:

 

 

Statistic…the most important science in the whole world: for upon it depends the practical application of every other science and of every art; the one science essential to all political and social administration, all education, all

organisation based upon experience, for it only gives the results of our experience.

 

A psychology degree places an expectation on you in the workplace to be able to;

• design research
• collect data in an unbiased (as possible) manner
• analyse observations
• determine if a change has occurred or not and to what extent
• draw logical conclusions from the results to inform further research and understanding

There is also the responsibility for you, as a psychologist to;

• identify interventions that really work (requires reading of research articles)
• use psychometric instruments to measure psychological states
• facilitate learning, development and change for the individual/group
• argue for or against decisions that directly impact on the wellbeing of others

These goals cannot be met without the use of statistics.

Ultimately, raw individual data has little use if it cannot be synthesized into a larger overall picture; too much individual information leads to overload and is meaningless. Summaries provided by statistics create meaning from aggregate data that can be used to help people to live more fulfilling and powerful lives.

 

 

 

Informed decision making for the therapist and the client requires knowledge and use of statistics.

 

 

 

10 Blog Traffic Tips

Blogs as a learning tool in psychology are a great idea! A blog can encourage a student to reflect on the content they are trying to understand. Similar to a reflective journal.

The blog also allows for links between articles, images, video and other media that are related to the subject being written about. There is a section on blog posts for visitors to leave comment and to ask questions.

Your study blog can become an interactive reflective scrapbook, that gives not only to you, but also those who visit.

Imagine having a global conversation about the theories of Development or Psychopathology! On the dramas of remembering the difference between multicollinearity and homoscedascity!

The input, feedback, questions and different perspectives of how a theory works and why is invaluable to the student of psychology.

Blogs for Learning provide a wealth of positive information for using a blog to study more effectively.

Five easy steps for you to begin…

1. WordPress can help set you up with a free blog account – today!

2. Choose a dreaded subject, gee~ how about Statistics!

3. Start with defining a term (e.g., standard deviation) by using your text, lecutre and tute notes and the web (remember to cite your sources and practice APA formatting

4. Source images, videos, photos, interactive activities and quizzes  from the web to aid your (and your readers) understanding of the term.

5. Earn money as you study! with Blog Mastermind; below are 10 Blog Traffic Tips to get you started:

In every bloggers life comes a special day – the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader – you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that’s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don’t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need an easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at http://blogcarnival.com/.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box”. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

http://www.blogmastermind.com/?home=1364

Traveling Without Moving…

Sliding the cyber way, having decided to set up my psychology tutor blog here at WordPress. Had some difficulty with the domain name given that i think like i am an octopus (always wanting more?). i think psychology tutor suits cause it covers learning and development, whereas university tutor would have been just too broad.

I have recently (kinda) joined Teaching Sells to add a membership area to my psychology tutor website. Part of the Christmas and New Year season will be spent writing Pillar Articles and Content, to complement the launch of interactive learning resources in the areas of psychology and statistics.

Hoping also to mend a friendship that means so much to me. Lessons in honesty and self-reflection will be my reading and writing materials over the next couple of months. Guess i’ll be going bush a lot more too . Might be time for a sabatical/spirit journey ~inshall’ah
ok, lesson 1 of the BlogMastermind course complete i think. Now to transfer the content.