All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What is the key claim of Thurstone's primary mental abilities theory?
Answer: Intelligence consists of several independent primary abilities, not one g. Rejected g factor; proposed 7 distinct abilities like verbal, spatial, numerical.
Flashcard 2: What is emotional intelligence as tested in psychology research?
Answer: Ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions. Four-branch model of emotion-related cognitive abilities.
Flashcard 3: What is the Flynn effect?
Answer: Average IQ scores have increased across generations over time. About 3 IQ points per decade in developed nations.
Flashcard 4: What is heritability in behavioral genetics?
Answer: Proportion of trait variance in a population due to genetic variance. Not about individuals, only population-level variance.
Flashcard 5: What does it mean if a trait has high heritability in a population?
Answer: Differences are more attributable to genes within that environment. In that specific environment, not across all contexts.
Flashcard 6: Identify the design that best estimates genetic influence by comparing MZ vs DZ twins.
Answer: Twin study (monozygotic vs dizygotic comparison). MZ share 100% genes, DZ share 50% on average.
Flashcard 7: What does the 'shared environment' component mean in twin/adoption models?
Answer: Environmental factors that make siblings more similar. Family-wide influences affecting all children similarly.
Flashcard 8: What does the 'nonshared environment' component mean in twin/adoption models?
Answer: Experiences that make siblings different (plus measurement error). Unique experiences and random developmental variation.
Flashcard 9: What is the formula for a z-score in standardized testing?
Answer: z=σx−μ. Standardizes scores relative to population mean and SD.
Flashcard 10: What is the formula for an IQ score using a mean of 100 and SD of 15?
Answer: IQ=100+15z. Converts z-scores to IQ scale with mean 100, SD 15.
Flashcard 11: Identify the correlation pattern that supports a genetic influence: MZ twins r=0.80, DZ twins r=0.40.
Answer: MZ correlation greater than DZ correlation supports genetic influence. MZ twins share twice the genetic similarity of DZ twins.
Flashcard 12: What is the best interpretation if adopted siblings show near-zero IQ correlation in adulthood?
Answer: Shared family environment has a smaller long-term effect than genetics. Shared genes persist but shared environment effects fade.
Flashcard 13: What does Spearman's g factor theory propose about the structure of intelligence?
Answer: A single general intelligence factor (g) underlies all cognitive tasks. All cognitive abilities share a common underlying factor.
Flashcard 14: What is Spearman's s factor in the context of intelligence testing?
Answer: A task-specific ability that contributes to performance on one domain. Specific abilities unique to particular cognitive tasks.
Flashcard 15: What does Thurstone's primary mental abilities theory propose instead of one g factor?
Answer: Intelligence comprises several independent primary mental abilities. Rejects single g factor for multiple distinct abilities.
Flashcard 16: What does the Cattell-Horn distinction between fluid and crystallized intelligence state?
Answer: Fluid = novel problem solving; crystallized = learned knowledge. Distinguishes reasoning ability from accumulated knowledge.
Flashcard 17: Which type of intelligence tends to decline earlier with aging: fluid or crystallized?
Answer: Fluid intelligence. Peaks in early adulthood then gradually declines.
Flashcard 18: What does heritability mean when describing intelligence variation?
Answer: Proportion of score variance due to genetic differences in a population. Not about individuals; describes population-level genetic contribution to differences.
Flashcard 19: What is Spearman's g factor in theories of intelligence?
Answer: A single general intelligence underlying performance on diverse tasks. Spearman found all cognitive abilities correlate, suggesting one underlying factor.
Flashcard 20: What did Spearman propose about the relation between g and s factors?
Answer: Each task reflects g plus a task-specific ability (s). Performance = general intelligence + specific skill for that particular task.
Flashcard 21: What does the hierarchical model of intelligence (e.g., Carroll) propose?
Answer: Broad abilities and specific skills are organized under a top-level g. Three-stratum model: g at top, broad abilities middle, specific skills bottom.
Flashcard 22: Which type of intelligence tends to remain stable or increase with age?
Answer: Crystallized intelligence. Vocabulary and general knowledge often improve throughout life.
Flashcard 23: What is Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?
Answer: Intelligence comprises distinct domains (e.g., linguistic, spatial, musical). Challenges g; proposes 8+ independent intelligences, not hierarchically related.
Flashcard 24: What is Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence?
Answer: Analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. Three aspects: analyzing problems, creating novel solutions, applying to life.
Flashcard 25: What is the primary focus of Sternberg's practical intelligence?
Answer: Adapting to, shaping, and selecting real-world environments. Street smarts: solving everyday problems not measured by traditional IQ tests.
Flashcard 26: What is emotional intelligence as used in MCAT psychology?
Answer: Ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions. Four branches: perceiving, using, understanding, and regulating emotions.
Flashcard 27: Identify the term for a test that yields consistent results across repeated trials.
Answer: Reliable. Test-retest reliability means scores remain stable over time.
Flashcard 28: What is stereotype threat in the context of intelligence test performance?
Answer: Performance reduction caused by fear of confirming a negative stereotype. Anxiety about group stereotypes impairs working memory and test performance.
Flashcard 29: What is a gene–environment interaction as applied to intellectual outcomes?
Answer: Genetic effects depend on environment, and environmental effects depend on genes. Same genes produce different outcomes in different environments (and vice versa).
Flashcard 30: What is the difference between genotype and phenotype in intellectual variation?
Answer: Genotype: genetic makeup; phenotype: observable traits such as IQ score. Genes provide potential; environment determines actual expression.