Variations in Psychological Attributes

How psychological attributes are assessed, theories of intelligence from Spearman to PASS, working out IQ, emotional intelligence, aptitude and creativity.

Key ideas

Individual differences are the ways people vary in their characteristics; they are assessed by tests, interviews, case studies, observation and self-reports.
Intelligence is the capacity to understand the world, think rationally and use resources well; aptitude is the potential to learn a specific skill with training.
Theories moved from one general factor (Spearman) to several abilities (Thurstone, Guilford) and to many kinds of intelligence (Gardner, Sternberg, PASS).
Intelligence develops from the interplay of heredity and environment; twin studies show genes matter, and a stimulating home and schooling matter too.
Culture shapes what counts as intelligent; the Indian view of integral intelligence stresses connectedness with people and the social world.
Emotional intelligence (Salovey and Mayer) is perceiving, understanding and managing one’s own and others’ emotions.
Creativity needs some intelligence, but high intelligence does not guarantee it.

Remember

IQ (William Stern)	IQ = MA ÷ CA × 100; so MA = IQ × CA ÷ 100
Average IQ	100 at every age; about half of people score 90–109
Gardner’s eight	linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic
Sternberg’s triarchic	componential (analytical), experiential (creative), contextual (practical)
PASS (Das, Naglieri, Kirby)	planning, arousal/attention, simultaneous and successive processing
Other theories	Spearman g and s; Thurstone seven primary abilities; Jensen Level I and II; Guilford operations, contents, products

Watch out

Writing IQ = CA ÷ MA × 100: mental age goes on top.
Crediting Binet with IQ: Binet and Simon gave mental age, Stern gave IQ.
Confusing aptitude (potential with training) with intelligence (general mental ability).

Worked example

A 12-year-old has an IQ of 125. What is the child’s mental age?

Working: MA = IQ × CA ÷ 100 = 125 × 12 ÷ 100

Answer: 15 years