Worksheets › Class 12 › Variations in Psychological Attributes › Cheat sheet
Class 12 Variations in Psychological Attributes: cheat sheet
CBSE Psychology. 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
Practise Variations in Psychological Attributes
Revise with this page, then practise: every Variations in Psychological Attributes sheet in the app is new, with an answer key and working.
Coming soon for Android and iPhone.