variations in psychological attributes

individual difference: distinctiveness and variations among people's characteristics and behaviour patterns. some psychologists believe behaviour is influenced by personal traits (nature) others believe it is influenced more by situational factors. (nurture) above view^^ termed as situationism situationism: views human behaviour as resulting from interaction of external and internal factors.   

Assessment is the first step in understanding a psychological attribute.  refers to measurement and evaluation of psychological attributes. can be- 1. Formal 2. Informal Formal: objective, standardised, and organised. psychologists are trained in making formal assessment of psychological attributes. Informal: varies from case to case, one assessor to another and is therefore, open to subjective interpretations psychological assessment uses systematic testing procedures to evaluate abilities, behaviours, and personal qualities of individuals. 

Some domains of psychological attributes- Intelligence Aptitude Interest Personality Values

Some assessment methods- Psychological Test  Interview Case Study Observation Self Report

Intelligence oxford dictionary- power of perceiving, understanding, learning and knowing.  Alfred Binet (one fo the first psychologists to have worked on intelligence)- ability to judge well, reason well and understand well Wechsler- (his intelligence tests are most widely used) understood intelligence in terms of its functionality. The global and aggregate capacity of an individual to think rationally,act purposefully and deal effectively with his or her environment.  Gardner and Sternberg- suggested that an intelligent individual not only adapts to his or her environment, but also actively modifies or shapes it

Theories of Intelligence Psychometric Approach:​​​​​​​ -considers intelligence as an aggregate of abilities. -expresses an individual's performance in terms of a single index of cognitive abilities. -focuses on knowing the structure of intelligence Information Processing Approach: -describes the processes people use in intellectual reasoning and problem solving. -major focus of this approach is how an intelligent person acts. 

Theories under Psychometric Approach: Uni/One Factor Theory- -Alfred Binet -differentiating more intelligent from less intelligent individuals -conceptualised intelligence as consisting  one or similar set of abilities which can be used for solving any or every problem in an individual's environment. Two Factor Theory- -Charles Spearman -employed statistical method called Factor Analysis -intelligence consists of a general factor (g-factor) and some specific factors (s-factor). -G-Factor: mental operations primary and common to all performances. -S-Factor: Specific abilities that allow individuals to excel in their respective domains. Theory of Primary Mental Abilities- -Louis Thurstone - intelligence consists of 7 primary abilities, each relatively independent of the other: 1. verbal comprehension 2. numerical abilities 3.spatial relations 4. perceptual speed 5. word fluency 6. memory 7. inductive reasoning  Hierarchical model of intelligence- -Arthur Jensen -consists of abilities operating at two levels called Level 1 and Level 2. -Level 1: also known as the associative level. output is more or less similar to the input. eg- rote learning and memory. Level 2: called cognitive competence. involves higher order skills as they transform the input to produce an effective output.  Structure of Intellect Model- -J.P Guilford -classifies intellectual traits into three dimensions: operations, contents and product. -Operations are what the respondent does. these include cognition, memory, memory retention, recording, etc. -Contents refer to nature of materials or information on which intellectual operations are performed. These include visual, auditory, symbolic, behavioural, etc. -Products refer to the form in which information is processed by the respondent. 

Theories under Information Processing approach: Theory of Multiple Intelligences- -Howard Gardner -according to him intelligence is not a single entity, different types of intelligences exist. Each are independent of one another. -different types of intelligences interact and work together to come up with a solution to a problem. - he described 8 types of intelligences: 1. Linguistic 2. Logical-Mathematical 3. Spatial 4. Musial 5. Bodily-Kineasthetic 6. Interpersonal 7. Intrapersonal 8. Naturalistic  Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: -Robert Sternberg -three basic types of intelligence: 1. Componential/Analytical- analysis of information to solve problems. three components- a) Knowledge Acquisition- learning and acquisition of ways of doing things. b) Meta/ high order component- planning concerning what to do and how to do. c) Performance Component- actually doing things. eg driving a car  2. Experiential/ Creative- using past experiences to solve new problems. - quickly find out what information is crucial in a given situation. eg chefs. 3. Contextual/Practical- ability to deal with environmental demands encountered on a daily basis. -also called street smartness. -eg businessmen PASS: -Jack Naglieri, J.P Das, Kirby. - intellectual activity involves functioning of three neurological systems. these units are responsible for- PLANNING, AROUSAL/ATTENTION, SUCCESSIVE and SIMULTANEOUS processing. -planningallows us to think of possible courses of ction, implement them to reach a target. -Arousal/attention- an optimal level of arousal helps focus our attention to relevant aspects of a problem. too little or too much arousal would interfer with attention. - simulataneous-perceive relations among various concepts and integrate them into meaningful patterns dor comprehension. eg- RSPM. -successive- remember all information serially so that recall of one leads to recall of another. eg- learning of letter, digits, etc. CAS cognitive Assessment System--Das and Naglieri -battery of tests meant for individuals between 5-18, -consists of verbal as well as non-verbal tasks that measure basic cognitive functions. -results can be used to remedy cognitive deficits of children with learning problems. 

Individual Differences in Intelligence: Intelligence is an interplay of nature and nurture. Heredity influences intelligence and the evidence comes from the studies of twins and adopted children.  Twins separated early in childhood show considerable similarity in their intellectual, personality and behavioural characteristics. The study of adoptive children show that their intelligence is more similar to their biological rather than their adoptive parents. ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT: studies also show that as children grow, their intelligence levels tends to grow closer to that of their adoptive parents.  children coming from disadvantaged homes into higher socio economic status exhibit a large increase in their intelligence scores. CONCLUSION: psychologists have said that intelligence is a product of complex interaction between heredity (nature) and environment (nurture). Heredity sets a range within which the development of an individual is shaped by the support and opportunities of the environment.

Assessment of Intelligence: