Given the widespread acceptance of general intelligence, which of the following statements holds true?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. General intelligence can be thought of a “mental energy’ that is applied to all tasks that we attempt.
Explanation
General intelligence is frequently conceptualized as a generalized mental energy or capacity applied flexibly across diverse cognitive tasks. Charles Spearman proposed this foundational concept to explain why individuals who excel in one intellectual area often perform well in others. This mental energy underlies all complex mental operations, driving successful problem-solving across varied academic and practical domains. Charles Spearman introduced the concept of general intelligence, denoted as the g factor, using early factor analysis techniques. Psychometricians continue to debate whether intelligence is best represented by a single general factor or multiple distinct abilities. General intelligence scores correlate strongly with academic achievement, job performance, and neurological processing speed.
Every individual possesses some level of general intelligence, though people vary in their specific cognitive strengths. General intelligence is a continuous trait distributed normally across the population rather than a threshold tied to an IQ of 100. General intelligence is present throughout childhood and adolescence, continuing to develop and stabilize as individuals reach maturity.
- Subject
- Psychology
- Category
- Psychology
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
Related questions
Q1. Mr. and Mrs. Pervaiz are thrilled because their son Nasir qualified for a gifted student program, leading them to view him as a prodigy. What guidance should they receive?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: B. Most gifted children do not go on to make genius-level, major contributions to society that earn them eminence
Longitudinal research shows most childhood prodigies do not become famous historical geniuses. Lewis Terman's famous gifted study revealed that high childhood IQ does not guarantee eminence. Adult success depends on moti...
Q2. Educational systems generally designate children who __________ as gifted.
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: B. score in the upper 2%-3% of the IQ distribution
Giftedness is statistically defined by educational systems using standardized cutoff points on the IQ curve. Scoring in the upper two to three percent places a student well above the population mean. Arbitrary socioecono...
Q3. Intellectual disability is clinically defined by which of the following features?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: E. All of the above
Clinical diagnosis of intellectual disability typically involves sub-average general intelligence (IQ below 70), slow processing, and adaptive deficits regardless of etiology. Because all the listed clinical markers char...
Q4. On contemporary intelligence scales, a standard score of 115 corresponds to:
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. one standard deviation above the mean.
Modern IQ scales have a statistical mean of one hundred and a standard deviation of fifteen. An IQ score of one15 sits exactly one standard deviation above the population mean. Standardized scoring allows psychologists t...
Q5. Robert Sternberg’s triarchic model delineates analytical, creative, and ________ intelligence.
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. practical
Sternberg's triarchic theory explicitly categorizes intelligence into three distinct components: analytical, creative, and practical. Practical intelligence involves successfully adapting to everyday environments and han...
Q6. Studies on neural efficiency and intelligence reveal that highly capable children exhibit _______ compared to their lower-scoring peers.
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. greater neural plasticity
Studies of neural efficiency indicate that highly intelligent individuals exhibit greater neural plasticity and streamlined cortical activation. Brains of gifted children demonstrate flexible synaptic reorganization capa...