NCERT Solutions (Part - 2) - Variations in Psychological Attributes - Notes | Study Psychology Class 12 - Humanities/Arts

7. What is IQ? How do psychologists classify people on the basis of their IQ scores?

Answer : In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon made the first successful attempt to measure intelligence. In 1908, the scale was revised and the concept of Mental Age (MA) which is a measure of a person’s intellectual development relative to people of her/his age group. Chronological Age (CA) is the biological age from birth. Retardation was defined by Binet and Simon as being two mental age years below the chronological age.
The concept of IQ was devised by a German psychologist, William Stern in 1912. IQ means Intelligence Quotient (IQ) which refers to mental age divided by chronological age, and multiplied by 100.
IQ = (MA/CA)×100
When MA = CA then IQ = 100
When MA > CA then IQ > 100
When MA < CA then IQ <100
According to psychologists, IQ scores are distributed in the population in such a way that the scores of most people tend to fall in the middle range of the distribution. Only a few people have either very high or very low scores. The mean IQ score in a population is 100. People with IQ scores in the range of 90–110 have normal intelligence. Those with IQ below 70 are suspected to have ‘intellectual disability’, while persons with IQ above 130 are considered to have exceptional talents.

8. How can you differentiate between verbal and performance tests of intelligence?

Answer :

9. All persons do not have the same intellectual capacity. How do individuals vary in their intellectual ability? Explain.

Answer : As all the person have different physical appearance likewise all persons do not have the same intellectual capacity. Some are exceptionally bright and some are below average.
There are two forms of variations in the intellectual ability of the individuals i.e. intellectual deficiency and intellectual giftedness.
(i) Intellectual Deficiency: These individuals face enormous difficulty in learning even very simple skills and are termed as ‘intellectually disabled’. Individuals who are categorised as having intellectual disability show significant variation in their abilities, ranging from those who can be taught to work and function with special attention, to those who cannot be trained and require institutional care throughout their lives. They can be trained in self-care skills and simple social and communication skills.
(ii) Intellectual Giftedness: Intellectually gifted individuals show higher performance because of their outstanding potentialities. Giftedness is exceptional general ability shown in superior performance in a wide variety of areas.These have high ability, high creativity and high commitment.

Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD) views  intellectual  disability  as “significantly sub-average  general intellectual  functioning  existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the developmental period” while Gifted children show early signs of intellectual superiority. Even during infancy and early childhood, they show larger attention span, good recognition memory, preference for novelty, sensitivity to environmental changes, and early appearance of language skills.

10. Which of the two, IQ or EQ, do you think would be more related to success in life and why?

Answer : I think EQ is more related to success in life. IQ only measures our intelligence potential which has no direct relationship to our present intelligence while EQ is a measure of a person's level of emotional intelligence which refers the ability to perceive, control, evaluate and express emotions.
A good IQ may determine you better academic performance and advanced degree but the success means nothing if you have no-one to share your successes with. Person with high IQ are extremely talented and have good academic but are not able to be successful because they experience problems in family relations, workplace and interpersonal relationships. Hence, they are not able to manage these and have low performance.
There is increasing evidence which shows leadership positions in companies require EQ as well as conventional qualifications. If a university student does not develop good EQ skills, they may be limiting their future potential. Some students may have received good grades in school exams, but without EQ, they will not be able to function well in higher education or the adult world.

11. How is ‘aptitude’ different from ‘interest’ and ‘intelligence’? How is aptitude measured?

Answer : Aptitude refers to an individual’s potential for acquiring some specific skills. Aptitude tests are used to predict what an individual will be able to do if given proper environment and training.
Interest is an individual’s preference for engaging in one or more specific activities relative to others.
Intelligence is the global capacity to understand the world, think rationally and use available resources effectively when faced with challenges.
Aptitude is different from interest as one may have an intense interest in football but not enough aptitude to succeed in a career as a footballer. Interest is the preference for a particular activity while aptitude is the potential to perform that activity.
Also, Intelligence is associated with a broad range of mental abilities whereas aptitude reflects specialized abilities and personal strengths & weaknesses. Two individuals that achieve the same IQ score may have widely different aptitude test profiles.
Aptitude tests are available in two forms: independent (specialised) aptitude tests and multiple (generalised) aptitude tests.
Clerical Aptitude, Mechanical Aptitude, Numerical Aptitude, and Typing Aptitude are independent aptitude tests. Multiple Aptitude Tests exist in the form of test batteries, which measure aptitude
in several separate but homogeneous areas. Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT), the General Aptitude Tests Battery (GATB) and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) are well-known
aptitude test batteries. Among these, DAT is most commonly used in educational settings.

12. How is creativity related to intelligence?

Answer : Creativity and intelligence are not truly interrelated. An individual who has the ability to learn faster and reproduce accurately may be intelligent but cannot be considered as creative unless he/she devise new ways of learning and doing things.
Terman, in the 1920s, found that persons with high IQ were not necessarily creative. At the same time, creative ideas could come from persons who did not have a very high IQ. Researchers have also found that both high and low level of creativity can be found in highly intelligent children and also children of average intelligence. The same person, thus, can be creative as well as intelligent but it is not necessary that intelligent ones, in the conventional sense, must be creative. Intelligence, therefore, by itself does not ensure creativity. Researchers have found that the relationship between creativity and intelligence is positive.
Intelligence is collaborative knowledge while creativity is individuals imagination. All creative acts
require some minimum ability to acquire knowledge and capacity to comprehend, retain, and retrieve. It can be concluded that creativity can take many forms and blends. Some may have more of intellectual attributes, others may have more of attributes associated with creativity.