From this reading, in chapter ten I found primary and
secondary mental abilities interesting. Primary mental abilities are groups of
related intellectual skills, whereas secondary mental abilities are broader
intellectual skills that include and organize the primary abilities. The five
main abilities are number, word fluency, verbal meaning, inductive reasoning,
and spatial orientation. The number ability involves the basic skills of
mathematical reasoning. The second ability is word fluency and this is how
easily an individual produces verbal descriptions. The third ability is verbal
meaning and this is an individual’s vocabulary capacity. Inductive reasoning is
the ability to infer from particular facts to general concepts and the last
ability is spatial orientation and this is the ability to reason in a three
dimensional world. These are just five
of the 25 skills. These are the only ones the book discusses. Secondary mental abilities include fluid and
crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence stresses the abilities that make
an individual a flexible thinker. Sudoku, cross words, word searches and mazes are
way to test fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is the knowledge
that one has acquired through life experience and education. This knowledge includes
the comprehension of communication, judgment, and the ability to remember many
other things.
In the book it states that crystallized intelligence
improves throughout adulthood and I believe it. When I was younger my
crystallized intelligence was horrible not just because I was young and lacking
life experiences but because I genuinely was not that smart, but with time I
have improved this by reading more and by doing intellectual activities such as
discussions and trivia games. In the
book it mentions the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and that
this game was based off crystallized intelligence. I remember thinking to
myself when I was younger that it would be fun to go on that show, but I thought
I would be too dumb for it. Now that I know that it is based on crystallized
intelligence it kind of takes the fun out of it.
I would like to learn more about the Seattle longitudinal
study (p.374). I found it quite intriguing especially the differential changes
in abilities over time.
Hey Dawna,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog. I liked how you defined each of the five abilities and what they cover. I found it really interesting that the T.V. show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is based off of crystallized intelligence. It really does take all the fun out of it and sort of makes it seem like not everyone is really getting a fair chance to win in a way. It almost makes it seem like you have to have a pretty good crystallized intelligence level to win. Thank you for sharing this info. :)
Brandie