Chapter 15 Testing
Psychometricians – trained psychologist that analyze
psychological data. Measure mental traits & abilities. You can
go to grad school to be one (get your master’s in it)
Intelligence Testing
Intelligence – capacity of the individual to act purposefully,
to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the
environment (according to Wecshler)
Measuring Intelligence:
Started with Sir Francis Galton as he studied controversy of
nature vs. nurture. He tried to isolate traits, like intelligence,
to see which were passed on through family lineage
(nature=genes)
Alfred Binet – French Psychologist hired by his gov’t to
identify children who would not benefit from traditional
school
He sampled performance of task involving memory,
comprehension, and judgment, created the Binet-Simon scale
= used for class placement
Binet believed as we age we become more sophisticated in the
ways of the world, a 10 year old would answer questions
differently than a 13 year old = Mental Age
Lewis Terman –
took Binet’s ideas and he added a component: the ratio of
comparing mental age (MA) to chronological age(CA) =
intelligence quotient
Terman’s Intelligence scale in called the Stanford-Binet
Factoring Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Ratio: MA divided by CA x 100
Test a kid with the Stanford-Binet
Their MA is assessed as 12 but his real age (CA) is a 10
12/10 = 1.2 x 100 = IQ 120
Mental age 10, real age12
10/12 = .8 x100 =IQ 80
68% of population falls within 1 standard deviation of the
mean (100) = 68% score 85-115
What percent of the population would fall within 2 standard
deviations?
see white handout with distribution images from two classes ago
After Binet and Terman came David Wechsler
He created several IQ test:
WPPSI – Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence
WISC – Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 6 to 16
WAIS, latest version is called WAIS-III – Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale
His scales fall on the same standard frequency distribution:
IQ Stats:
90-120 is considered average
Mensa Qualifications: min. of 130 , gifted at 2 standard devaitions above
mean
140-165 genius
(145 is 3 standard deviations above the mean)
165+super genius
Below 70 & show signs of difficulty caring for themselves =
cognitively disabled
50-70 mild retardation (85% of all cognitive delay)
35-49 moderately retarded (10%)
20-34 severely retarded (3%-4%)
19 & below – profoundly retarded (1-2%)
Problem arises when factoring adult IQ:
TODAY WE NO LONGER FACTOR IQ LIKE IN PAST!
We now use a deviation IQ to factor intelligence
Using statistics we compare individual results to the mean
score in his/her age group to determine IQ
Example) you score 115, 84% = you scored better than 84% people
that took test in your age group
Correlation between IQ and school grades is .50 =
large correlation, but far from a perfect 1
Types of Intelligence:
Is there one underlying capacity for intelligence?
Or do we have different distinct ways of being intelligent?
Charles Spearman used factor analysis (a stats procedure,
looking for a high degree of correlation among variables)
He concluded one factor , he called g underlies all
intelligences
Louis Thurstone used factor analysis and disagreed with
Spearman
He identified 7 distinct factors or primary mental abilities:
1. inductive reasoning
2. word fluency
3. perceptual speed
4. verbal comprehension
5. spatial visualization
6. numerical ability
7. associative memory
John Horn and Raymond Cattell
Spearman’s g should be divided into two factors of
intelligence
1. Fluid Intelligence (as we have previously discussed)
2. Crystalized intelligence
Howard Gardner
Critic of Spearman
Savants – inspired his intelligence theory. They are
individuals considered mentally retarded but have a specific
exceptional skill (like music, art , or math)
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world/#!xvBrg
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
See handout, for list of 9 intelligences
Huge influence on education and teaching practices!
Peter Salovey & John Mayer
In addition to traditional intelligence they identified
emotional intelligence – the ability to perceive, express,
understand, and regulate emotions
Along with David Caruso, they developed the MEIS –
Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale
Robert Sternberg- see handout
Argues intelligence is more than what traditional IQ tests
measure. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence –
Intelligence includes 3 components:
1.Analytical - what traditionally IQ tests measure:
compare contrast, analyze and figure out cause and effect
relationships
2. Creative – adaptive reactions to novel solutions,
showing insight, and being able to see more than one solution
to a problem
3. Practical – “street smarts” getting around town, ability
to read people, organizing real life events
Bottom line, no matter what theory or term you prefer:
Evidence supports people with high emotional intelligence,
practical intelligence or interpersonal intelligences succeed in
careers, marriages, and parenting
J.P. Guilford –
Creativity intelligence
1950s, former APA president: He proposed that intelligence be
considered a construct of multiple factors, including creativity
Differentiated between creative potential and creative production,
linking creative production to personality traits such as
motivation.
Help devise the Christensen-Guilford Test (P.R. Christensen) –
measure creativity potential and creative production
Assesses word fluency (the ability to produce rapidly a list of words
each of which satisfies the specified requirement that it contain a
certain letter), ideational fluency (the ability to evoke a large
number of ideas in situations that present meaningful
requirements), associational fluency (the ability to produce rapidly
words that bear some specified, meaningful relation to a given
word), and expressional fluency (the ability to produce rapidly
words in connected discourse.