Chapter 9: Intelligence and Psychological Testing - - - - - Psychological test: is a standardized measure of a sample of a person’s behaviour. They measure the individual differences that exist among people in such things as intelligence, aptitudes, interests and aspects of personality. Intelligence tests measure general mental ability. Aptitude tests are designed to measure potential more than knowledge. Assess specific types of mental abilities. Achievement tests gauge a person’s mastery and knowledge on various subjects such as reading or history. Personality tests measure various aspects of personability, including motives, interests, values and attitudes. Standardization refers to the uniform procedures used in administering and scoring the test. All participants get the same instructions, same questions and same time limits to that their scores can be compared. Test norms: produce information about where a score on a psychological test ranks in relation to other scores on that test. Standardization group: the sample of people that the norms are based on. Ideally they are carefully selected to be representative of a broader population. Separate norms exist for Canada and America. Percentile score indicates the percentage of people who score at or below the score one has obtained. Reliability: refers to the measurement consistency of a test (or other types of measurement techniques) o A test’s reliability can be checked by doing a test-retest reliability – which is estimated by comparing subject’s scores on two administrations of a test. The same test is taken by the same participants a few weeks apart. The differences in the participant’s scores across the two administrations would reflect inconsistency in measurement. A similar scores on the two administrations means there is a substantial positive correlation. The closer the correlation comes to +1.00 the more reliable the test is. Validity: refers to the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure. Validity can be estimated in several ways, depending on the nature and purpose of th test. The most common and useful techniques for stablishing validity are content, criterion-related and construct validity. o Content validity refers to the degree to which the content of a test is representative of the domain its supposed to cover. o Criterion-related validity is estimated by correlating subject’s scores on a test with their scores on an independent criterion (another measure) of the trait assessed by the test. IE: a test is created to test pilots knowledge, and the independent criterion is their flight record. o Construct validity: the extent to which there is evidence that a test measures a particular hypothetical construct. Evolution of Intelligence Testing - - - - Chinese imperial examinations began over 1400 years ago. Sir Francis Galton created the modern psychological test in the 19th century. Decided that intelligence passed genetically through generations of well-bred, upper class families without discussing the advantages of such an upbringing. Binet-Simon scale: used in schools to single out children in need of special education training. Expressed a child’s score in terms of “mental level” or “mental age” o Mental age indicated that he or she displayed the mental ability typical of a child of that chronological (actual) age. o Revised in 1908 and 1911. Lewis Terman revised the Binet Simon scale calling it the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale. It scored based on an intelligence quotient. o Intelligence quotient: IQ: is a child’s mental age divided by chronological age x 100. o Still used today. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): created by David Wechsler in 1939. Test is less dependent on verbal ability than Stanford Binet. Intelligence: - - - British psychologist invented a complicated statistical procedure called factor analysis. In factor analysis, correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables. If a number of variables correlate highly with one another, the assumption is that a single factor is influencing all of them. Factor analysis attempts to identify these hidden factors. Thurstone developed a test that evolved into the scholastic aptitude test. Concluded that intelligence involves many abilities, opposing factor analysis. o Decided there were 7 independent factors called primary mental abilities including numerical ability, inductive reasoning, verbal comprehension. In the 1980s, developers of IQ tests began to focus on multiple indicators rather than a single indicator. Now intelligence is best represented as a series of layers with general intelligence (g) at the top, as you move down each layer intelligence is subdivided into more specific abilities. One theory suggests it can be divided into fluid (gf) and crystalized intelligence(gc) . o Fluid intelligence involves reasoning ability, memory capacity and speed of information processing. o Crystalized intelligence involves ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills in problem solving. Biological Correlates of Intelligence: - Larger head and brain is correlated with higher intelligence. Higher intelligence is correlated with increased volumes of grey and white matter, more so grey matter. Smarter people tend to be healthier and live longer than others. Emotional Intelligence: - Measurement of emotional intelligence can enhance the prediction of success at school, work and interpersonal relationships - - Emotional intelligence consists of the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion and regulate emotion Four essential components: o First, people need to be able to accurate perceive emotions in themselves and others and express their own emotions effectively o Second, people need to be aware of how their emotions shape their thinking, decision making and coping with stress. o Third, people need to be able to understand and analyze their emotions, which may often be complex and contradictory. o Fourth, people need to be able to regulate their emotions so that they can dampen negative emotions and make effective use of positive emotions. The most empirically sound test for analyzing emotional intelligence is the MEIS: multifactor emotional intelligence scale
