Bernstein Chapter 10 Cognitive Abilities page 365
What is intelligence?
How good are tests designed to measure intelligence?
Can test scores be compared without considering the social and academic background of the people
who took the tests?
How are intelligence tests created?
What do intelligence tests measure?
How can intelligence tests be evaluated?
General Intelligence Tests – measure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Remembering
Reasoning
Verbal Abilities
Mathematic Abilities
Cognitive abilities- deal with capacity to:
1. Reason
2. Remember
3. Understand
4. Solve problems
5. Make decisions
We draw conclusions about people’s intelligence from what can be observed and measured
Robert Sternberg Deferent view of Intelligence
Said intelligence has 3 main characteristics
Created the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Argued that there are 3 types of Intelligence
1. Analytic- Traditional intelligence Tests, being able to learn, remember, reason, information
processing skills
2. Creative- using skills to solve problems, Skills to solve problems
3. Practical- Being able to alter or adapt to new and changing environment
Suggested that tests should measure these components of intelligence to make a more accurate
assessment
Alfred Binet, 1904 France
Education Researcher
Tried to measure reasoning, thinking, problem solving, and found all depended on intelligence
Tasks that would highlight differences in children’s ability to do these things
Age based tasks
“6 year old item” types of questions that most kids should be able to answer
Test measured a child’s mental level (aka) Mental Age
He found by determining the age level of most advanced items a child could consistently answer
correctly then he made inferences about the child in reference to most children of that age…
“Children whose mental age equaled their actual chronological age were considered to be regular level
intelligence.” (p. 367)
Louis Terman of Stanford (p. 368)
Developed the Stanford-Binet (1918)
Intelligence test for adults
Mental age was decided by chronological age and the result multiplied by 100
Identified by Intelligence Quotient
Chronological age and mental age are equal then the IQ is 100
Example 10year old with mental age of 12 = 10/12x100= 120 IQ
New Standford Binet (SB5) Still age based IQ
Measures:
 Fluid Reasoning
 Knowledge
 Quantitative Reasoning
 Working Memory
 Visual + Spatial Processing
 (Verbal and Non-verbal)
Wechsler, David (1930)
(WAIS) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
Tested
1. Verbal
2. Non-verbal
Success was not measured on formal school
WAIS IV newest version gives IQ based on Verbal and Non-verbal
Verbal Tasks Remembering a series of digits
 Solving arithmetic
 Defining vocabulary
 Understanding and answering general knowledge questions
Performance Tasks
 Understanding relationships between objects
 Manipulation of blocks, mazes, pictures/stories, completing unfinished pictures
Other Tests:
Aptitude Tests:
 Measure readiness to learn certain things
 Or preform certain tasks
 Examples: SAT, ACT, GRE
Achievement Tests:
“Measures what a person has learned in a particular area”
Measuring the Quality of Tests
Tests are standardized procedure, observing and describing behavior
Objective in nature to remove biases
Score= a performance summary
Norms= the frequency of particular scores related to other people and groups
Reliability= Replication, identified as a Correlation Coefficient
Validity= test measures what it is supposed to measure
Evaluating Tests: Are IQ Tests Fair
 There are many variables that can impact test performance
 English language
 Vocabulary and experiences
 Culture Specific
 Many tests reflect the attitudes and experiences of the authors example middle class culture
 Context dependent questions
 Biased questions
Intelligence is a developed ability… asking questions helps
Rewards for progress
Encouragement
Expectations (aid) (Rosenthal and Jacobsen study… teacher expectations)
Twin Studies- tell us about nature
But also nurture makes a big difference
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique
of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities,
attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement. The field is primarily concerned with the
construction and validation of measurement instruments such as questionnaires, tests, and personality
assessments.
Cattell + Spearman
Found 2 types of intelligence
Fluid Intelligence- basic power of reasoning and problem solving
Crystallized Intelligence- specific knowledge
Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligence
Found some insight into how people learn
He identified different skills that make up intelligence
Said they are complimentary and interact
Some intelligences are developed further than others
1.
2.
3.
4.
Linguistic- vocabulary and reading comprehension
Logical/mathematics- reasoning
Spatial- relationships
Music- rhythm, tempo, sound
5.
6.
7.
8.
Kinesthetic- Body
Intrapersonal- knowing yourself
Interpersonal- understanding and interacting others
Naturalistic- finding patterns in nature
Gardner said traditional intelligence tests only look at the first 3.