Unit 11:
Testing and Individual
Differences
Unit 11 - Overview
•
•
•
•
Introduction to Intelligence
Assessing Intelligence
The Dynamics of Intelligence
Studying Genetic and Environmental
Influences on Intelligence
• Group Differences and the Question of Bias
Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.
Module 60:
Introduction to Intelligence
Introduction
• Intelligence
• Intelligence test
Is Intelligence One General
Ability or Several Specific
Abilities?
Is Intelligence One General
Ability or Several Specific
Abilities?
• Spearman’s General intelligence (g)
–Factor analysis
–Comparison to athleticism
• Thurstone’s counter argument
g
Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?
Theories of Multiples Intelligences:
Garner’s Eight Intelligences
• Savant syndrome
• Gardner’s Eight Intelligences
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Linguistic
Logical-mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Bodily-kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?
Theories of Multiples Intelligences:
Garner’s Eight Intelligences
• Grit
Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?
Theories of Multiples Intelligences:
Sternberg’s Three Intelligences
• Sternberg’s Three Intelligences
–Analytical (academic problemsolving intelligence
–Creating intelligence
–Practical intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional intelligence
–Perceive emotions
–Understand emotions
–Manage emotions
–Use emotions for adaptive or creative
thinking
Is Intelligence Neurologically
Measurable?
Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Brain Size and Complexity
• Brain size studies
• Brain complexity
studies
–Neural plasticity
–Gray matter
versus
white matter
Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Brain Function
• Perceptual speed
• Neurological speed
Module 61:
Assessing Intelligence
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Origins of Intelligence Testing
• Francis Galton’s intelligence testing
–Reaction time
–Sensory acuity
–Muscular power
–Body proportions
• Hereditary Genius
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet: Predicting School
Achievement
• Alfred Binet
–Identifying French
school children in
need of assistance
–Mental age
–Chronological age
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Lewis Terman: The Innate IQ
• Stanford-Binet Test
–Lewis Terman
–New age norms
–Adding superior end
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Lewis Terman: The Innate IQ
• Intelligence quotient (IQ)
• IQ = (mental age/chronological age) X 100
• IQ of 100 is considered average
• World War I testing
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
• Achievement tests
• Aptitude tests
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
• Achievement tests
• Aptitude tests
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
–Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children
(WISC)
Principles of Test
Construction
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Standardization
–Normal curve (bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Normal curve
(bell curve)
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Flynn effect
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Flynn effect
Principles of Test Construction
Reliability
• Reliability
–Scores correlate
–Test-retest
reliability
–Split-half
reliability
Principles of Test Construction
Validity
• Validity
–Content validity
• Criterion
–Predictive
validity
Module 62:
The Dynamics of Intelligence
Stability or Change?
Stability or Change?
Aging and Intelligence
• Cross-Sectional Evidence
• Longitudinal Evidence
– Cohort
Stability or Change?
Aging and Intelligence
• It all depends
–Crystallized intelligence
–Fluid intelligence
Stability or Change?
Stability Over the Life Span
Extremes of Intelligence
Extremes of Intelligence
The Low Extreme
• Intellectual disability
–Mental retardation
–Down syndrome
• 21st chromosome
–Mainstreamed
Extremes of Intelligence
The High Extreme
• Terman’s study of gifted
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Appropriate developmental
placement
Module 63:
Studying Genetic and
Environmental Influences on
Intelligence
Twin and Adoption Studies
Twin and Adoption Studies
• Identical twin studies
–Polygenetic
–Heritability
• Adoptive children
studies
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Environmental Influences
Environmental Influences
• Early environmental influences
–Tutored human enrichment
–Targeted training
• Schooling and
intelligence
–Project Head
Start
Module 64:
Group Differences on the
Question of Bias
Group Differences in
Intelligence Test Scores
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gender Similarities and
Differences
Spelling
Verbal ability
Nonverbal ability
Sensation
Emotion-detecting ability
Math and spatial aptitudes
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
Racial and Ethnic Similarities
and Differences
• Ethnic similarities
• Ethnic differences
The Question of Bias
The Question of Bias
• Two meanings of bias
–Popular sense
–Scientific sense
• Test-taker’s
expectations
–Stereotype threat
The End
Definition
Slides
Intelligence
= mental quality consisting of the ability to
learn from experience, solve problems,
and use knowledge to adapt to new
situations.
Intelligence Test
= a method of assessing an individual's
mental aptitudes and comparing them with
those of others, using numerical scores.
General Intelligence (g)
= a general intelligence factor that,
according to Spearman and others,
underlies specific mental abilities and is
therefore measured by every task on an
intelligence test.
Factor Analysis
= a statistical procedure that identifies
clusters of related items (called factors) on
a test; used to identify difference
dimensions of performance that underlie a
person’s total score.
Savant Syndrome
= a condition in which a person otherwise
limited in mental ability has an exceptional
specific skill, such as in computation or
drawing.
Grit
= the in psychology, grit is passion and
perseverance in the pursuit of long-term
goals.
Emotional Intelligence
= the ability to perceive, understand,
manage, and use emotions.
Mental Age
= a measure of intelligence test performance
devised by Binet; the chronological age
that most typically corresponds to a given
level of performance. Thus, a child who
does as well as the average 8-year-old is
said to have a mental age of 8.
Stanford-Binet
= the widely used American revision (by
Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s
original intelligence test.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
= defined originally as the ratio of mental
age (ma) to chronological age (ca)
multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca X 100).
On contemporary intelligence tests, the
average performance for a given age is
assigned a score of 100, with scores
assigned to relative performance above or
below average.
Achievement Tests
= tests designed to assess what a person
has learned.
Aptitude Tests
= tests designed to predict a person’s future
performance; aptitude is the capacity to
learn.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale (WAIS)
= the WAIS is the most widely used
intelligence test; contains verbal and
performance (nonverbal) subtests.
Standardization
= defining uniform testing procedures and
meaningful scores by comparison with the
performance of a pretested group.
Normal Curve
= a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that
describes the distribution of many physical
and psychological attributes. Most scores
fall near the average, and fewer and fewer
scores lie near the extremes.
Reliability
= the extent to which a test yields consistent
results, as assessed by the consistency of
scores on two halves of the test, on
alternate forms of the test or on retesting.
Validity
= the extent to which a test measures or
predicts what it is suppose to.
Content Validity
= the extent to which a test samples the
behavior that is of interest.
Predictive Validity
= the success with which a test predicts the
behavior it is designed to predict; it is
assessed by computing the correlation
between test scores and the criterion
behavior (also called criterion-related
validity).
Cohort
= a group of people from a given time
period.
Crystallized Intelligence
= our accumulated knowledge and verbal
skills; tends to increase with age.
Fluid Intelligence
= our ability to reason speedily and
abstractly; tends to decrease during late
adulthood.
Intellectual Disability
= a condition of limited mental ability,
indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or
below and difficulty in adapting to the
demands of life.
• Formerly referred to as mental retardation
Down Syndrome
= a condition of mild to severe intellectual
disability and associated physical
disorders caused by an extra copy of
chromosome 21.
Hereditability
= the proportion of variation among
individuals that we can attribute to genes.
The hereditability of a trait may vary,
depending on the range of populations
and environments studied.
Stereotype Threat
= a self-confirming concern that one will be
evaluated based on a negative stereotype.