Testing
Psychological Tests
 Tests
abilities, interests, creativity,
personality, behavior
 Must
be standardized, reliable, and valid
 Timing,
instructions, scoring standards, and
conditions should be the same
No
matter when you take it and who scores
it, the score should be the same.
Standardization & Norms



Psychometrics: Measurement of mental traits, abilities, and
processes
Psychometricians: focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing
psychological data; mental traits, abilities, and processes
Constructs (behaviors): hypothetical abstractions related to
behavior and defined by small groups of objects of events



Ideas that help summarize a group of related ideas, objects or
phenomena (happiness, honesty, intelligence)
Standardization: 2 step process
 Establishes test norms from the test results of the large
representative sample
 Ensures that the test is both administered and scored uniformly
for all test takers
Norms: Standards used to compare scores of test takers
Standardized Tests Usually Follow a
Normal or Bell Curved Distribution Where
Most Scores Occur in the Middle.
Number
of
scores
Ninety-five percent
of all people fall
within 30 points
of 100
55
70
Sixty-eight percent
of people score
within 15 points
above or below 100
85
100
115
130
Wechsler intelligence score
145
Reliability vs. Validity
(DON’T MIX THEM UP)
 Reliability deals with consistency (repeatability)
 Asks the question: “Do I always get SIMILAR results each time
the test is administered?
Interrater
reliability: The extent to which two or more
scorers evaluate the responses in the same way
Validity
deals with accuracy or predictability.
Asks the question does the test measure what it
is supposed to measure?
Methods to Measure Reliability

Test-Retest
 Same
test to same group but on different occasions then scores
are compared
 The

closer the correlation coefficient is to 1.0 the more reliable
Split half
 The
score of half the test is correlated with the score of the
other half to see if there is consitency

Alternate form/Equivalent form
 Two
different versions of a test on the same material is given to
the same test takers and scores are correlated
Methods for Measuring Validity
Face Validity: A measure of extent to which the content of the test
measures all of the knowledge/skills that are supposed to be included within
the domain being tested according to the test takers
 Content Validity: A measure of extent to which the content of the test
measures all of the knowledge/skills that are supposed to be included within
the domain being tested according to expert judges
 Criterion Related Validity: A measure of the extent to which a test’s results
correlate with other accepted measures of what is being tested
 Predictive Validity: A measure of the extent to which the test accurately
forecasts a specific future result
 Construct Validity: The extent to which the test actually measures the
hypothetical construct or behavior it is designed to assess.

 Some
psychologists consider this the true measure of validity
 Some people question whether IQ tests have construct validity
The Flynn Effect
Since
the advent of intelligence
tests, people’s IQ scores have been
improving with time (Flynn Effect).
If standardized with today’s tests,
scores 80 years ago would have an
average IQ of 76.
Possible Causes?
The Flynn Effect
IQ105
scores
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
1910
1930
1950
Year
1970
1990
Low Extreme of Intelligence
Mental
Retardation: condition of
limited mental ability, indicated by
an intelligence score of below 70 and
difficulty adapting to the demands of
life.
Extremes of Intelligence
 Down
Syndrome: condition of retardation and
associated physical disorders caused by an extra
chromosome in one’s genetic makeup.
Many mentally retarded people with Down
Syndrome can adapt to disorder and some have
earned college degrees with
accommodations…many learn how to read.
 Savants:
Individuals otherwise considered
mentally retarded, that have a specific
exceptional skill, usually math (calculating),
music, or art.
Degrees of Mental Retardation
Degrees of Mental Retardation
Level
Typical Intelligence Scores
Percentage of the Retarded
Adaptation to Demands of Life
Mild
50-70
85%
Most learn academic skills up to
sixth-grade level. Adults may, with
assistance, achieve self-supporting
social and vocational skills.
Moderate
35-49
10
May progress to second-grade level.
academically. Adults may contribute
to their own support by labor in
sheltered workshops.
Severe
20-34
3-4
May learn to talk and perform simple
work tasks under close supervision
but are generally unable to profit from
vocational training.
Key Dynamic of Intelligence
the ability to produce
novel and valuable ideas
 Creativity:
components
of creativity:
expertise
imaginative
thinking skills
venturesome personality
intrinsic motivation
creative environment
Is Intelligence Genetic or
Environmental?
 Influenced
Similarity of 1.0
intelligence 0.9
scores
(correlation) 0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Identical
twins
reared
together
Identical
twins
reared
apart
Fraternal Siblings Unrelated
reared individuals
twins
together reared
reared
together
together
by both,
but the
most
genetically
similar have
the most
similar
scores.
Genetic Influences
 With
age, genetic influences become
more apparent.
 Adopted children’s intelligence scores
become more like their biological parents,
and identical twins similarities continue
to increase as they age.
 Still hard to tell what percentage of
intelligence comes from genes to account
for differences between people
(heritability).
Genetic Influences
0.35
Child-parent
correlation in
verbal ability
scores
0.30
0.25
Children and their
birth parents
0.20
0.15
Adopted children
and their birth
parents
0.10
Adopted children
and their adoptive
parents
0.05
0.00
3 years
16 years
Group Differences in Intelligence Scores Are
Probably Mostly Attributed to the
Environment
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil
Fertile soil
Difference within group
“Intelligence” is Hard to Define
 Intelligence
is often defined as the ability to learn from
experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to
adapt to new situations.
 Intelligence is not a “thing” it is an abstract concept…an
IQ is simply a score on an intelligence test.
Theories of Intelligence
1897-1988
key name
GUILFORD &
L. THURSTONE
1887-1955
J.P.
 Used
factor analysis to determine that intelligence is
comprised of several discrete abilities (for Guilford there are 180!)
Is Intelligence a Singular Ability?
To measure general ability within specific mental abilities a
statistical method is used called:
Factor Analysis: used to identify clusters of related items
(called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions
of performance that underlie one’s total.
Ex: People who do well on vocabulary items also usually do
well on paragraph comprehension…which are both related
to the verbal intelligence factor.
1863-1945
key name
Charles
“g-factor”/
SPEARMAN
general intelligence
Charles Spearman and The G-Factor
 General
intelligence (g):
Spearman’s belief that there is a
single factor that underlies specific
mental abilities and is therefore
measured by every task on an
intelligence test.
 Specific intelligences tended to be
positively correlated.
1943 - ___
key name
Howard GARDNER
“Multiple
Intelligences”
•From a biological point of view, Gardner has noted that
brain damage often may diminish some abilities but not
others.
•Gardner argues humans do not have one intelligence (g
factor) but instead multiple intelligences which are
relatively independent of the others.
1943 - ___
key name
Howard GARDNER
“Multiple Intelligences” - continued
•Linguistic intelligence
•Logical - mathematical intelligence
•Musical intelligence
•Bodily - kinesthetic intelligence
•Visual - spatial intelligence
•Intrapersonal intelligence
•Interpersonal intelligence
•Naturalist intelligence
Which 2
intelligences are
valued the most
in schools?
Howard GARDNER
“Multiple Intelligences” - continued
The existence of savants, prodigies and other
exceptional individuals supports Gardner’s theory:

The Real Rain Man

Derek - 60 Minutes

Lily the geography wiz!
Rain Man on Netflix: 37:50 39:50 and 42:00
1949 - ______
key name
Robert STERNBERG
Triarchic
theory of intelligence
• Analytical (academic problem solving)
• Creative (reacting to new situations and ideas)
• Practical (everyday tasks – common sense)
Robert Sternberg
Sternberg looked to overcome the fact that although IQ
tests predicted school tests relatively well, they did less
well predicting vocational success.
“The true measure of success is not how well
one does in school…
…but how well one does.”
More “Intelligences?”
 Social
Intelligence
the know-how involved in comprehending social
situations and managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence
-ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate
emotions
-critical part of social intelligence
How We Measure Intelligence
1857-1911
key name
Alfred BINET
Created
an intelligence test that could
measure the mental age of school children
Mental age
Chronological age
X 100 = IQ
Alfred Binet and Intelligence Tests
 Binet’s
looked to identify a child’s:
 Mental Age: chronological age that most typically
corresponds to a given level of performance.
A child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is
said to have a mental age of 8.
 Binet did not believe his test measured inborn
intelligence.
Mental age
Chronological age
X 100 = IQ
What is the IQ of:
a10-year-old with the mental age of a 12 year old?
12
X 100 = 120
10
an 8-year-old with the mental age of a 10 year old?
10
X 100 = 125
8
A 10-year-old with the mental age of a 9 year old?
9
10
X 100 = 90
1877-1956
key name
Lewis TERMAN
 Invented
 He
the Stanford-Binet IQ Test
revised Binet's test to work for large numbers of
people in an attempt to measure what he thought
was inherited intelligence.
1896-1981
key name
David WECHSLER
Creator
of the most widely used
intelligence tests today

WISC: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

WAIS: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
Verbal
& performance scores
Assessing Intelligence- Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL
PERFORMANCE
General Information
Similarities
Arithmetic Reasoning
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Digit Span
Picture Completion
Picture Arrangement
Block Design
Object Assembly
Digit-Symbol Substitution
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977
1905-1998
key name
Raymond CATTELL
 Articulated
the difference between
fluid intelligence (ability to learn new things, quickly
process and apply information)
&
crystalized intelligence (facts, "stuff")
•Fluid intelligence decreases as we age, crystalized
intelligence doesn’t.
Assessing Intelligence: Aptitude vs. Achievement Test
 Aptitude
Tests: are tests designed to predict a
person’s future performance.
SATs and GREs
 Achievement
Test: a test designed to assess what a
person has learned.
Midterm Psych exam, chapter 3 history test, etc.