Unit 11:
Testing and Individual
Differences
Unit 11 - Overview
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•
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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.
Introduction
• Intelligence
• Intelligence test
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 8 Intelligences
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Linguistic
Logical-mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Bodily-kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist
• Grit
Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?
Theories of Multiples Intelligences:
Garner’s Eight Intelligences
• Grit
Success =
determination,
“keep-at-it-ness”
along with gaining
expertise
Expert: Requires a
minimum of
working hard at
something at a
higher level
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
Spearman’s G Factor:
 Spearman’s General Intelligence (g factor)
 Spearman & others said one single factor (a
general factor) underlies specific mental
abilities
 This factor is measured by every task on an
intelligence test
 g = general
10
Theories of Multiple Intelligences (pp. 424-426)
Is there 1 kind? …or 2? …or 3? ..or 8?
Spearman: 1 basic general intel. (g factor)
Gardner: said there are 8:
-verbal
-movement (kinesthetic)
-math
-understanding ourselves (emot.)
-music
-understanding others (emot.)
-spatial analysis/visual
-understanding our physical
(art)
environment (“street smarts”)
Sternberg’s Big 3:
-analytical: academic problem solving—1 right answer
-creative intell.: react to novel situations & use novel ideas
-practical intel.: deal w/ everyday problems, come up w/ multiple
solutions
11
Intelligence & Creativity
 Creativity: the ability to produce novel and valuable
ideas…
 Those = creative usually have at least avg. or
above avg. g factor
 Things that make this possible:
 Expertise (have knowledge base)
 imaginative thinking skills (outside the box)
 venturesome personality (take chances)
 intrinsic motivation
 creative environment
12
Are There Multiple Intelligences?
 Savant Syndrome
 condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability
has an exceptional specific skill…
--often (NOT always..)
related to autism
 Computation
 Drawing (EX below)
 Social Intelligence
 the know-how involved in comprehending social situations &
managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence p.426
 ability to perceive,
express,
understand, &
regulate emotions
13
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
Is some correlation of
IQ to brain size BUT
not at all consistent…
..some “geniuses”
• Brain complexity studies
– Neural plasticity
– Gray matter (mostly neural
cell bodies) vs. white matter(axons)
Is Intelligence Neurologically Measurable?
Brain Function
NOT just how much U know but also how FAST…
• Perceptual speed
• Neurological speed
Brain Function and Intelligence
 People who can
perceive the
stimulus very
quickly tend to
score somewhat
higher on
intelligence tests
 P. 430: processing
speed, perceptual
speed &
neurological speed
are all involved
Stimulus
Mask
Question: Long side on left or right?
18
Origins of Intelligence Testing
• Francis Galton’s
(Darwin’s cousin)
intelligence testing
– Reaction time
– Sensory acuity
– Muscular power
– Body proportions
• Hereditary Genius: Came up with
phrase “nature vs. nurture”
• First to attempt to assess intell.,
even though did not test out as
valid or reliable.
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet:
Predicting School Achievement
• Alfred Binet
–Identifying French
school children in
need of assistance
–Mental age
–Chronological age
Added from Michaelis/Myers
Origins of Intelligence
Assessments/Inventories (“Testing”)
 Plato: Saw & noted
individual differences
 Intelligence Test: *Binet
(1905 +-)
 method of assessing
individual’s mental
aptitudes & comparing
them to others, using
numerical scores
 Testing Paris school kids to
ID those who low &
needing help
22
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Lewis Terman: The Innate IQ
• Stanford-Binet Test
–Lewis Terman
–New age norms
–Adding “superior” end
–Binet only to ID what?
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:
Immigrants: language
problem or intelligence
problem?
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 Originally, ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age
(ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma ÷ ca x 100 (ma/ca x 100)
 on contemporary tests, the avg performance for a
specific age is assigned a score of 100
 Most intellg. tests (including the Stanford-Binet) no
longer compute an “IQ” score (reification: p. 422)
 What IS Intelligence?
 ability to learn from experience, solve problems, & use
knowledge to adapt to new situations
 Is determined by a social definition & varies from culture
to culture, era to era
25
What is Intelligence?
 Factor Analysis
 statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related
items (called factors) on a test
 ID’s different performance dimensions that underlie
our total score
 These factors indicate a basic ability level
 Eugenics: Terman & others belief that genetics was
the predominate factor in IQ
--was a “scientific” sort of racism…no major basis in
modern psych…Basically said some races, etc., were
genetically better than others.
Who used these ideas?
26
 Mental Age
 measure of intelligence test performance devised by
Alfred Binet, Paris, late 1800’s
 Why? to ID slower kids in Paris school system to help
them do better
 chronological age: actual age
 mental age: if a child does as well as the average 8year-old is said to have a of 8
 Stanford-Binet: widely used American revision of
Binet’s original intelligence test (1914-15)
 revised by Terman at Stanford University
 Stern designed the intelligence quotient
(IQ)

27
Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
• Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
– Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children
(WISC)
– These added what
component to intelligence
assessments?
Assessing Intelligence: Weschler added Performance
Component in 1939 b/c of problems assessing those w/ some
verbal disadvantages
Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL
PERFORMANCE
response
Picture Completion
Picture Arrangement
Block Design
Object Assembly
Digit-Symbol
Substitution
General Info
Similarities
Arithmetic
Reasoning
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Digit Span
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977
29
Assessing (“Testing”!!) Intelligence
 Aptitude Test: designed to predict a person’s future
performance
 looks at abilities…what you should be able to do
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 test designed to assess what person has learned
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
(WWI)
 2 subtests 1) verbal 2) performance (nonverbal)
 WAIS-R = revised adult test;
 WISC-R = revised kids’ test
30
WAIS-R EX’s: Visual Analogies…..block design…..
pic sequencing…..WAIS-R performance assessment kit
31
Most commonly administered
intelligence assessments:
WISC-IV: most commonly used IQ test for
ages 6-16
WAIS -III is for adults.
WIPPSI-III is for preschoolers.
Others also use the Stanford-Binet, 5th
edition, or the Kaufman ABC-II battery for
children.
NOTE: Roman numerals reflect the
multiple revisions of the tests since
their original versions.
32
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
• Achievement tests
• Aptitude tests
Modern Tests of Mental
Abilities
• Achievement tests
• Aptitude tests
Assessing (“Testing”!!) Intelligence
 Aptitude Test: designed to predict a person’s future
performance
 looks at abilities…what you should be able to do
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 test designed to assess what person has learned
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
(WWI)
 2 subtests 1) verbal 2) performance (nonverbal)
 WAIS-R = revised adult test;
 WISC-R = revised kids’ test
35
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)
Assessing Intelligence
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison w/ the
performance of a pre-tested standardization group to
create a norm
Normal Curve
 symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the
distribution of many physical & psychological attributes
 most scores fall near the avg, & fewer & fewer scores lie
near the extremes 
45
Normal Curve:
(aka at times as the bell curve
46
Principles of Test Construction
Standardization
• Flynn effect
Principles of Test Construction: Standardization
Kids are getting smarter?! Who’d a thunk it… ?
Flynn effect: Consistent worldwide rise in IQ scores, even
though achievement scores like SAT dropped …WHY?  
• Flynn effect
Why Flynn Effect (James Flynn, 1987, 1999) occurs…
It’s a mystery…but could be lots of things…
 Test sophistication: assessments are better
now…more accurately assess
 Nutrition: taller, smarter, longer life expectancies
 More formal educations for more ppl
 More stimulating environment b/c of t___?
 Less kid-diseases that might cause handicaps
 Smaller families = more parental resources (time,
money, effort) on each kid
------------So....Why are SAT scores down? Probably b/c
more ppl and more diverse ppl taking SAT now
instead of just the middle & upper middle class. 49
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
Assessments of Intelligence (aka Testing)
 Reliability & Validity
 Reliability: extent to which a test yields consistent results
assessed by consistency of scores in 3 ways:
 two halves of the test
 alternate forms of the test
 retesting
 Validity: How well a test measures or predicts what it is
supposed to
EX: Does SAT predict success in the 1st year of college?
3 aspects to validity…
Content validity
Predictive validity
Criterion validity
52
VALIDITY
Something CAN have reliability but NOT have validity!
A. Content Validity: extent to which a test samples a behavior that is of
interest
EX: Driving test that samples driving tasks…
In driving, do 3 pt. turns, parking, handling the car in tight spaces,
etc., represent things you will need to do while driving?
DOES it evaluate the content you want to look at?
 EX: Are college grades being predicted by SAT performance? …or...
 the measure (part of the operational definition) used in
defining whether the test does have predictive validity
B. Predictive Validity: success w/ which a test predicts SOME behavior
(or criterion) it is designed to predict… especially intelligence tests,
which should predict future performance
 assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the
criterion behavior (behav. you’re interested in)
 This is whether it can give good predictions RE: the behavior looked
53
at… or not
Assessing Intelligence: (436)
Relating body wt. & success to predict…
The larger the sample the better it can predict
Football 10
linemen’s 9
success
 As the range of
data under
consideration
narrows (goes from
Greater correlation
over broad range
of body wts. (Lg. #)
8
7
6
Little
correlation
w/in
restricted
range (sm. #)
5
4
3
2
predictive power
diminishes
 BTW: What is this type
of graph called?
1
0
180
larger to smaller
range), its
250
290
Body weight in pounds
54
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:
Low….or High
Extremes of Intelligence
The Low Extreme
• Intellectual disability
–Mental retardation
–Down syndrome
• 21st chromosome
–Mainstreamed
The Dynamics of Intelligence:
The Low extreme of Intelligence:
 Intellectual Disability:
(formerly retardation or mentally
challenged)




a condition of limited mental ability
indicated by an intelligence score below 70
produces difficulty in adapting to the demands of life
varies from mild to profound
 Down Syndrome
 Intellectual disability and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s genetic
makeup…mom’s age… (Chromosome 22)
62
Extremes of Intelligence
The High Extreme
• Terman’s study of gifted
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Appropriate developmental
placement
High vs. low extremes of intelligence:
 Myth: High IQ kids are mal-adjusted, weird, socially
inept….this is NOT TRUE
-There is a high correlation for high IQ & healthy, welladjusted, academically successful adults…
Most thrive, though some are isolated more as kids b/c
they don’t fit in w/ immature other kids
 Remember: “giftedness” is a socially defined trait & not a
“naturally occurring trait” like eye color or height (what is
this called?)
 Brain size (relative to body size) IS slightly positively
correlated to intelligence
64
Twin and Adoption Studies
• Identical twin studies
–Polygenetic
–Heritability
• Adoptive children
studies
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Heritability
Environmental Influences:
The “Have’s & the Have-Not’s”
• Early environmental
influences
– Tutored human enrichment
– Targeted training
• Schooling &
intelligence
– Project Head
Start: J.M Hunt: Helps
“even the playing
field” for the
disadvantaged
Big debate: tracking
(segregating by ability level):
 Often = low income &
minority put into low
levels, which encourages
the stereotype threat…
which...tends to widen,
not shrink, the gap
betwn. lo & hi especially in
elementary school
Best idea may be, like China &
Japan:
 Avoid tracking thru
elementary
74
75
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gender Similarities and
Differences
Spelling
Verbal ability
Nonverbal ability
Sensation
Emotion-detecting ability
Math and spatial aptitudes
Group Differ. & Environ.Factors: The Seed Analogy:
Group differences & the impact of environment: J. M. HUNT
was one who emphasized this…that education is a
KEY…Helped begin Head Start
 Same seeds (genetics) …but different soil…levels of
fertilizer…water….sun  these = so a differing environ.
 Would they grow the same? Remember the kids in Romania
orphanage & their “FAILURE TO THRIVE?”
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil
Fertile soil
Difference within group
78
Group Differences: Gender
KNOW the general male & female tendencies
toward certain abilities… (from info p.448-9)
Do these stronger abilities apply to ALL males or
females?
The Mental Rotation Test : spatial understanding
Which of the other circles contain a configuration of
blocks identical to the “standard” fig. (left)?
Standard
Responses
79
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
Racial and Ethnic Similarities
and Differences
• Ethnic
similarities
• Ethnic
differences
The Question of
Bias
• Two meanings of
bias
–Popular sense
–Scientific sense
• Test-taker’s
expectations
–Stereotype threat
Stereotype Threat
 Self-confirming concern/belief: negative stereotypes give us “true”
evaluation
 Relates to “self-fulfilling prophecy” & placebo effect: believing
something IS true increase chance it happens:
“I will probably score low” = scoring lower
Students told they are at a disadvantage on a test tend to do worse
than those who are told the test should be one they do well on…
EX’s: “You are not likely to do as well on this as usual…” …OR “You
should do very well on this b/c it is written in a way that will show
your strengths…”
Also Afri.-Amer. or females taking test w/ only that group perform
better than in mixed groups
Summary:
What you think & believe about YOU affect how you perform!
82
The End
PPL to know RE: Intelligence & intelligence
assessments:
Binet
Flynn
Gardner
Spearman
Sternberg
Terman
Wechsler
84
Scoring Assessments
Emotional Intelligence Assess.:
On Items 5 28 33
(If put 1, change to 5 2 = 4 3 stays 3 4 =2 5 = 1
Then ADD all together…those #’s you changed + #’s you had at beginning for
those NOT changed
-------------------------------1. Friday
11. JANE
2. PY (silver anniversary)
12. 9:00 PM
3. 25
13. b (both grow in ground)
4. anniversary
14. a. Alternate #’s go up by
2 & down 1 (from 1 – 10)
5. MENSA
15. e: only on not man-made art
6. b
16. PARACHUTE
7. b
17. 5
8. b
18. c
9.TOM
19. LAND
10. HOUSE
20. # of lines goes down opposite w/
stick & stick alternates lo L/top R
85
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.
Theories of Multiple Intelligences (pp. 424-426)
Is there 1 kind? …or 2? …or 3? ..or 8?
Spearman: 1 basic general intel. (g factor)
Gardner: said there are 8:
-verbal
-movement (kinesthetic)
-math
-understanding ourselves (emot.)
-music
-understanding others (emot.)
-spatial analysis/visual
-understanding our physical
(art)
environment (“street smarts”)
Sternberg’s Big 3:
-analytical: academic problem solving—1 right answer
-creative intell.: react to novel situations & use novel ideas
-practical intel.: deal w/ everyday problems, come up w/ multiple
solutions
113