Intelligence
The Origins of Intelligence Testing
Origins of Intelligence Testing
 Alfred Binet
 Attempted to predict
school achievement
 Need for
standardized test
 Developed concept
of Mental Age
Origins of Intelligence Testing
 Lewis Terman
 Interpreted Binet’s
exam as a measure of
innate intelligence
 “The children of
successful and cultured
parents test higher than
children form wretched
and ignorant homes for
the simple reason that
their heredity is better”
 Lewis Terman
1916
Origins of Intelligence Testing
 Stanford-Binet
 the widely used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence
test
 Used to assess immigrants and World War I army recruits
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 defined originally the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological
age (ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma/ca x 100
 on contemporary tests, the average performance for a given age
is assigned a score of 100
 What do intelligence test questions look like?
Pattern Recognition
• 5. Which of the diagrams follows?
•
• Correct answer: A
Explanation: All the characters are letters back to back
(C,D,E,F)
Pattern Recognition
• 2. Find the picture that follows logically from the
diagrams to the right.
• Correct answer: C
Pattern Recognition
Please find the figure continuing the series:
Verbal
• 2. Find the answer that best completes the analogy
• people : democracy :: wealthy :
• A. oligarchy
B. oligopoly
C. plutocracy
D. timocracy
E. autocracy
• Correct answer: plutocracy
Verbal
• . Rearrange the following letters to make a word and
choose the category in which it fits.
• RAPETEKA
• A. city
B. fruit
C. bird
D. vegetable
• Correct answer: bird (parakeet)
Verbal
• 4. Which one of the sets of letters below can be
arranged into a five letter English word.
A. atrun
B. podeb
C. rnasl
D. mohat
E. etlrn
• Correct answer: rnasl (snarl)
Verbal
• 2. If you rearrange the letters "BARBIT", you would have
the name of a:
OCEAN - COUNTRY - STATE - CITY - ANIMAL
• Correct Answer: Animal (Rabbit)
Verbal
• The word "smart" can be created using five letters from
the word "barnstorm".
• Correct answer: true
Logic
• 30 years ago it took a worker five hours to make a chair.
Today it takes him just 30 minutes.
• a) Man has become more industrious.
• b) People work faster in order to avoid
unemployment.
• c) Chairs have a shorter life cycle.
• d) Workers have more spare time.
• e) Productivity has increased.
• Correct answer: E
Logic
• Drinking and Driving causes many accidents.
• a) People drink too much alcohol.
• b) People should not drive when over the legal
limit.
• c) There is a 20 per cent chance of causing an
accident by drunken driving.
• d) Alcohol diminishes driving skills.
• e) The police should carry out more
breathanalysing tests.
• Correct answer: D
Logic
• If all Boogles are Battuns, and some Battuns are
Trandles, all Trandles must be Boogles
• Correct answer: False
Logic
• If a tree branch can hold three people and John weighs
twice as much as Adam, and Rachel weighs half as much
as Adam, then Rachel, John and Adam can all sit
together on the tree branch safely.
• Correct answer: True
Logic
• 2. The day before the day before yesterday is three days
after Saturday. What day is it today?
A. Monday
B. Tuesday
C. Wednesday
D. Thursday
E. Friday
• Correct answer: E
Logic
• 5. 165135 is to peace as 1215225 is to
• A. lead
B. love
C. loop
D. castle
• Correct answer: love
Logic
• 6. Library is to book as book is to
• Binding Copy Page Cover
• A. page
B. copy
C. binding
D. cover
• Correct answer: page
Math
• 6. What is the missing letter?
• Correct answer: H
Explanation: Convert each
letter to its numerical
equivalent in the alphabet e.g.
the letter "C" is assigned the
number "3". Afterwards, for
each row, multiply the
numerical equivalents of the
first two columns in order to
calculate the letter in the third
column.
E
C
O
B
A
B
G
B
N
D
B
?
Math
• . Which number should come next in this series?
• 25,24,22,19,15
• A. 4
B. 5
C. 10
D. 14
• Correct answer: C
Explanation: The pattern decreases progressively: -1, -2,
-3, -4, -5
Math
• 2. Which number should come next in this series?
• 3,5,8,13,21,
• A. 4
B. 21
C. 31
D. 34
• Correct answer: D
Explanation: 3+5=8, 5+8=13 and so on.
Classification
• 1. Which one of the five is least like the other four?
BEAR - SNAKE - COW - DOG - TIGER
• Correct answer: Snake
Classification
• 3. Which one of the five is least like the other four?
POTATO - CORN - APPLE - CARROT - BEAN
• Correct answer Apple
•
Spatial
• 1. Which diagram results from folding the diagram on
the left?
•
• Correct answer: A
Correct answer: A
Spatial
• 3. Which one of the Rubik's cube below can be part of
the sequence?
A
• Correct answer: C
B
C
D
Visual
• 2. Which figure is the odd one out?
• Correct answer: D
Visual
• 4.Which of the following figures is the odd one out?
• Correct answer: C
Assessing Intelligence
 Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
 Aptitude Test
 a test designed to predict a person’s
future performance
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 a test designed to assess what a
person has learned
Assessing Intelligence
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
 subtests
 verbal
 performance (nonverbal)
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
Assessing Intelligence
 Principles of Test Construction
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison
with the performance of a pre-tested
“standardization group”
 Normal Curve
 the 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
The Normal Curve
Assessing Intelligence
• The Flynn Effect
– Tests are often restandardized to keep the
average score near 100
– Intelligence test performance has been
improving
• The average person’s intelligence test score
80 years ago by today’s standards would be
a 76
– Causes are unknown
Assessing Intelligence
 Reliability
 the extent to which a test yields
consistent results
 assessed by consistency of scores
on:
 Test/retest
 Split-half
Assessing Intelligence
 Validity
 the extent to which a test measures or
predicts what it is supposed to
 Content Validity
 Does the test measure what it is supposed to
measure?
 ex: driving test that samples driving tasks
 Criterion
 behavior (such as college grades) that a test
(such as the SAT) is designed to predict
 the measure used in defining whether the
test has predictive validity
The Dynamics of Intelligence
 Mental Retardation
 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
 retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s
genetic makeup
The Dynamics of Intelligence