Unit 11: Testing and Individual Differences
Module 60
Module 61
Module 62
Module 63
Module 64
intelligence: the ability to lean from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
intelligence tests: assesses people's mental abilities and compares them with others using numerical scores
One General Ability or Multiple?
Spearman -> 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
Gardner -> 8 intelligences
savant syndrome: a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill such as computation or drawing
grit: in psych, it is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long term goals
naturalist, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal
Sternberg -> Three Intelligences (Triarchic Theory)
analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence
Emotional Intelligence: the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
John Mayer, Peter Salovey, and David Caruso's four emotional intelligence components
perceiving, understanding, managing, and using emotions
those socially and self-aware have better lvies
Neurologically Measurable?
ample gray matter and white matter means efficient communication
frontal and parietal lobes
Thurstone -> 7 Clusters
word fluency, vernal comprehension, spatial ability, and perceptual speed, numerical ability
Origins of Intelligence Testing
Binet -> made test to identify French school children needing special attention
mental age: the level of performance typically associated with a certain chronological age
Terman -> innate IQ
Stanford Binet: the widely used American revision of Binet;s original intelligence tetst
intelligence quotient (IQ): defined originally as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100
eugenics: measuring human traits and using the results to encourage only smart and fit people to reproduce
Modern Tests
achievement tests: intended to measure what you have learned
aptitude tests: intended to predict your ability to learn a new skill
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Principles of Test Construction
standardization: defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
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 the test actually measures or predicts what it promises
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; assessed by computing correlation between test scores and criterion behavior
normal curve: the symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes
Section 1
Cohort: a group of people from a given time period
Crystalized Intelligence: Our accounted knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Fluid Intelligence: O
ability to reason steadily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood due to slower mental processing
The stability of intelligence test scores increases with age
Section 2
Intellectual Disability: a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by a score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life
Dow Syndrome: a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated with physical disorders caused by trisomy 21
High-Scoring people tend to be healthy, well-adjusted, and usually successful academically
Schools tracks children and separate those who are "gifted"
Section 1
Heritability: the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a train may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied
Studies of twins, family members, and adoptees indicate a significant hereditary contribution to intelligence scores
Intelligence seems to be polygenic, and researchers are searching for genes that exert any influence
Section 2
Studies of twins, family members, and adoptees also provide evidence of environmental influences
Test scores of identical twins raised apart are slightly less similar (though still highly correlated) than the scores of identical twins raised together
Studies of children raised in extremely impoverished environments with minimal social interaction indicate that life experiences can significantly influence intelligence test performance
No evidence supports the idea that normal, healthy children can be molded into geniuses by growing up in an exceptionally enriched environment
Section 1
Males and females tend to have the same average intelligence test scores. They differ in specific abilities
Girls are better spellers, more verbally fluent, better at locating objects, better at detecting emotions, and more sensitive to touch, taste, and color
Boys outperform girls at spatial ability and related mathematics, but girls outperform boys in math computation. Boys also outnumber girls at the low and high extremes of mental abilities
Psychologists debate evolutionary, brain-based, and cultural explanations of such gender differences
Section 2
Racial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence test scores
The evidence suggests that environmental differences are largely, perhaps entirely, responsible for these group differences
Section 3
Aptitude tests aim to predict how well a test-taker will perform in a given situation. They are necessarily "biased" in the sense that they're sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience
By "inappropriately biased", psychologists mean that a test [predicts less accuracy for one group than for another. In this sense, most experts consider the major aptitude tests unbiased
Stereotype threat: a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype, affects performance on all kinds of tests