Intelligence and Psychological Testing

Who Is the Most Intelligent?

Serena Williams Age 22 won a record-setting three Grand Slam tennis titles in a row for an unheard-of 6 Grand Slams Won the 2003 Wimbledon title First woman tennis player to earn $4 million in a single year

Bill Gates At age 48 he became the richest man in the US- worth $61 billion He began writing computer programs in 8th grade Wrote one of the first operating systems to run a computer In his 20s he founded Microsoft

Kim Ung-Yong Scored a 210 IQ on the Stanford-Binet test and made the Guinness Book of World Records By age 3 he learned differential calculus By age 4 he could read & write 4 languages He received his Ph.D in physics at age 15 and then began work for NASA

Midori Age 3 she began playing the violin She could memorize and flawlessly perform long and complicated pieces of classical music By age 10 she was considered a musical prodigy and played with the NY Philharmonic Orchestra

So, who is more intelligence? It depends how you define intelligence Psychometrics- area of psych concerned with developing intelligence tests & other individual abilities (I.E- skills, beliefs, personality traits)

Mental Ability Tests Personality Tests Psychological Tests Mental Ability Tests Personality Tests Intelligence Aptitude Achievement Intelligence- measures general mental ability Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory: g (general intelligence) & s (specific mental abilities) Aptitude- assess specific types of mental abilities (ex: numerical, abstract reasoning) Achievement- knowledge of various subjects (ex: history, literature, psychology)

History of Intelligence Testing Galton’s Study of Hereditary Genius (late 1800s) Alfred Binet (1904)- 1st intelligence test But NOT first IQ test Mental Age Standford-Binet Test (1916) Revised by Lewis Terman New scoring based on “intelligent quotient” (IQ) IQ = MENTAL AGE x 100 Chronological AGE

History of Intelligence Testing (cont.) David Wechsler’s WAIS (1939) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Less dependent on verbal ability (p. 240) New scoring based on a normal distribution Raw scores translated into deviation IQ scores and then into percentile scores (p.241) Extremes (Gifted & Retarded)- 2 SDs from mean

Reliability- consistency of a test (similar results upon repetition) To determine reliability you must compute the correlation coefficient between the two sets of scores Most IQ test range into the .90s From .7 to 1.0 are considered acceptable reliability coefficients Low motivation or high anxiety could drag a person’s score down

Validity- ability of the test to measure what it was designed to Are IQ tests valid? They measure the kind of intelligence that’s necessary to do well in academic work (abstract reasoning & verbal fluency) Positive correlations have been found between IQ scores and school grades (.5-.6) The IQ test cannot assess intelligence in a broader sense (practical problem solving, social competence, creativity, etc)

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Contexual Experimental Componential Contexual- behaviors considered intelligent by a given culture Experimental- relationship between experience and intelligence Componential- types of mental processes that intelligent thought depends on (practical, analytical, & creative)

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences TAKE THE TEST!

Creativity & Intelligence RAT Test- based on the assumption that creative people see unusual relationships between items No correlation between creativity & intelligence Correlation between creativity & mental disorders General population: 15% has a mood disorder Writers & artists: 50% Composers: 45%

Hereditary v. Environment Twin & Adoption Studies (p.245) Heritability Ratio Cumulative Deprivation Hypothesis Reaction Range (p.247) Flynn Effect: James Flynn Average IQ scores in every industrialized country on the planet had been increasing steadily for decades. Despite concerns about the dumbing-down of society - the failing schools, the garbage on TV, the decline of reading - the overall population was getting smarter. Our brains are getting better at problem-solving.

Flynn Effect Intelligence test performance has been rising

Cultural Differences in IQ Jensen’s Heritability Explanation & the controversial “Bell Curve” Stereotype Vulnerability Cultural Bias on IQ Tests (take the cultural bias test)

Wechsler intelligence score Ninety-five percent of all people fall within 30 points of 100 Number of scores 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 Wechsler intelligence score Sixty-eight percent of people score within 15 points above or below 100

Fluid v. Crystallized Intelligence Involves reasoning ability, memory capacity, & speed of information processing Crystallized Ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills to problem solving

Review Questions 1) When we check to see whether a test will yield the same results over time, we are assessing its a. reliability b. validity c. normality d. objectivity e. subjectivity

2) All of the following are components of ethical testing except: validity reliability objectivity Instinct item analysis

3) One of Binet’s great ideas was that of mental age, which was defined as: The average age at which people achieve a particular score on an intelligence test An individual’s biological age plus the score he or she achieves on a mental test An individual’s level of emotional maturity, as judged by the examiner The vaiability in scores seen when an individual is tested repeatedly. A means of measuring performance on a test against a specific learning goal.

4) You have tested a 12-year-old child and found that she has a mental age of 15. Using the original IQ formula, what is her IQ?: 50 75 100 115 125

5) If intelligence is a normally distributed characteristic, then you would expect to find it to be different abilities in different people To be spread throughout the population, but with most people clustered near the middle of the range To a significant degree only in people whose IQ scores are above 100 To be determined entirely by hereditary factors To be determined entirely by environmental factors.