1. Unit 11: Testing and Individual Differences

2. How is intelligence defined?
Intelligence-mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. An intelligence test assesses people’s mental abilities and compares them with others, using numerical scores.

3. Intelligence Fluid intelligence Crystallized intelligence
Our ability to solve abstract problems & pick up new information & skills
Crystallized intelligence
Using knowledge accumulated over time

4. Theories of Intelligence
Charles Spearman’s General intelligence (g): underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
Factor analysis: statistical technique that measures correlations between different items
Several distinct abilities tend to cluster together and to correlate enough to define a general intelligence factor
L.L. Thurstone: Seven clusters of primary mental abilities:
Word fluency, Verbal comprehension, Spatial ability, Perceptual speed, Numerical ability, Inductive reasoning, and Memory

5. Theories of Intelligence
Howard Gardner’s Eight Intelligences
Linguistic
Logical-mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Daniel Goleman- EQ
Emotional intelligence-similar to Gardner’s interpersonal & intra personal intelligences
Bodily-kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist

6. Theories of Intelligence
Robert Sternberg’s 3 Intelligences
Triarchic theory
Analytical (academic problem-solving) intelligence: present well-defined problems with only one right answer
Creating intelligence: reacting adaptively to inventive situations and generating innovative ideas
Practical intelligence- required for everyday tasks, which may be ill defined with multiple solutions

7. Intelligence Testing Alfred Binet
Identifying school children who might need educational assistance
Created a standardized test that would determine a child’s mental age: the level of performance performance typically associated with a certain chronological age
Allowed him to differentiate between children functioning at different levels

8. Intelligence Testing
Lewis Terman-used Binet’s system to create the intelligence quotient (IQ):
IQ = (mental age/chronological age) X 100
IQ of 100 is considered average
Terman was a professor at Stanford, the test he created is known as the Stanford-Binet Test

9. Intelligence Testing David Wechsler measured intelligence differently
Didn’t actually find a quotient, but his tests are still referred to as IQ tests
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): used in testing adults
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): used for testing children 6-16
Wechsler preschool & primary scale of intelligence (WPPSI): used for children as young as 4
These tests yield their (IQ) scores based on deviation IQ-tests are standardized so the mean score is 100, standardized deviation is 15, with the scores forming a normal distribution.

10. Wechsler Intelligence Normal distribution
Normal curve (bell curve)

11. Principles of Test Construction
Reliability: tests have to yield dependably consistent scores
Validity: the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Content validity: the test samples the behavior that is of interest
Predictive validity: the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict