AP Psych Unit 11 (part one)

intelligence

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Charles Spearman

creator of "g-factor", or general intelligence, concept

General intelligence

the idea that one general factor underlies intelligence

factor analysis

correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables

L. L. Thurstone

rejected Spearman’s “g” factor and identified seven clusters of primary mental abilities (word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory)

Howard Garner

has identified eight relatively independent intelligences

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Robert Sternberg

devised the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (analytical, creative, and practical)

Grit

passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

achievement test

measures how much a person has learned in a given subject or area

aptitiude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance

Alfred Binet

commissioned by the French government to design fair and unbiased intelligence tests to administer to French schoolchildren

Mental age

the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Lewis terman

modified Binet's IQ test to work for California kids and extended the upper end of the range to adults

Stanford-Binet

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.

intelligence quotient (IQ)

a child's mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100

Reliability

The extent to which a test produces consistent results

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed 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

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance subtests

Standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested 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.