vocabulary

Factor Analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score.

Savant Syndrome

A condition characterized by having an exceptional skill despite limited mental ability.

Stanford-Binet test

The widely used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Assesses both verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

Intellectual disability

A condition of limited mental ability indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below.

Stereotype threat

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.

Intelligence Test

Used to assess an individual’s mental aptitudes and compare them with those of others.

Intelligence

Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Mental Age

A measure of intelligence test performance that represents the chronological age corresponding to a given level of performance.

Achievement tests

Designed to assess what a person has learned.

Standardization

Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

Normal curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results.

Validity

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

Down syndrome

Caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 leading to intellectual disability and associated physical disorders.

General Intelligence (g)

A general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

A score derived from standardized tests measuring intelligence, originally defined as a ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100.

Aptitude tests

Predict a person’s future performance based on their capacity to learn.

Content validity

The extent to which a test samples the relevant behavior that is of interest.

Predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict.