Chapter 8: Testing and Individual Differences

**standardized**

we mean that the test items have been piloted on a similar population of people as those who are meant to take the test and that achievement **norms** have been established.

**psychometricians**

(people who make tests) at ETS use the performance of the standardization sample on the experimental sections to choose items for future tests.

**Reliability**

refers to the repeatability or consistency of the test as a means of measurement.

**Split-half reliability**

involves randomly dividing a test into two different sections and then correlating people’s performances on the two halves.

**equivalent-form reliability**

The correlation between performance on the different forms of the test is known as

**Test-retest reliability**

refers to the correlation between a person’s score on one administration of the test with the same person’s score on a subsequent administration of the test.

Validity

is often referred to as the accuracy of a test.

**Face validity**

refers to a superficial measure of accuracy.

**content validity**

Face validity is a type of

Content validity

refers to how well a measure reflects the entire range of material it is supposed to be testing.

**Concurrent validity**

measures how much of a characteristic a person has now; is a person a good chef now?

**Predictive validity**

is a measure of future performance; does a person have the qualities that would enable him or her to become a good chef?

**Construct validity**

is thought to be the most meaningful kind of validity.

**Aptitude tests**

measure ability or potential

**achievement tests**

measure what one has learned or accomplished.

**Speed tests**

generally consist of a large number of questions asked in a short amount of time.

**intelligence**

is a commonly used term, it is an extremely difficult concept to define.

**Fluid intelligence**

refers to our ability to solve abstract problems and pick up new information and skills, while crystallized intelligence involves using knowledge accumulated over time.

**Charles Spearman**

argued that intelligence could be expressed by a single factor.

**Howard Gardner**

also subscribes to the idea of **multiple intelligences**.

**EQ**

which is also known as **emotional intelligence**.

**Daniel Goleman**

One of the main proponents of EQ is

**Robert Sternberg**

is another contemporary researcher who has offered a somewhat nontraditional definition of intelligence.

**Sternberg’s triarchic theory**

holds that three types of intelligence exist.

**Alfred Binet**

was a Frenchman who wanted to design a test that would identify which children needed special attention in schools.

**mental age**

an idea that presupposes that intelligence increases as one gets older.

**Louis Terman**

a Stanford professor, used this system to create the measure we know as IQ and the test known as the **Stanford-Binet IQ** test.

**IQ**

stands for intelligence quotient.

**Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)**

is used in testing adult

**Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)**

is given to children between the ages of 6 and 16

**deviation IQ**

The Wechsler tests yield IQ scores based on what is known as

**heritability**

An important term that researchers use in discussing the effects of nature and nurture is

**Flynn effect**

Performance on intelligence tests has been increasing steadily throughout the century, a finding known as the