Unit 5 part two: Intelligence and Testing

Intelligence

a cultural construct; the western definition is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge o adapt to new situations

Charles Spearman

believed that we had one type of general intelligence, labeled g

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items called factors on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlies a person’s total score

LL Thurstone

a protege of Spearman, he gave 56 different tests to people and mathematically identified seven clusters of primary mental abilities

Howard Gardner

proposed the theory of multiple intelligences, mostly independent of one another

Savant Syndrome

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

Robert Sternberg

proposed the triarchic theory of intelligence, narrowing the multiple intelligences down to three types

Grit

passion and perseverance

Emotional Intelligence

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

Intelligence test

assesses an individual’s mental aptitudes and compares them with others, using numerical scores

achievement test

designed to assess what a person has learned

aptitude test

designed to predict a person’s future performance; or their aptitude to learn

Francis Galton

the first scientist to seriously consider measuring intelligence

Alfred Binet

created the first modern intelligence test, designed initially to weed the gifted from the struggling at French schools; he created the concept of mental age, which was roughly the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

Lewis Terman

modified Binet’s intelligence test by extending the upper end of the test’s range from teen to “superior adult” These are called Stanford-Binet tests

William Stern

German psychologist who derived the term IQ and created the IQ formula

David Weschler

created the most widely used individual intelligence test, the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale(WAIS)

Standardized

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

Normal Curve

when most scores fall near the average and few scores fall near the extremes

Flynn Effect

intelligence scores have risen since 1920 throughout the world

Reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results

Split-half

scores on two halves of the test are compared

Alternative form

varying forms of the test are admitted and the results are compared

Test-retest

the same test is readministered and results are compared

Validity

the same test is readministered and results are compared

content validity

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

predictive validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior in interest

cohort

a group of people sharing common characteristics

crystallized intelligence

fluid intelligence

cross-sectional study

research that compares people of different ages at the same time

longitudinal study

research that follows the same people/person over time

intellectual disability

a conditioned of limited mental ability indicated by an IQ score of 70 or below

Down Syndrome

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

Giftedness

describes who gives evidence of high achievement capability

heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.

Carol Dweck

reports that believing intelligence is changeable fosters a growth mindset, a focus on learning and growing

Stereotype Threat

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