AP Psychology - Intelligence Tests

Francis Galton

• Wanted to measure “natural ability” and encourage those of high ability to mate with one another

• Based his measurement of “intellectual strengths” on things like reaction time, sensory acuity, muscular power, and body proportions

Alfred Binet (& Théodere Simon)

• Commissioned by the French government to design fair and unbiased intelligence tests to administer to French schoolchildren → would help predict how well French children could handle their school work

• Began by assuming that all children follow the same course of intellectual development, but some more quickly

  • “Dull” — scoring more like a typical younger child

  • “Bright” — scoring more like a typical older child

• Measured each child’s mental age (the level of performance typically associated with a certain chronological age)

Lewis Terman

• Modified Binet’s tests for use as a numerical measure of inherited intelligence

• Extended the upper end of the test’s range from teenagers to “superior adults”

  • Known as the Stanford-Binet test

William Stern

• Derived the famous term intelligence quotient (IQ)

  • IQ = (mental age/chronological age) * 100

David Wechsler

• Created the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

  • Has a school-age children version and preschool children version

• Subtests: Recognizing similarities, vocabulary, letter-number sequencing, block design

  • Gives individual scores for different aspects of intelligence to help with cognitive strengths and weaknesses