Unit 5 Part 2 - Modules 37 - 41

intelligence

intelligence

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

general intelligence (g)

according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

grit

in psychology, 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

a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

Stanford-Binet

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

intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

standardization

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

normal curve

(normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting.

validity

the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.)

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; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. (Also called criterion-related validity.)

cohort

a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period.

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood.

cross-sectional study

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.

longitudinal study

research that follows and retests the same people over time.

intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence test score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life. (Formerly referred to as mental retardation.)

Down syndrome

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

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.

stereotype threat

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