Unit 2 Part II: Intelligence

Intelligence

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

Psychometrics

The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a protested group

Normal curve

The bell-shaped curve thay describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes

The Flynn Effect

The rise in intelligent test performance over time and across cultures

Validity

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

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

Intelligence Tests

Designed in different ways, and various criteria are used to ensure their credibility

Achievement Tests

Designed to measure what you have learned, such as the AP Exam at the end of this course

Aptitude

Tests are designed to predict your potential ability to learn such as the SAT, or college entrance exams

Stanford Binet

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

Intelligence Quotient

Defined originally as the ration of mental age to chronicle age multiplied by 100

Francis Galton

Inspired by Darwins theory of natural selection, wanted to measure abilities to limit people’s reproductive rights known as eugenics

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) & Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

Both consist of subtests like similarities, vocabulary, block design, and sequencing

General Intelligence (g)

According to Charles Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and its therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Fluid Intelligence (Gf)

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

Factor Analysis

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

Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC)

The theory that our intelligence is based on general intelligence as well as specific abilities bridged by fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence

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

Gardner’s multiple intelligences

Our abilities are best classified into eight or nine independent intelligences, which include a broad range of skills beyond traditional school smarts

Sternberg’s triarchic threory

Our intelligence is best classified into three areas that predict real-world success: analytical, creative, and practical

Concurrent validity

When criterion measures are obtained at the same time as test scores

Convergent validity

How closely new scale is related to other measures of same constructor concept, indicating that the test is effectively measuring what it intends to.

Discriminant validity

Measures that should not be related are not

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

Mental Age

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Defined originally as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100, on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Psychometrics

The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a protested group

Content Validity

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

Construct Validity

How much a test measures a concept or trait

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

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

Cohort

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

Heredity

Plays an important part in determining individuals IQ score, but difficult to determine how much

Heritability

The capacity to be inherited; amount of trait variation within a group, raised under the same conditions, that can be attributed to genetic differences

Growth Mindset

A focus on learning and growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed

Fixed Mindset

The view that intelligences, abilities, and talents are unchangeable, even with effort

Stereotype Threat

An individual feels at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about a group they identify with. Contributes to achievment and opportunity gaps among racial, ethnic, gender, and cultural groups

Stereotype Lift

Performance boost when downward comparisons are made with a denigrated outgroup

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Observations or behaviors that result primarily from expectations

Poverty

Socioeconomic class correlates with IQ, affluence associated with higher IQ score

Cross-cultural psychologists

Have shown that “intelligence has different meanings in different cultures

Content

 The degree to which an assessment accurately measures what it claims to test.  Is it a fair and representative measurement of the total breadth of the material it is designed to cover?  In content validity, the individuals doing the evaluation are either experts or members of the target population. In either case, content validity requires careful examination of the assessment device.

Construct

The degree to which an assessment accurately measures a given hypothetical or theoretical idea (construct)

Face

The degree to which the material on an assessment appears on the surface (at “face value”) to accurately measure what it intends to measure. Face validity may be determined either by a non-expert, or an expert who gives only a quick evaluation of the test. 

Criterion

The degree to which scores on a particular assessment are positively correlated with scores on another preexisting and well-established assessment tool (the criterion) for a particular skill, trait, or ability.

Reliability

the ability of a particular test or assessment to consistently overtime to give the same results. 

Split-Half Reliability

A measure of consistency, which compares the results of the half of a test with the results of the other half of the test to be sure that the assessment device has internal consistency.

Test-Retest

 The degree to which the same outcome is achieved on at least two occasions

Alternate Form

The degree to which different versions of an instrument result in the same or a similar result. Involves comparing the results of 2 different but equivalent versions of a test

Inter-Rater reliability

The degree to which the same assessment given by multiple individuals achieves the same results.  Involves comparing scores given by 2 different examiners of the same participants.  If both examiners give the same participants the same score the testing instrument has inter-rater reliability.  This is important in determining if subjective data collected through observation is consistent regardless of who is recording behavior of participants.