AP Psychology: Intelligence, Testing, and Statistics

Intelligence

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

Psychometrics

Field that focuses on intelligence and personality testing through the study of data.

Cultural Influence on Intelligence

Intelligence is culturally defined by cognitive ability in each other cultures .

Outdated IQ Formula

IQ = Mental age x 100 / Chronological age

Reason for Outdated IQ Formula

did not work for kids only adults

Current IQ Determination

Determined with a cognitive ability test.

Stereotype Threat

It occurs when individuals feel at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group in a test setting.

Stereotype Lift

A boost in performance for non-stereotyped groups when compared to stereotyped group scores.

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing IQ

Non-white immigrants performed poorly on the tests.

Growth Mindset

abilities can be developed through effort and practice

Fixed mindset

abilities are innate and unchangeable

What is the bias in Intelligence Tests?

Non-white immigrants perform poorly on the tests.

Socio-Culturally Responsive Test

Designed to be culturally fair.

Confidentiality in Cognitive Ability Testing

Keeps scores private.

Cognitive Ability Test

Identifies how participants compare to their peers on a standardized scale.

Example of Cognitive Ability Test

Inview.

Aptitude Test

Designed to predict future performance.

Examples of Aptitude Tests

ACT & SAT.

Achievement Test

Designed to assess what you have learned over a period of time.

Example of Achievement Test

AP & Ost test

Standardized testing

Given in a standard fashion: same timing, seating, instrucions

Reliability

measure the consistency of any standard intelligence test given

Standardization

measure whether or not the test is normal, given to a pretested group called a representative sample

Ways to Test Reliability

Split-Half reliability and Test-retest reliability.

Split-Half Reliability

Divide a test into even and odd numbers.

Test-retest reliability

A test is given and given again

Validity

Extent to which a test measures or predicts what is says it is going measure or predict.

Construct Validity

Extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Predictive Validity

A test that predicts what it is supposed to

Statistical measure for reliability or validity

High positive correlation

Longitudinal study

One group is studied over a long period of time

Cross-sectional study

Researchers compare intelligence scores of people of various ages

Flynn Effect

Studies the change in test scores

Causes of the Flynn Effect

Increased education, improved nutrition and health

Fluid intelligence

Decreases in numeric and processing speed

Crystallized intelligence

Increases in accumulated knowledge and verbal skills

Convergent thinking

Only one correct answer

Divergent Thinking

Multiple ways to solve something

Cognitive ability tests (IQ)

Tests used for assessing convergent and divergent thinking

Zero skew

Normally distributed sample data

Measures of central tendency for cognitive ability test

Mean = 100, Median = 100, Mode = 100

Range

Absolute spread of the scores from the mean; found by the difference between highest number and lowest number

Variance

a measure of how spread out a set of scores is(square root of standard deviation)

Standard Deviation

measure of dispersion or scatter in a data set relative to the data's central mean value.

Standard deviation of cognitive ability tests

115

mean

the average value of a set of numbers, (calculated by dividing the sum of all scores by the total number of scores. )

Median

the middle number in a data or the average of the two middle values if the set has an even number of observations.

Mode

the value that appears most frequently in a data set.

68%

fall between -1 - +1 standard deviations in a normal distribution.

95%

fall between -2 - +2 standard deviations in a normal distribution.

97%

fall between -3 - +3 standard deviations in a normal distribution.