PSYCH Ch 8 Cognition & Intelligence

Who created modern intelligence testing and the first IQ test?

Alfred Binet

When did Binet launch his IQ test?

1905

What did Binet’s scale measure?

a child’s mental age

What is mental age?

mental ability typical of a child of that actual age → assesses intellectual capabilities

What is chronological age?

number of years since birth

Who was the first person to revise Binet’s scale? What did they produce?

Terman → Standford-Binet in 1916

Terman’s IQ scale is based on the

intelligence quotient

What is the intelligence quotient?

a score on a test that rates the subject's cognitive ability as compared to the general population

How do you calculate the intelligence quotient?

(mental age/chronological age) x 100

How did Wechsler contribute to IQ testing?

published the first high quality IQ test designed specifically for adults

What were the tests that Wechsler created?

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

What does the WAIS test?

Verbal IQ (VIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), working memory index (WMI), processing speed (PS)

What is FSIQ?

full scale IQ → based on scores of all tests measuring various components of IQ

Verbal vs Performance IQ

Verbal - evaluates language-based skills

Performance - focuses on non-verbal skills

Verbal IQ includes

vocabulary, comprehension, and verbal reasoning

Performance IQ includes

spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and problem-solving using visual or hands-on methods

What statistical tool did Wechsler use in his studies?

the normal distribution

What is the normal distribution?

bell-shaped curve that represents the distribution of many psychological traits and behaviors in the population

What does the normal distribution allow researchers to do?

precisely measure how people compare to each other

What indicates where people fall in the normal distribution for their age?

modern deviation IQ scores

What is reliability?

the consistency of a test

True or False: IQ tests tend to be highly reliable

TRUE

What is validity?

the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure

What does evidence suggest IQ tests are valid measures for and not for?

valid measures of academic/verbal intelligence but not so much for practical/social intelligence

What do twin studies suggest about intelligence?

intelligence is partly inherited
- identical twins are more similar in intelligence than fraternal twins

What % of identical vs fraternal twins are similar in intelligence?

80% vs 60%