Intelligence Test

General Intelligence

According to Spearman, it underlies all mental abilities and is measured by every task on a test.

Charles Spearman

The psychologist who introduced the concept of general intelligence.

Factor Analysis

A statistical method that identifies clusters of related items.

L. L. Thurstone

Developed 56 different tests revealing 7 clusters of primary abilities.

Howard Gardner

Identified eight relatively independent intelligences.

Existential Intelligence

The ability to ponder large questions about life, death, and existence.

Savant Syndrome

A condition where a person limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill.

Robert Sternberg

Psychologist known for identifying three types of intelligence: Analytical, Creative, and Practical.

Grit

Passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Intelligence Test

A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with others using numerical scores.

Achievement Tests

Tests designed to assess what a person has learned.

Aptitude Tests

Tests designed to predict a person's future performance; the capacity to learn.

Francis Galton

A psychologist who encouraged mating among high-ability individuals to form geniuses.

Alfred Binet

Created tests for French school children to predict scores for student placement.

Mental Age

A measure of intelligence performance associated with the typical performance of children of a specific age.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

A widely used intelligence test that contains verbal and nonverbal subtests.

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with a pretested group.

Normal Curve

The bell-shaped curve describing the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes.

Flynn Effect

The steady increase over time in intelligence test scores.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results across various measures.

Validity

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

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.

Cohort

A group of people sharing a common characteristic, often from a specific time period.

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tend to increase with age.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age.

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 characterized by limited mental ability indicated by an IQ score of 70 or below.

Down Syndrome

A condition resulting in mild to severe intellectual disability caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

Heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals in a group attributed to genes.

Stereotype Threat

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