Module 30: Intelligence Assessment and Dynamics

What did Binet hope to achieve by establishing a child’s mental age?

Binet hoped that determining the child’s mental age (the age that typically corresponds to a certain level of performance) would help identify appropriate school placements

What is the IQ score of a 4-year-old with a mental age of 5?

125 (5/4×100)

An employer with a pool of applicants for a single available position is interested in testing each applicant’s potential. To determine that, she should use an ______ test. That same employer, wishing to test the effectiveness of a new, on-the-job training problem, would be wise to use an _____ test

aptitude; achievement

What are the three criteria that a psychological test must meet in order to be widely accepted? Explain.

A psychological test must be standardized (pretested on a representative sample of people), reliable (yielding consistent results), and valid (measuirng and predicting what it is supposed to).

A correlation of -1.00 represents perfect ____ between two sets of scores: As one score goes up, the other score goes _____. A correlation of _____ represents no association. The highest correlation, +1.00, represents perfect _____: As the first score goes up, the other score goes ____.

disagreement; down; zero; agreement; up

Researcher A wants to study how intelligence changes over the life span. Researcher B wants to study the intelligence of people who are now at various life stages. Which researcher should use the cross-sectional method, and which the longitudinal method?

Researcher A should develop a longitudinal study to examine how intelligence changes in the same people over the life span. Researcher B should develop a cross-sectional study to examine the intelligence of people now at various life stages

The IQ score of a 6-year-old Shanice, who has a measured mental age of 9, would be

a. 67

b. 133

c. 86

d. 150

d. 150

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is best able to tell us

a. about innate intelligence among groups

b. whether the test-taker will succeed in a job

c. how the test-taker compares with other adults in vocabulary and arithmetic reasoning

d. whether the test-taker has specific skills for music and the performing arts

c. how the test-taker compares with other adults in vocabulary and arithmetic reasoning

The Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children yield consistent results, for example on retesting. In other words, these tests have high

reliability

Which of the following is NOT a possible explanation for the fact that people with higher intelligence scores tend to live longer, healthier lives?

a. intelligence facilitates more education, better jobs, and a healthier environment

b. intelligence encourages a more health-promoting lifestyle

c. Intelligent people have slower reaction times, so are less likely to put themselves at risk

d. prenatal events or early childhood illnesses could influence both intelligence and health

c. Intelligent people have slower reaction times, so are less likely to put themselves at risk

Use the concepts of Gc and Gf to explain why writers tend to produce their most creative work later in life, while scientists often hit their peak much earlier

Writers’ work relies more on Gc (crystallized intelligence)-accumulated knowledge that increases with age. For top performance, scientists doing research may need more Gf (the speedy and abstract reasoning of fluid intelligence), which tends to decrease with age