Essential Questions

1. What are the “types” of tests used in psychology to

measure underlying ability and learning?
2. What is intelligence and how is it measured?
3. How have intelligence tests evolved?
4. What are IQ ranges?
5. Is it possible for IQ Tests to measure innate
intelligence; or, is intelligence a product of
environment?
5. Are IQ tests reliable and valid?
6. How does cultural bias impact IQ test results?
7. Are there different types of intelligences?
 Concepts on Recent AP Exams
• Validity (construct, test/retest, concurrent, predictive)
• Reliability
• achievement test
• aptitude test
• IQ-concepts related to IQ Tests- Alfred Binet
• projective personality tests (Inkblot and TAT)
• self reporting personality inventories (MMPI)
• standardized tests/standardization
• Fluid intelligence v. Crystallized intelligence
• Emotional intelligence
• Gardner’s multiple intelligences
• Flynn Effect
• Practical Intelligence
• Standard deviation
• Bell curve
• Projective tests
Key Figures-INCOMPLETE
INFORMATION:
Alfred Binet: devised test to identify slower children
(1905)
FrancesGalton: Wrote the book, Hereditary Genius
(1869)
Howard Gardner: Multiple intelligences-8
Charles Spearman: first to use test to measure
intelligence; g factor, two factor theory (1904)
Robert Sternberg: Triarchic Theory (CAP)
LouisTerman: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
MA/CA x 100; Could compare children of different
ages (1916)
David Wechsler: WAIS (scale for adults-1955)
 Objective

• I will be able to apply the

concepts and theories of
psychological testing and
human intelligence on tests
and on individual and group
assignments
Key Concepts in Psychological Testing

1. What are the “types” of tests used in

psychology to measure underlying
ability and learning?
 Principle Types of Psychological Tests
Ability=skills for which people need no additional
training (can you think of any?)
Aptitude=a potential ability (say to play piano)
Type of tests:
– Intelligence – general mental
ability/intellectual potential
– Aptitude – specific types of mental
abilities, more precisely: a potential ability
(ex. mechanical reasoning, ASVAB,
musical ability)
– Achievement Tests -mastery of a subject,
ex. FCAT)
– Personality tests (MMPI, Ink blot, TAT)
 Brainstorm at least two
possible uses for aptitude
tests.
What are possible uses for
Intelligence tests.
What are possible uses for
achievement tests?
What do you think would
make these tests credible
and why?
Key Concepts in Psychological Testing
Reliability=consistency of the test if repeated
1. Test-Retest Reliability=do scores correlate when
the person takes it more then once?
Correlation coefficient=number index of the degree of
relationship
Key Concepts in Psychological Testing
Reliability
2. split half-reliability=break test in half and
correlate one’s performance on the two halves
3. equivalent form reliability=reliability on different
forms of the same test are given
(ex., forms A and B)
Validity=does the test measure what it intended to
1. Content Validity= does the test measure what
was covered (say in AP Psychology)
2. Construct Validity=does the test measure some
abstract concept (say personality , rather than
one’s mood)
3. Predictive Validity=does the test forecast what
it meant to, such as the SAT predicting college
success
 Key Concepts in Psychological Testing
• Standardized Test=piloted on a population
similar to those that are meant to take the test
and whose achievement norms are
established
• Standardization=uniform procedures used
in test administration and scoring-without
this, one’s score is meaningless
– Test norms=info. on where a score on a test
ranks
– Standardization group=the sample of people that
the norms are based on
– Percentile score=raw score is changed to a
percentile score-82 percentile means scoring the
same as or higher than 82 % of the sample
Figure 9.4 Criterion-related validity
Figure 9.2 Test-retest reliability
 The Evolution of
Intelligence Testing
 The Evolution of Intelligence Testing

• Sir Francis Galton (1869)

– Wrote the book, Hereditary Genius-said
success runs in families, intelligence is
passed from generation to generation
(people he looked at had superior
upbringing)
– Coined the phrase nature v. nurture
– Measured sensory processes that he saw
as innate potential
– Invented concepts of correlation and
percentile test scores
 **Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory
(1904)

• first to take a psychometric (test

measurement) approach by measuring
cognitive factors that could measure
intelligence
• Intelligence has two factors: g=general
mental ability (based on what cognitive tasks
have in common); s=specific mental abilities
(math, mechanical, verbal)
• g is what psychologists now view as an
objective IQ (intelligence quotient)
 The Evolution of Intelligence Testing

Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon (1905)

-asked to devise test to identify slower
children who needed special training
– Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale (abstract
reasoning skills)
– Mental age-ability typical of a child that
age
 The Evolution of Intelligence Testing
• Lewis Terman worked at Stanford U (1916)-revised
Binet’s test
– Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
– Intelligence Quotient (IQ) = MA/CA x 100
– Could compare children of different ages
Problem=formula did not work with adults
• David Wechsler (1955)-came up with an adult test
– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
– Had a verbal and a performance test
– test for children, 6-16 (WISC)
– WPPSI-Wechsler preschool and primary scale of
intelligence-as young as 4
The Ranges of IQ Scores
 The Normal Distribution

• Bell curve- the center is the mean..every line

in either direction is one (1) standard
deviations from the norm/mean, or 15 points.
(Page 537 in the textbook)
• Normal IQ Range=85 to115
• Borderline IQ= 70 to 84
• Below 70=Intellectual Disability
• Gifted=above 130
Normal Curve
Figure 9.7 The normal distribution
 Extremes of Intelligence: Mental
Retardation-Intellectual Disability

• Diagnosis based on IQ and adaptive testing

– IQ 2 or more SD below mean
– *Adaptive skill deficits
– onset before age 18
• 4 levels: mild (51 to 70), moderate (36-50), severe
(20-35), profound (below 20)
– Mild most common
• Causes:
– Environmental (most mild retardation from lower
socioeconomic status) vs. biological (25% have
organic etiology)
Figure 9.10 The prevalence and severity of mental retardation
 Extremes of Intelligence: Giftedness

• Identification issues – schools almost

exclusively look at IQ
– IQ is 2 SD above mean standard (130)
 Extremes of Intelligence: Giftedness

moderately vs. profoundly gifted-looked at

latter (above 180 IQ)
• Introverted, socially isolated, more
interpersonal and emotional problems
• VERY successful in achievement (books,,
patents, scientific articles-none earned
recognition for genius level contributions)
 Extremes of Intelligence: Giftedness

• Giftedness and high achievement – goes

beyond IQ
– intersection of three factors (motivation,
exceptional IQ and exceptional
creativity)
– drudge theory (endless hard work)
outstanding mentoring/training and
inborn talent
 IQ tests are exceptionally
reliable – correlations into
the .90s

What did we say was a good

correlation coefficient for
reliability?
Figure 9.3 Correlation and reliability
The controversial question:
Is there construct validity
for Intelligence Tests?

Is there other information,

apart from inborn
intelligence, needed to do
well on the WAIS?
Let’s see----------
Wechler Adult Intelligence Scale
Is there other information, apart from
inborn intelligence, that is needed to
do well on the WAIS?

How is it culturally biased (gives an

advantage to one culture)?
 Reliability and Validity of IQ tests

Validity – valid indicators of academic

success/verbal intelligence, not
intelligence in a truly general sense
Correlations:
• Predictive of occupational attainment-higher
scores=higher status jobs
• IQ not a good predictor of job performance
• Correlation between IQ scores in
adolescence and grades in school
Is Intelligence Innate and
inherited or the result of
Environment?

Who would be the best

people to study to figure
this out?
 Intelligence: Heredity or Environment?

• Heredity
– twin studies (reared together)-identical
twins=.86 correlation; reared apart .72
– Fraternal twins=.60

• Environment
– Adoption studies
– Cumulative deprivation
hypothesis=environmental deprivation led to
erosion in IQ score
– Environmental improvement led to increased
scores
Heritability
 Principles of Test Construction
Standardization-Flynn Effect

• Flynn effect
Intelligence: Heredity or Environment?

– The Flynn effect=IQ scores have

increased through the century possibly
due to nutrition, education, computers,
TV and video games
• Interaction of Heredity and Environment
– The concept of the reaction range : 20 to
25 points= genetics places an upper
limit on IQ.
-So, enriched environments place
children at the higher range
May also explain why children from poor
environments have high IQs
Figure 9.16 Reaction range
 Cultural Differences in IQ

• Heritability as an Explanation
– differences in IQ for certain groups is
hereditary
With this view: lower IQ accounts for lower
success-these people can not avoid this
fate since it is genetic
 Cultural Differences in IQ

• Environment as an Explanation
– Kamin’s cornfield analogy –
socioeconomic disadvantage
– Steele (1997) - stereotype vulnerability-
results in academic underachievement
Stereotype Threat (p. 555)

Culturally biased tests

Figure 9.17 Genetics and between-group differences on a trait
Write down one of your
skills
 Do you think your skill
would be identified by an IQ
test like the WAIS?
New Directions in the Study of Intelligence
Look at how people use their intelligence

Sternberg’s “successful intelligence”

known as: Triarchic Theory
1.Analytical -reasoning/problem solving-
needed for school work and assessed on
IQ tests
2. Creative (novel ,original, valuable
solutions/ideas-divergent thinking)
3. Practical (“street smarts”)
 Goleman’s
• Emotional intelligence
–Perceiving and expressing
emotions
–Understand emotions
–Manage emotions
–Use emotions for adaptive or
creative thinking
In what areas of life is this useful
and why?
Is Intelligence One General Ability or Several Specific Abilities?
Theories of Multiple Intelligences
 Your Results to Gardner’s Intelligence
Test
• ONE: 6, 14, 23, 31, 60
• TWO: 29, 32, 40, 49, 54
• THREE: 2, 4, 13, 51, 66
• FOUR: 7, 34, 47, 53, 15
• FIVE: 21, 24, 26, 48, 59
• SIX: 19, 43, 62, 65, 70
• SEVEN: 35, 41, 55, 57, 69
 Does your skill correlates with your
score? If yes, than the test has
construct ______________.
Intelligence type
1. Linguistic
2. Logical-Mathematical
3. Musical
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic
5. Spatial-Visual
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal