Transcript Chapter 7
Session 7
Intelligence and General Ability Testing
Schedule
Instruments we use
Intelligence instruments
Achievement and Aptitude
Exam results
Widely Used Measures
Community – MMPI, Strong-Campbell,
Myers-Briggs, WAIS-R, WISC-IV
School – WISC-IV, PSAT, SAT, ACT, CAT,
DAT, Strong-Campbell
Overview
No agreement in profession on either
definition or meaning of intelligence
Sometimes called “general ability” because of
negative associations with term “intelligence”
Debate about meaning of intelligence and
intelligence test scores is emotionally
charged
Models of Intelligence
Psychometric Approaches
Developmental Progressions
Information Processing
Multiple Intelligences
Psychometric Approach
Major influence since turn of century
Based on mental factors or general mental
skills that influence mental performance in a
variety of situations
Number of factors range from Spearman’s
two factors to Guilford’s 180 factors.
Spearman (1927)
First to discuss factors
Two factors
g or general ability factor that influences
performance on all intellectual tasks
specific factors that influence performance in
specific areas but highly correlated with g
Intelligence viewed as a homogeneous
construct; either you were smart or not
Thurstone (1938)
Proposed model of seven primary mental
abilities
Verbal comprehension
Word fluency
Number facility
Perceptual speed
Memory
Space
Reasoning
Vernon (1950)
Hierarchical approach
g is first order factor
v:ed (verbal/educational aptitudes) and k:m
(spatial/mechanical/practical aptitudes)
Cattell (1971)
First order factor like g
Two second order factors
Fluid abilities (Gf) are biologically determined,
relatively culturally free and reflected in tests
of memory span and spatial abilities
Crystallized abilities (Gc) include acquired
skills and knowledge, are influenced by
cultural, social and educational experiences
and reflected in tests of verbal comprehension
and social relationships
Guilford (1988)
Structure of intelligence theory
First dimension is mental operations and contains six forms
Mental operations involve five content areas which is the
second dimension
Finally, there are six possible products, the third dimension,
that interact with the combinations of operations and content
areas
Developmental progressions
Not concerned with psychometric differences
in intellectual abilities
Interested in how intelligence develops
Piaget
Stages of development
Sensiomotor
Preoperational
Concrete operations
Formal operations
Two intellectual functions
Assimilation
Accommodation
Other developmentalists
Vygosky – curriculum
Neisser – biological development
Ceci – bioecological (no g but differences in
domain-general abilities depending on
context)
Information processing
Interested in how not what is processed
Luria’s two methods of processing
Simultaneous (mental ability to integrate input
all at once)
Sequential (stimuli arranged in serial order to
solve problem)
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC)
Sternberg’s triarachic theory
Individual Intelligence Testing
Wechsler Scales
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence (WPPSI-III) for kids from 2 years
6 months to 7 years 3 months
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for ChildrenFourth Edition (WISC-IV) for kids from 6 to 16
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third
Edition (WAIS-III) for individuals 16 through
89
All 3 have mean of 100 and SD of 15
WISC-IV
Full Scale IQ plus Performance and Verbal
IQ’s
Verbal subtests are Information, Similarities,
Arithmetic, Vocabulary, and Comprehension
Performance subtests are Picture Completion,
Coding, Picture Arrangement, Block Design,
and Object Assembly
All subtests have mean of 10 and SD of 3
Sample report
Technical reports
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
Binet (cont’d)
Can use with folks from 2 years through
adulthood
Includes comprehensive coverage of five
factors--Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge,
Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial
Processing, and Working Memory (remember
Cattell?)
Has mean of 100 and SD of 16
Kaufman Instruments
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-II
Can interpret in two ways:
Crystallized Ability (Cattell-Horn-Carroll model)
for children from a mainstream cultural and
language background
Luria model which excludes verbal ability
Designed for folks from 11 to 85+ years
Kaufman (cont’d)
Kaufman (cont’d)
Difficult to interpret
Mean of 100 and SD of 10
Not widely used
Group Intelligence Testing
Group Test Usage
School boards who want to evaluate school’s
performance examine differences between
ability (group IQ tests) and performance
(group achievement tests)
Screening for further referral
Tests
Cognitive Abilities Test, Form 6 (CogAT,
2001)
K to 12
Separate scores for verbal, quantitative and
nonverbal reasoning plus composite
Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth
Edition
K to 12
Provides total, verbal and nonverbal scores
Difficulties
Can’t observe behaviors that may indicate
level of motivation
Require more reading
Reliability and validity data not as strong as
for individually administered tests
Issues in Intelligence Testing
Stability of scores
Cross-sectional (people at different age levels
tested and scored compared) studies said not
stable
Longitudinal studies (same people tested
throughout lives) said is stable
Combination of cross-sectional and
longitudinal suggest intelligence is fairly
stable
Prediction
Academic performance but only 25% of
variance is explained by the relationship
Occupational success and income some
relationship with about 1/4 related to social
status variance and 1/6 to income variance
Highly related to job performance
Mental processing speed important
component
Heredity and Environment
Appears to be a hereditary influence but is
also influenced by environment
Environmental factors such as culture,
schooling, nutrition, and exposure to certain
toxins impact intelligence
Group Differences
Gender
Females tend to score higher on some verbal
tasks while men are better at visual-spatial
tasks.
Ethnicity
African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native
Americans tend (as a group) to score lower
than do European-Americans and AsianAmericans
Flynn Effect
Rise in intelligence test scores
In past 50 years has risen by 1 SD
Reasons for this rise are unclear