DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE TESTSPsychological Testing Unit

TEST DEVELOPMENT

In 1904 a Paris based psychologist was asked to design a test to pick out “slow learners.”

Alfred Binet: could not define intelligence but believed it increased with age

He would ask children questions and determine at what age children would be able to answer

Binet made the first of what we today call “IQ” tests

STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALE

Created at Vanderbilt University A revision of Binet’s original test

Currently used in the United States to measure IQ

Mainly given to school aged children

Students asked to define words and explain events in daily life

INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ)

Definition: standardized measure of intelligence based on a scale in which 100 is average

INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ)

What would an 8 year old child who scored at the mental age of 8’s IQ be?

No longer widely used

Schools have started to use the Otis-Lennon Ability Test to measure how successful a student will be in school

WECHSLER TESTS

WAIS III http://wechsleradultintelligencescale.com/

WISC IV See handout

WPPSI III

USES AND MEANINGS OF SCORES

Norms are established so that most people score near 100 95% of people score between 70-130

A little over 2% score over 130

Scorers below 70 have generally been classified as mentally handicapped

idiot, moron, and imbicile are dated terms

55-69 – mildly handicapped, but educable

40-54 – moderately handicapped, but trainable

25-39 – severely handicapped,

Below 25 – profoundly handicapped

WHAT DO THESE SCORES MEAN?

IQ scores are most useful when related to school achievement

Critics wonder if tests actually measure intelligence Is success in school or the ability to take a test a real indication of

such ability?

NATURE VS. NURTURE

Are scores affected by genetics or the environment?

Hereditability: the degree to which a characteristic is related to inherited genetic factors

Twins raised in similar environments are likely to have similar IQ’s

Head Start, poverty, quality of food

See NPR Article

CULTURAL BIAS

Definition: an aspect of an intelligence test in which the wording used in questions may be more familiar to peple of one social group than to another group

Example: “What would you do if you were sent ot buy a loaf of bread and the grocer said he did not have any more?”

Minority Students Answer: Go home

Correct Answer: Go to another store

When questioned, minority students reported that there was only one store in their neighborhood