9 Flashcards
Psychological test:
a standardized measure of a sample of a person’s behaviour
- Measurement instruments used to measure intelligence, aptitudes, interests, and aspects of personality
Intelligence tests:
measure general mental ability
-Intended to assess intellectual potential rather than previous learning or accumulated knowledge
Aptitude tests:
assess specific types of mental abilities
-Also designed to measure potential more than knowledge
Achievement tests:
gauge a person’s mastery and knowledge of various subjects like reading or history
-Supposed to measure previous learning instead of potential
Personality tests:
measure various aspects of personality, including motives, interests, values, and attitudes
Standardization:
uniform procedures used in the administration and scoring of a test
- All participants get same questions, instructions and same time limits
Test norms:
provide information about where a score on a psychological test ranks in relation to other scores on that test
Reaction range:
genetically determined limits on IQ or other traits
Percentile score:
indicates the percentage of people who score at/below the score one has obtained
Reliability: measurement consistency of a test
measurement consistency of a test
Content validity:
the degree to which the content of a test is representative of the domain it’s supposed to cover
Criterion-related validity:
is estimated by correlating subject’s scores on a test with their scores on an independent criterion of the trait assessed by the test
Heritability ratio:
is an estimate of the proportion of trait variability in a population that is determined by variations in genetic inheritance
Construct validity:
extent to which there is evidence that a test measures a particular hypothetical construct
- Requires looking at the relationship between a test and many other measures
Childs mental age:
indicated that he/she displayed the mental ability typical of a child of that chronological age
Intelligence quotient (IQ):
a child’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100
Factor analysis:
correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables
Fluid intelligence:
involves reasoning ability, memory capacity, and speed of information processing
Emotional intelligence:
consists of the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion
Deviation IQ scores:
locate subjects precisely within the normal distribution, using the standard deviation as the unit of measurement
Percentile score:
indicates the percentage of people who score at or below the score one has obtained
Intellectual disability:
general mental ability accompanied by deficiencies in adaptive skills, originating before age 18
Phenylketonuria:
a metabolic disorder (due to an inherited enzyme deficiency) that can lead to intellectual disability if it is not caught and treated in infancy
Hydrocephaly:
an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull destroys brain tissue and causes intellectual disability
Why are test norms needed?
Psychological tests tell you how you score relative to other people. Test norms allow you to convert your “raw score” on a test into a percentile
Test retest reliability:
is estimated by comparing subject’s scores on two administration of a test
Validity
refers to the ability of a test to measure what is was designed to measure
- Validity is also used to refer to the accuracy of usefulness of the inferences or decisions based on a test
Most common technique for establishing validity are…
content, criterion-related, and construct validity
What are psychological tests used to predict?
Predictions about specific aspects of individual’s behaviour
Predict performance in university, job capability, and suitability for training programs…and so on
Psychological tests began with….
Sir Francis Galton
What did Galton study?
Family trees and found that success and eminence appeared consistently in some families over generations
What did Galton conclude?
Success runs in families because great intelligence is passed from generation to generation through genetic inheritance
Who made the first useful test of general mental ability?
Binet and Theodore Simon
Who came up with the intelligence quotient?
William Stern
What became the world’s foremost intelligence test?
The Stanford-Binet
Who came up with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale?
David Wechsler
What did Spearman conclude?
All cognitive abilities share an important core factor
- g = general mental stability
7 primary mental stabilities:
Word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning and memory
What did Guildford’s theory do?
It divided intelligence into 250 separate abilities and did away with g
Grey matter should reflect…
the density of neurons and their dendrites which may be predictive of information-processing capacity
The amount of white matter should reflect…
the quantity of axons in the brain and their degree of myelinization which may be predictive of the efficiency of neuronal communication
Higher intelligence scores are correlated with…
increased volume of both grey and white matter with the association being a little stronger for grey matter
Three aspects of intelligence:
- Analytical intelligence
- Creative intelligence
- Practical intelligence
Analytical intelligence:
involves abstract reasoning, evaluation, and judgement
Creative intelligence:
involves the ability to generate new ideas and to be inventive in dealing with novel problems
Practical intelligence:
involves the ability to deal effectively with the kinds of problems people encounter in everyday life
Howard Gardner concluded that humans exhibit eight intelligences:
Logical-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, body-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist
Emotional intelligence includes 4 essential components:
o First people need to be able to accurately perceive emotions in themselves and other have the ability to express their own emotions effectively
o Second, people need to be aware of how their emotions shape their thinking, decision making, and coping with stress
o Third, people need to be able to understand and analyze their emotions which may often be complex and contradictory
o Fourth, people need to be able to regulate their emotions so that they can dampen negative emotions and make effective use of positive emotions
Which test has the strongest empirical foundation?
The Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale
Adaptive skills of everyday living skills:
o Conceptual skills
Eg.) managing money, writing a letter
o Social skills
Making friends, coping with others demands
o Practical skills
Preparing meals, using transportation, shopping
Intellectual disability has been classified into four levels characterized as:
Mild, moderate, severe, or profound
