Ch. 11 Vocab

Question 1

a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Answer 1

intelligence test

Question 2

general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Answer 2

General intelligence

Question 3

statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score

Answer 3

factor analysis

Question 4

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

Answer 4

savant syndrome

Question 5

passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Answer 5

grit

Question 6

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Answer 6

emotional intelligence

Question 7

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Answer 7

mental age

Question 8

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test

Answer 8

Stanford-Binet

Question 9

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100; on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100, with scores assigned to relative performance above or below average

Answer 9

intelligent quotient (IQ)

Question 10

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

Answer 10

achievement test

Question 11

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance

Answer 11

aptitude test

Question 12

the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Answer 12

WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)

Question 13

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Answer 13

standardization

Question 14

a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes

Answer 14

normal curve

Question 15

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting

Answer 15

reliability

Question 16

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Answer 16

validity

Question 17

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

Answer 17

content validity

Question 18

the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior

Answer 18

predictive validity

Question 19

a group of people from a given time period

Answer 19

cohort

Question 20

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Answer 20

crystallized intelligence

Question 21

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

Answer 21

fluid intelligence

Question 22

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life

Answer 22

intellectual disability

Question 23

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

Answer 23

Down syndrome

Question 24

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes; may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied

Answer 24

heritability

Question 25

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Answer 25

stereotype threat

Question 26

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Answer 26

intelligence