Chapter 11: Testing and Individual Differences

Question 1

intelligence

Answer 1

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Question 2

general intelligence

Answer 2

according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Question 3

factor analysis

Answer 3

a 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

Question 4

savant syndrome

Answer 4

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

Question 5

grit

Answer 5

in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goal

Question 6

emotional intelligence

Answer 6

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

Question 7

intelligence test

Answer 7

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

Question 8

achievement test

Answer 8

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

Question 9

aptitude test

Answer 9

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Question 10

Stanford-Binet

Answer 10

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

Question 11

mental age

Answer 11

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8

Question 12

intelligence quotient

Answer 12

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

Question 13

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Answer 13

the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Question 14

standardization

Answer 14

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

Question 15

reliability

Answer 15

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

Question 15

normal curve

Answer 15

(normal distribution) 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

Question 16

validity

Answer 16

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

Question 17

content validity

Answer 17

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

Question 18

predictive validity

Answer 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

Question 19

cohort

Answer 19

a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period

Question 20

crystallized intelligence

Answer 20

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

Question 21

fluid intelligence

Answer 21

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

Question 22

cross-sectional study

Answer 22

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

Question 23

intellectual disability

Answer 23

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

Question 23

longitudinal study

Answer 23

research that follows and retests the same people over time

Question 24

Down syndrome

Answer 24

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

Question 25

heritability

Answer 25

the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied

Question 26

stereotype threat

Answer 26

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