Chapter 11 - Vocabulary

Question 0

Factor Analysis

Answer 0

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score.

Question 1

Intelligence

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Savant Syndrome

Answer 2

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

Question 3

General Intelligence (g)

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Answer 4

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Question 5

Intelligence Test

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Mental Age

Answer 6

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

Question 7

Stanford-Binet

Answer 7

The widely used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test.

Question 8

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Answer 8

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 to a score of 100.

Question 9

Achievement Test

Answer 9

A test designed to assess what a person has learned.

Question 10

Aptitude Test

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Answer 11

The WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal performance subtests.

Question 12

Standardization

Answer 12

Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested standardization group.

Question 13

Normal Curve

Answer 13

The symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer scores lie near the extremes.
{Bell curve and most scores fall at the average.}

Question 14

Reliability

Answer 14

The extent to which a test yields constant results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting.
{Constant results.}

Question 15

Validity

Answer 15

The extent to which a test predicts the behavior that is of interest.

Question 16

Mental Retardation

Answer 16

A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound.

Question 17

Down Syndrome

Answer 17

A condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in the genetic makeup.

Question 18

Stereotype Threat

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Content Validity

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Criterion

Answer 20

The behavior that a test is designed to predict; thus, the measure used in in defining whether the test has predictive validity.

Question 21

Predictive Validity

Answer 21

{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 22

Charles Spearman

Answer 22

Helped develop factor analysis, believed there is also a general intelligence, or g factor that underlies the various clusters.
{g}

Question 23

L. L. Thurstone

Answer 23

Rejected g-factor. Didn’t rank his subjects on a single scale of general aptitude. Argued that factor analysis revealed seven independent mental abilities.
{7 intelligences}

Question 24

Howard Gardner

Answer 24

Stated that people have specific intellectual potentials, or “intelligences,” each involving a set of problem-solving skills. Multiple intelligences. (Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Intrapersonal (self), Interpersonal (other people), Naturalist)
{8 intelligences}

Question 25

Robert Sternberg

Answer 25

Triarchic theory distinguishes three intelligences: analytical (academic problem-solving) intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Question 26

Alfred Binet

Answer 26

Started the modern intelligence-testing movement by developing questions that helped predict children’s future progress in the Paris school system. (Determining which students needed to be placed in Special Education classrooms)

Question 27

Lewis Terman

Answer 27

A Stanford University Professor, Terman revised Binet’s original IQ test by establishing new age norms and extending the upper end of the test’s range from teenagers to “superior adults.” Supported the Nature side of the debate.
{Americanized Binet’s intelligence scale.}

Question 28

Reification

Answer 28

Viewing an abstract idea as a concrete idea.

Question 29

Flynn Effect

Answer 29

Intelligence test performance improving.