Chapter 9-Intelligence Testing

Question 1

Sir Francis Galton

Answer 1

-British scholar
-sought out root of genius
-believed intelligence is something you’re born with (entirely genetic).
-sensory processes used as a measure (e.g., reaction time, visual acuity).
-inventor of key psych concepts (e.g., correlation)
-coined the phrase ‘nature vs nurture’

Question 2

Alfred Binet

Answer 2

-French psychologist
-expansive view of intelligence (i.e., looked at intelligence in a broad sense).
-developer of first intelligence tests (measure of mental age).
**mental age=how someone is mentally performing relative to others of the same age.

Question 3

Lewis Terman

Answer 3

-U.S. scholar
-developed Stanford-Binet test (modified Binet test)
-IQ= mental age ÷ chronological age x 100
-influenced IQ tests to be used in schools (still widely used today)

Question 4

David Wechsler

Answer 4

-U.S. psychologist
-pioneer of intelligence testing for adults (the focus was previously just on children)
-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
-more non-verbal material in tests (e.g., mental rotation tasks)
-used normal distribution for scoring, as opposed to IQ

Question 5

Normal distribution

Answer 5

symmetric bell-curve (average)

Question 6

Deviation IQ scores

Answer 6

where we fall on the bell-curve (mean of IQ and standard deviation computed into data)

Question 7

Percentile scores

Answer 7

allow comparison across a range of ages

Question 8

Will intelligence tests predict if you’ll have good job outcomes?

Answer 8

yes, for job status. but it is not as much of a determinant for income.

*it is debatable whether it predicts job performance (you can be brilliant but lazy, or lacking social intelligence).

Question 9

Is IQ testing used across cultures?

Answer 9

-western cultures: yes (USA & Canada)

-non-western cultures: very little.
why?: because there are issues such as lack of familiarity between content, differing definitions, and translation.