Development of intelligence tests Flashcards
Who invented the first intelligence test? What were wrong with these? Cite studies.
Cattel (1890) Galton did similar: (Sternberg, 2002)
developed tests which more so tested physical abilities; reaction time, pain register, recalling information.
- had strange considerations; colour preference, head size, etc.
- Wissler (1901) debunked this and states there are no correlation between these attributes and grades.
Binet and Simon (1905) created the first intelligence test that was widely used in schools to find children’s learning ability. This consisted of comprehension and interpretation of appliance of knowledge and numbers.
What’s the use in measuring intelligence?
- They are still used often in fields like clinical psychology.
- They allow schools to develop an understanding of children’s abilities, to find out whether they need special help or not.
- Can be used to find ‘gifted’ children or children with learning difficulties.
Cite a study with ‘gifted’ children, and their flaws.
Terman (1925)
- longitudinal study for nearly 35 years.
- gifted children that were early developers, with language and reading, etc.
- they would continue to be like this throughout their life, 68% graduating college, and 71% of them going into professional work positions.
HOWEVER… Samples of this experiment were chosen by teacher’s recommendations, which could be biased. They could also come from a higher social class, etc.
What are attainment tests?
Attainment tests are tests which measure what someone achieved after specific training:
- Exams
- Driving exams
What are some intelligence tests still used today? Give a brief rundown of each.
Wechsler (1939)
- Tests abilities on comprehension, information processing, and verbal and non verbal ability.
- WAIS; an adult scale
- WISC; child scale
Also discovered a new way to calculate IQ scores using SD.
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
- require less verbal ability
- pattern focused
Standard Progressive Matrices
- for older kids and adults.
What are some problems with intelligence tests?
- Reliability
- Test-retest validity; how likely is someone bound to get the same results twice?
- May not include cultural/contextual consideration.
What is the Flynn effect?
The increase of IQ scores in the population over time.
What can be the reasons for the Flynn effect?
- schooling improvements
- test-taking sophistication
- visual and technical environment
- parental rearing styles
What happened in Carraher, Carraher & Schliemann (1985)?
Street kid vendors developed mathematical strategies that are different to those taught in schools:
- would perform better with relatable life contextual scenarios compared to those given in school formats.
- working class children had high failure rates.
Explain what happened with Sternberg et al (2001).
- Tested children’s knowledge on herbal medicine and their range of standard IQ measures.
- Found that correlations were close to 0, some being negative.
- Concluded that types of intelligence develop independently.
Is education good overall?
- Education does not pose anything negative. If anything though, it is good for you, as one year of missed school leads to a reduction of 6 IQ points (Neisser, 1996).
What does Burke say about adopted children and their IQ scores? Cite the date.
Burke (1928)
- adopted children in ‘advantaged’ homes have above average intelligence.
- They also possess higher IQ scores than their biological birth mothers.
- IQ between adopted parents to adopted children is not as similar as biological parents to their children.
What is the Head Start programme? Cite the date.
1960s.
- Children from low SE backgrounds (socioeconomic).
- Nursery attendance was paid for and help with meals.
- Children usually harboured an advantage by age 3, but this disappeared after a year or two.
- Head Start babies were often: not held back in school, and did not require special tutoring.
For Head Start infants, why did the effects occur?
They lost motivation/effort, and/or changed their attitudes.
For intellectually challenged children (RC) why could they not retain information as well as atypical children?
For normal kids, information recalling would be 7 +/- 2, whilst for RC, it would be 3-4.
A possible reason could be that they don’t use memorisation techniques, like chunking.
