gould (individual differences) Flashcards
BACKGROUND
YERKES - carried out the research into intelligence testing
GOULD - reviewed this research
BINET SIMON TEST - intelligence test to differ school children who wouldn’t benefit from normal schools due to lack of intelligence
AIMS
> produce a reliable + valid measure
of intelligence
prove that psychology intelligence
(intelligence testing) could be as
objective as the other scientific
disciplines
RESEARCH METHOD + WAY OF COLLECTING DATA
> quasi experiment
IV = ethnic origin (natural occur)
DV = intelligence/average mental
age
> self report - recruits would answer
questions during intelligence tests
to get their av mental age
SAMPLE
> 1.75 million men within the US
military
white, black, european immigrants
varying education levels
SAMPLING METHOD
opportunity sampling - using those present at the camps visited by the researchers
ALPHA TEST
> written exam for literate recruits
8 parts less than an hour
number sequences, unscrambling
sentences + analogies
“must die men all”
BETA TEST
> series of tests for illiterate recruits
+ those who failed the alpha test
picture completion, cube counting,
etc
instructions written in english
3/7 answers had to be written
INDIVIDUAL TEST
> spoken exam for those who failed
beta exam
rarely done because of chaos +
demand of the researchers
1/5 of those who failed beta were
given this test
FINDINGS
> av mental age of american white
adults (13) was just above a moron
(score = 16)
darker people of southern europe
less intelligent than fairer people
of western + northern europe
black recruits scored lowest - light
skins scored higher
REVIEW STUDY
a process of subjecting an authors work, research or ideas
CONCLUSIONS
YERKES : intelligence is an innate quality with a hereditary basis - possible to grade individuals by skin colour
GOULD : systematic errors in the tests which led to black peile and immigrants scoring lower
ETHICS
CRITICISED:
> no consent - forced
> add name, age, education level -
confidentiality
> punishment if they didn’t finish -
right to withdraw
> no time to debrief
UPHOLD
> no deception - however didn’t know why the results would be used for
ETHNOCENTRISM
yes : tests assumed knowledge of
american culture
no : the men came from wide range
of backgrounds
INTERNAL RELIABILITY
tests were standardised - instructions how to follow but not often followed
EXTERNAL RELIABILITY
large sample size of 1.75 million recruits
INTERNAL VALIDITY
tests weren’t valid measure (accuracy) of intelligence but were affected by other factors (low long they’ve lived in the USA)
POPULATION VALIDITY
wide set of cultural backgrounds - should be fairly generalisable - no women
