Intelligence

Question 1

intelligence test

Answer 1

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

Question 2

intelligence

Answer 2

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

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

factor analysis

Answer 4

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 5

savant syndrome

Answer 5

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

Question 6

creativity

Answer 6

the ability to produce novel
and valuable ideas.

Question 7

emotional intelligence

Answer 7

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

Question 8

mental age

Answer 8

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 9

Stanford-Binet

Answer 9

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

Question 10

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 10

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 11

achievement tests

aptitude tests

Answer 11

achievement test: a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

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

Question 12

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Answer 12

the WAIS is the most widely
used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

Question 13

standardization

Answer 13

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

Question 14

normal curve

Answer 14

the symmetrical bellshaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores** fall near the
average**, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

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, or on retesting.

Question 16

validity

content validity

predictive validity

Answer 16

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

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

predictive validity: 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. (Also called criterion-related validity.)

Question 17

mental retardation

Answer 17

(also called intellectual disability) 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 18

Down syndrome

Answer 18

a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of
chromosome 21

Question 19

stereotype threat

Answer 19

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