Intelligence Flashcards
achievement test
a test designed to assess what a person has learned.
factor analysis
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.
Stanford-Binet
the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test.
standardization
defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
mental age
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.
validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.)
stereotype threat
a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
cohort
a group of people from a given time period.
Down syndrome
a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.
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.)
intelligence
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
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. (Formerly referred to as mental retardation.)
emotional intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
savant syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
normal curve
(normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean, or average (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.
creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
intelligence quotient (IQ)
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.
aptitude test
a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.
content validity
the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.
heritability
the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
reliability
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.
intelligence test
a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.
general intelligence (g)
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.
crystallized intelligence
our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
fluid intelligence
our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
