Intelligence Testing

Question 1

True or False: There are lots of scholarly theories on intelligence that have different measurement implications

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Describe Francis Galton’s intelligence theory and how he measured intelligence

Answer 2

Intelligence = sensory ability
Measured with sensorimotor and perceptual tests (distinguish differences in weights of cylinders)
THE eugenics dude

Question 3

Describe Alfred Binet’s intelligence theory and how he measured intelligence

Answer 3

Intelligence = reasoning, judgment, memory, abstraction
Developed first widely used intelligence test (intended to identify French children with developmental disabilities who needed more aid)

Question 4

What were Louis Terman and Maud Merrill known for?

Answer 4

Worked at Standford University and by adopting Binet’s test, they made it into the broader, more well-known Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Question 5

What were the key innovations of the Stanford-Binet test?

Answer 5

• first test with detailed instructions for consistent administration/scoring
• first test to create alternate forms
• adaptive testing design (starts with short-routing tests, then depending on the test-taker responses the examiner chooses the next set of tests to provide the. most information)

Question 6

Who were the big Eugenics people with intelligence testing and what were they most known for?

Answer 6

• Henry Goddard (big one)
  ~1st person to use intelligence tests in court
  ~affected immigrants and POC
• Robert Yerkes
  ~President of APA, started eugenicists committee in
  APA
  ~affected immigrants and POC
• Louis Terman
  ~Coined the term “gifted”
  ~concerned with sexual and gender deviancy (not in a good way)
  ~affected POC

Question 7

Criticisms of intelligence testing

Answer 7

-can’t measure intelligence
-can’t separate intelligence from society/culture
-these measures are weaponized
-not holistic in their approach (overly simplified, missing critical aspects)

Question 7

Describe David Wechsler’s intelligence theory and it’s factors

Answer 7

Intelligence = global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal with the environment effectively

Factors:
- verbal comprehension
- working memory
- perceptual organization
- processing speed

Question 8

True or False: Wechler’s theory of intelligence also includes personality, motivation, aesthetic, and moral values

Answer 8

True (just not measured in his test)

Question 8

Spearman’s theory of intelligence

Answer 8

All intelligence tests correlated with one another to some extent and thus argued there’s a general common factor (g) underlying all intelligence tests

Tests can be more or less saturated with g

Question 9

True or False: tests with more g measure more specific abilities

Answer 9

False - tests with more g measure overall intelligence

Tests with less g measure specific abilities (which are formed into clusters)

Question 10

True or False: Spearman’s theory was later developed further to include intermediate-level clusters

Answer 10

True

g broken down into different abilities (math, verbal, etc.) then from there test specific abilites (algebra, geometry, vocab, writing, etc.)

Question 11

Alternatives to g (and who initially suggested them)

Answer 11

Cattel - Fluid vs crystallized intelligence
Thurstone - proposed 7 independent mental abilities (but still all correlated)
Gardner - multiple intelligences (not well supported, widely criticized)
Emotional intelligence (aren’t good at measuring it)

Question 12

Is intelligence affected by nature or nurture?

Answer 12

Both.

Hereditary similarities found with intelligence AND family environments affect intelligence

Question 13

Define the interactionist perspective

Answer 13

Genes provide window of possibility of intelligence, the environment determines where you fall in that window

Question 14

Is intelligence over time stable or does it change?

Answer 14

Depends on how you’re measuring it

Some cognitive abilities decline with age (physical and mental health play a role)
Other tests show an incline in intelligence over time

Question 15

What’s the Flynn effect?

Answer 15

When average scores on intelligence seem to rise over time (but it’s not an increase in “true intelligence”)

Question 16

What was one of the first misuses of intelligence tests in line with eugenics? What was the big deal about it?

Answer 16

The United States military used an IQ test during WWI to sort recruits into officer positions

This disproportionately negatively affected POC and immigrants

Question 17

How did the intersection of IQ tests and Eugenics influence society?

Answer 17

Created an “intelligence hierarchy of ethnic groups” with white Americans taking the top of the hierarchy

This influenced science and policies to be extremely discriminating

Question 18

When were the discriminatory uses of IQ tests challenged? And on what grounds?

Answer 18

Following the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement

Based on moral and scientific grounds

Question 19

True or False: Intelligence tests are still used to diagnose learning disabilities

Answer 19

True

Question 20

True or False: Many experts advise the use of intelligence tests to diagnose learning disabilities

Answer 20

False

Question 21

Intelligence tests are good for measuring:
A. reasoning skills
B. problem-solving skills
C. potential
D. B and C
E. A and B

Answer 21

E: A and B