Midterm Flashcards
Many of the tasks that David Wechsler used in his WAIS, WAIS-R, WAIS-III, and WAIS-IV were adapted from what sources?
The Army Alpha, Army Beta, Army Performance Scale Examination
Updating the WAIS-IV’s theoretical foundations was achieved by considering which theoretical construct?
Phonological processing!
It was achieved by considering Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed
What was the major structural change implemented from the WAIS-III to the WAIS-IV?
The WAIS-IV eliminated the Verbal and Performance IQs, but the 4
indexes were retained
Which Subtest in NOT new to the WAIS-IV?
Symbol Search
Which Subtests ARE new to the WAIS-IV?
Figure Weights, Visual Puzzles, and Cancellation are all new
Which WAIS-IV subtests offer process scores?
Digit Span, Block Design, and Letter-number Sequencing have process scores
Which index includes the subtest with the lowest loadings on the general (g) factor?
Note: General intelligence or general mental ability is denoted by g
Processing Speed (Coding, Symbol Search, and Cancellation)
What is the Flynn Effect?
The phenomenon that IQ test norms in the United States get out of date at the rate of about 3 points per decade!
True or False? Analysis of ethnic differences on the WAIS-IV have shown that ethnicity accounts for more variance in IQ than socioeconomic status.
False!
Socioeconomic status and an array of other background, behavioral, and personal variables impact IQ far more than ethnicity alone
What is Galton known for?
Galton developed the first comprehensive individual test of intelligence, composed of sensorimotor tasks
What was the FIRST Weschler test series?
Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale in 1939
What does the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) Measure?
Crystallized Intelligence (Gc) and represents ability to reason with previously learned information.
What are the four subtests that make up the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI)?
Similarities
Vocabulary
Information
Comprehension (not a core subtest)
What subtests make up the Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI)?
Block Design
Matrix Reasoning
Visual Puzzles
Figure Weights (not a core subtest) Picture Completion (not a core subtest)
What does PRI measure?
Measures visual processing and fluid reasoning (Gv-Gf), and represents ability to analyze and synthesize visual stimuli and reason with it
What does Working Memory Index (WMI) measure?
Measures short-term memory (Gsm), and represents ability to
comprehend and hold or transform information in immediate
awareness and then use it in a few seconds
What subests make up Working Memory Index (WMI)?
Digit Span
Arithmetic
Letter-number Sequencing (not core)
What does Processing Speed Index (PSI) measure?
Measures Processing Speed (Gs) and represents ability to perform
simple tasks quickly
When is the General Ability Index (GAI) used?
Good measure of global ability when FSIQ is not interpretable
True or False? The examiner must memorize all directions in order to administer the test properly.
False! We can read the directions, but we still need to be very familiar with the test, procedures and prompts.
When applying the reverse rule, you must…
Go back to administer items until two consecutive items are correct, including the item with which you initially started
Which core subtests require the use of a stopwatch?
Block Design, Arithmetic, Symbol Search, Visual Puzzles, Coding
What is a Basal
Establishing a basal means that a test-taker has answered a set number of answers correctly so that they can continue with the rest of the test/subtest.
What is a Ceiling
A ceiling is reached when a test-taker has answered an established number of questions incorrectly in a row.
All of the following are principles of the intelligent testing philosophy:
- Subtests measure what the individual has learned
- Subtests are samples of behavior and are not exhaustive
- Test batteries are optimally useful when interpreted from a theoretical model
- IQ tests assess mental functioning under fixed experimental conditions
- Hypotheses generated from the test profile should be supported with data from multiple sources
If the FSIQ is not interpretable, then…
Determine if the GAI can be calculated and interpreted as a reliable and valid estimate of a person’s general intellectual ability
An abnormally large discrepancy between PRI and VCI means it is…
Rare among the normal population
What is Psychological Assessment
A comprehensive examination of psychological functioning that involves collecting, evaluating, integrating test results and collateral information, and reporting information about an individual
What is Psychological Testing
An objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior
Pillars of Assessment
Norm referenced tests (this is what the IQ test is)
Interviews
Observations
Informal Assessment Procedures
What are some differences between Assessments and Testing?
o Complexity
▪ Testing- Unidimensional
▪ Assessment- multidimensional
o Duration
▪ Testing- Few minutes, hours
▪ Assessment- Hours to days
o Cost
▪ Testing- Inexpensive, but can be expensive
▪ Assessment- professional costs
Purpose
▪ Testing- Decision making
▪ Assessment- Referral Question, problem
Why is assessment important?
o Clinical versus statistical prediction controversy
o Clinical interviews are not really that reliable because we are all biased and human
o Statistical prediction consistently outperforms clinical judgment
Psychological tests are used for…
…measuring characteristics of humans that pertain to overt (observable) and covert behavior. They are a set of items that are designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior
What is Binet known for?
He made the first representative sample intelligence test
Achievement tests
Measure previous learning
Aptitude tests
measure potential for acquiring a specific skill
Intelligence tests
measures an individual’s potential to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstances and profit from experience
Personality tests
measure typical behavior, including traits, temperaments and dispositions
Statistics serve two important functions. What are they?
o Used for the purpose of description
o Use statistics to make inferences, which are logical deductions about events that cannot be observed directly
Norm-referenced tests
Evaluate individuals relative to normative groups that depend on demographics such as age and culture
Norms
used to relate a score to a particular distribution for a subgroup of a population. Ex. Norms are used to describe where a child is (score) on some measure relative to other children of the same age (subgroup of the population)
Criterion-referenced test
describes the specific types of skills, tasks, or knowledge of an individual relative to a well-defined mastery criterion.
Descriptive Statistics
Provide a concise description of a collection of quantitative information
Inferential Statistics
Used to make inferences from observations of a sample to a larger group (population)
Measurement
Defined as the application of rules for assigning numbers to objects (rating scale for wine)
Magnitude
Represents quantity (A scale of height, we can say John is taller than Fred)
Equal Intervals
A scale has the property of equal intervals if the difference
between two points at any place on the scale has the same meaning
as the difference between two other points (A ruler, but not an IQ
test)
Absolute 0
Obtained when nothing of the property being measured exists
Nominal Scales
▪ Not really scales
▪ For naming (such as naming teams)
▪ Can create frequency distributions, but not mathematical calculations
Ordinal Scales
▪ For ranking
▪ Has the property of magnitude
▪ Can rank (1, 2, 3) from taller to shorter
Interval Scales
▪ Property of equal intervals and Magnitude (temperature in degrees) ▪ But cannot reveal ratios
▪ Cannot have absolute zero
Ratio Scales
▪ Properties of magnitude, Equal Intervals, and Absolute 0
▪ Speed of travel
What are Frequency Distributions?
Displays scores on a variable or a measure to reflect how frequently each value was obtained
Positive Skew
The tail goes off toward the higher or positive side of the X axis
Class Interval
The distance between each unit on the horizontal axis
Percentile Ranks
Answers the question, “what percent of the scores fall below a particular score”
You actually exclude the score of interest (it is a measure of relative performance)
Percentiles
The specific scores or points within a distribution
Mean
The average score or result of a sample.
Standard Deviation
a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean
Variance
The average of the squared differences from the mean.
Z-Score
the deviation of a score from the mean in standard
deviation units.
Expectancy Effects
Beliefs held by people administering and scoring tests might also get
translated into inaccurate test scores
Data can sometimes be affected by what an experimenter expects to find. What is the name of this effect?
Rosenthal Effect!
The Point Scale Concept
In an age-scale format, the arrangement of items had nothing to do with their content and subjects didn’t receive points for each task completed. In a point scale, points are assigned to each item so the test yields a total overall score and a score for each content area
Performance Scale Concept
Requires the subject to do something rather than just answer questions. This way, the test can directly compare an individua’s verbal and nonverbal intelligence.
To determine scaled scores you need:
Examinee’s chronological age
Subtest raw scores on record form
Table A.1 from scoring manual