PPT 4

Question 1

Misuses of IQ Testing

Answer 1

Tragically, history is replete with misuses of intelligence testing

Question 2

Early 20th Century

Answer 2

IQ tests fueled the Eugenics movement by establishing the heritability of intelligence and using that to discriminate

Identifying “feebleminded” people in an effort to keep them from having children (1912)

Leading to the involuntary sterilization of 65,000 people with “low IQ” (disproportionately poor and people of color)

Question 3

Terman’s Claims (1916)
(from Alea Holman, 2022)

Answer 3

Terman (a highly regarded professor at Stanford) argued that certain races had genetically lower IQs than whites and that “no amount of school instruction will ever make them intelligent voters or capable citizens.”

He asserted that such lower IQs were “very common among Spanish-Indian and Mexican families of the Southwest and also among negroes [sic].”

Terman recommended that “Children of these groups should be segregated in special classes and be given instruction that is practical” and concluded that “they cannot master abstractions, but they can often be made efficient workers.”

“The science of intelligence testing authoritatively justified separate curricula for allegedly backward groups” (Blanton, 2003)

Question 4

Continuing the Claims of Racial Differences in Intelligence

Answer 4

Arguing the mean Black-White differences in IQ scores had a large genetic component (Jensen, Rushton and others starting in the 1960’s and continuing)

Claiming racial groups have different mean IQs and those differences are based in genetics. Attributing lack of social mobility in part to intelligence. (The Bell Curve, Hernstien & Murray, 1994)

Advocating that the mean IQ of different nations explained why some nations are less advanced (Lynn & Vanhanen and others)

Question 5

Language

Answer 5

Language is perhaps the biggest and most systematic confound in measuring intelligence across context/cultures
- Familiarity matters

Question 6

The Flynn Effect

Answer 6

Flynn, J.R. (1999). Searching for Justice: The discovery of IQ gains over time. American Psychologist, 54, 5-20.

Gathered data from 73 studies on 7,500 people ages 2 to 48 between 1932 and 1968
- Results showed a gain of 14 IQ points
- .3 points per year, 3 points every 10 years
- Roughly uniform over time and similar for all ages
- Rapid changes

“A secular increase in population IQ observed throughout the 20th century”

Question 7

Possible Reasons for the Flynn Effect

Answer 7

• Nutrition
• Television
• Test sophistication – no evidence
• Enhanced SES
• Urbanization
• Better education
• Video games (Similarities is largest gainer)

Question 8

Flynn Effect Revisited (Russell, 2007)

Answer 8

Evidence suggests that the Flynn effect is reaching a plateau in some societies, perhaps as they reach optimal social environments

Question 9

Nesbit, Blair, Dickens, Flynn, Halpern & Turkheimer (2012)

Answer 9

Update of APA position paper by Neisser, Boodoo, Bouchard, Boykin, Brody, Ceci, Halpern, Loehlin, Perloff, Sternberg, & Urbina (1996)

Incorporates a lot of studies

Question 10

Measurement of Intelligence (Nesbit et al)

Answer 10

“One of psychology’s greatest achievements and one of its most controversial”

Question 11

Evidence that Black-White differences are diminishing

Answer 11

From 1972 to 2002 there is evidence that the gap between Black and White children diminished by 5.5 IQ points

Debate Dickens & Flynn (2006) vs Rushton & Jensen (2006)

Question 12

White - Asian Differences

Answer 12

Similar IQ but Asians show higher achievement (SAT)

Emphasis in Asian culture on achievement may at least in part explain this.

Question 13

Jewish vs. Non-Jewish

Answer 13

People of Jewish heritage show an estimated 7 to 15-point advantage over white non-Jews on IQ scores

May reflect cultural differences or may reflect biology

Question 14

Genes and the Environment (Nesbit et al)

Answer 14

Both genes and environment affect IQ

**Heritability of IQ ~between .4 and .8 (more recent estimate than Bouchard twin study .3 to .5 estimate)
- Heritability estimates lower for children and higher for adults

But “it makes no sense to talk about a single value for the heritability of intelligence, in part because heritability is relative to the population studied”

Question 15

IQ Tests as Predictors (Nesbit et al)

Answer 15

IQ scores predict school performance (and achievement test scores) pretty well
- The correlation between IQ and performance is seemingly ubiquitous

IQ scores predict Years of Education
- Test scores are best single predictor of years of education

IQ predicts occupation level, social class, and (thus) income
- *maybe because it predicts education?

Question 16

Social Class and Heritability

Answer 16

In low SES samples, almost all IQ variance is accounted for by environmental factors and little by genes

As SES increases, the variance explained by environment decreases and by genetics increases

In high SES (excluding very wealthy) most variance in IQ is explained by genes and little by environment

Possible that children in poverty show low heritability of IQ because their environment does not allow development of full genetic potential

Question 17

Antiracist Assessment

Question 18

Recognize Cultural Bias

Answer 18

• Content bias (when a tests content is comparatively more difficult for a particular group of students than for others)
• Standardization bias (tendency of a test to favor the cultural and/or ethnic background of the people who designed it at the expense of people from diverse backgrounds)
• Langauge bias
• Construct mismatch
• Differential predictive validity

Question 19

Social Determinants of Cognitive Health

Answer 19

Non-Cognitive Characteristics Can Influence IQ scores

• Stereotype Threat
• Stress and IQ
• Self Regulation Skills

Question 20

Stereotype Threat

Answer 20

• Research suggest stereotype threat has a powerful influence on performance (e.g., if girls are told that girls can’t do math, they don’t do as well)
• Research shows this effect with Hispanics and verbal ability, elderly and short-term memory, low income students and verbal abilities, etc.
• Interventions addressing stereotype threat have substantially raised achievement of Black students, and of girls in math (but there is some controversy about effects)

Question 21

Stress and IQ

Answer 21

Chronic stress can damage the brain (unknown if it is reversible)

• Potentially affecting attention, short term memory, long term memory, and working memory
• Stress is greater in low-income environments
• Low stress is important for self regulation

Question 22

Self Regulation Skills

Answer 22

Self regulation skills (delaying gratification, self-regulated learning, emotion regulation) are important for higher-level cognitive functioning AND a result of higher-level functioning

“Initially uncorrelated abilities become correlated because they are mutually reinforcing” (Nesbit et al)

Question 23

Cautions with Intelligence Testing

Answer 23

No test can “capture the complexity of human intelligence”

Measurement is imperfect

No single test can be free from cultural bias

Consistent history of misunderstanding and controversy, along with misuse

Question 24

Cautions (Cont.)
Non-cognitive factors can confound IQ test results:

Answer 24

• Self-regulation skills
• Chronic stress
• Different environmental influences
• Different motivation systems
• Lack of practice

Question 25

Cautions (Cont.)
Minorities are at a disadvantage because:

Answer 25

• Stereotype threat
• Language differences
• Lack of familiarity with culturally loaded items
• Difficulty establishing rapport with tester of different race

Question 26

Cautions (Cont.)

Answer 26

Can be used to classify into stereotyped categories that limit freedom (e.g. intellectually disabled)

Results often looked at as absolute fact, permanent characteristic

Long term predictions are less accurate than short term

Even short-term predictions based solely on IQ scores may be inaccurate because many other variables involved in behavior (motivation, training, etc.)

Current measurement techniques reflect inherent bias toward convergent analytical modes of thought rather than divergent, creative, artistic modes

Can reflect richness of past experience

Is a social mechanism used by people with similar values to pass on educational advantages to children who resemble them

Question 27

Values

Answer 27

A reasonable good predictor of performance “with the effects of IQ being largest for those occupations and tasks that are most demanding of cognitive skills.”

Provides valuable information about a person’s strengths and weaknesses: patters of strengths and weaknesses can be very helpful

Allows resources to be dedicated to help those with learning abilities

Provides a structured interview to observe unique approach to challenges (as well as self-esteem, idiosyncrasies, anxiety, social skills, motivation)

Provides a baseline of functioning for future comparison (change) in event of TBI, Alzheimer’s diagnosis

Provides basis for research into program effectiveness, background factors, nutrition, etc.

Question 28

Bottom Line

Answer 28

Intelligence tests are tools that can be very useful - and undoubtedly can and have been misused

Be very careful when making comparisons between cultural groups:
- A big confound in measuring intelligence is environment
- And culture is one of the most systematic of these environmental influences

There is still so much more to understand about intelligence