psychology chapter 10 Flashcards
Intelligence Test
a method for assessing an individuals mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.
Sanford-Binet
the widely used american revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binets original intelligence test.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca x 100). on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for given age is assigned a score of 100.
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.
Intelligence
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
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.
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.
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 persons total score.
Savant Syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
Emotional Intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Correlation Coefficient
a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1)
Aptitude test
a test designed to predict a persons future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.
Achievement test
a test designed to assess what a person has learned.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests/
Normal Curve
the symmetrical bell-shaped 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.
Standardization
defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
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.
Validity
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.
Criterion
he degree to which test scores indicate a result on a specific measure that is consistent with some other criterion of the characteristic being assessed; also known as predictive validity.
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.
Mental Retardation
a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of live; varies from mild to profound.
