U8: Cognitive Psychology: Intelligence and Testing Flashcards
standardization sample
a group of people who represent the entire population
norms
stands of performance against which anyone who takes a given test can be compared
flynn effect
the population has become smarter over the past 50 years, so there’s a need to re-standardize
reliability
the measure of how consistent a test is; refers to the likelihood that the same individual would get a similar score
test-retest method
retesting the participants and then comparing the two scores and computing a correlation coefficient between them
validity
the extent that a test measures what it intends to measure
internal validity
the degree to which the subject’s results are due to the questions being asked and not another variable
external validity
the degree to which results from a test can be generalized to the “real world”
projective tests
where ambiguous stimuli that are open to interpretation are presented; are too subjective (i.e. Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test)
Rorschach Inkblot Test
a sequence of 10 inkblots, each of which the participant is asked to observe and then characterize
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
a series of pictures of people in ambiguous relationships with other people; the participant’s task is to generate a store to accompany the picture
power tests
gauge ability in certain areas; difficult tests where it is unlikely someone will get all the answers correct
speed tests
very easy items but timed, making it difficult to complete
achievement tests
asses knowledge gained (i.e. AP test)
aptitude tests
evaluate a person’s abilities
intelligence
defined as a goal-directed adaptive thinking
Alfred Binet
first began to study children’s intelligence, measuring “mental age”
Lewis Terman
modified Binet’s test and made Stanford-Binet Test
IQ
IQ = (mental age/real age) x 100
100 is the average
standard deviation of 15-16 points
Wechsler Intelligence Scale
6 types of questions: information, comprehension, arithmetic, similarities, vocabulary, digit span questions (short term memory work)
Charles Spearman
proposed that there was a general intelligence (g factor) and specific intelligence (s factor)
Robert Sternberg
proposed that intelligence could be defined by three categories: creative, practical, and analytic intelligence
Howard Gardner
identified the following types of intelligence: verbal, mathematical, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, environmental, interpersonal (people perceptive), and intrapersonal (self-awareness)
heritability coefficient
ranges from 0 to 1, and is a rough measure of the proportion of variation among individuals that can be attributed to genetic effects; many believe that the true heritability quotient for IQ is 0.5, thus, half of the variation among people is due to heredity and the other half to environment
