Unit 11: Testing and Individual Difference

Question 1

The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Answer 1

Intelligence

Question 2

According to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

Answer 2

General Intelligence (g)

Question 3

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test, used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score

Answer 3

Factor analysis

Question 4

A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as computation or drawing

Answer 4

Savant syndrome

Question 5

In psychology, this is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Answer 5

Grit

Question 6

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Answer 6

Emotional intelligence

Question 7

A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Answer 7

Intelligence Test

Question 8

A test designed to predict a person’s future performance aptitude is the capacity to learn

Answer 8

Aptitude test

Question 9

A test designed to assess what a person has learned

Answer 9

Achievement test

Question 10

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet, the level of performance is usually associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does well as an average 8-year-old is said to have the mental age of 8.

Answer 10

Mental Age

Question 11

The widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University of Binet’s original intelligence test)

Answer 11

Stanford-Binet

Question 12

Defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, ma/ca x 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is a score of 100.

Answer 12

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Question 13

This test and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Answer 13

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Question 14

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Answer 14

Standartization

Question 15

The bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer score near extremes.

Answer 15

Normal curve

Question 16

The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting

Answer 16

Reliability

Question 17

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Answer 17

Validity

Question 18

The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

Answer 18

Content Validity

Question 19

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 correlation behavior

Answer 19

Predictive validity

Question 20

A group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period

Answer 20

Cohort

Question 21

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills, tends to increase with age

Answer 21

Crystallized Intelligence

Question 22

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly, tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

Answer 22

Fluid Intelligence

Question 23

Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

Answer 23

Cross-sectional study

Question 24

Research that follows and retests the same people over time

Answer 24

Longitudinal Study

Question 25

A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence test score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life

Answer 25

Intellectual Disability

Question 26

A condition of mild to sever intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

Answer 26

Down syndrome

Question 27

The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes, The reliability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied

Answer 27

Heritability

Question 28

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.

Answer 28

Stereotype Threat

Question 29

Observed rise over time in standardized intelligence test scores

Answer 29

Flynn Effect