Unit 11 (testing and individual differences) Flashcards
Intelligence Test
A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores
Intelligence
Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
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 Anaysis
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
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
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 well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8
Stanford-Binet
The widely used American revision (by Therman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Define originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) mulitplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca x 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100
Achievement Tests
Tests designed to assess what a person has learned
Aptitude Test
Tests designed to predict a person’s future performance; apititude is the capacity to learn
Wechsler Adults Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
The WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Standardization
Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Normal Curve
The symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scares fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes
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 see
Content Validity
The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest
Predictive Validity
The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correllationbetween test scores and the criterion behavior (also called criterion-related validity)
Intellectual Disability
(formerly reggered to as mental retardation) A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound
Down Syndrome
A condition of intelectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
Stereotype Threat
A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
