INTELLIGENCEHOW IS IT MEASURED AND DEFINED?

DEFINE INTELLIGENCE

• The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations• It typically operationally defined by the tool used to

measure it: Stanford-Binet and Wechsler are the most commonly used tests.

HOW DO YOU THINK INTELLIGENCE SHOULD BE MEASURED?

•Most intelligence tests consist of reasoning tasks, math and verbal tasks•Most are timed tests as well

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE TESTING

• Galton 1822-1911• Binet 1857-1911• Spearman 1863-1945• Terman 1877-1956• Wechsler 1896-1981• Gardner 1943-• Sternberg 1949

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE TESTING

• GALTON

• First to employ the use of a survey for research purposes

• Darwin’s cousin

• Believe ability was inherited

• Support eugenics and

“selective breeding” of intelligence.

• “father of behavioral genetics”

• Twin studies

• BINET

• Was commissioned by the French government to develop a test for assessing children's’ academic potential (especially those labeled as “retarded” as to need special schooling).

• Recognized many things influenced intelligence and that it is malleable.

• Test developed: Binet-Simon Scale

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE TESTING

• Spearman

• Identified that results from tests evaluating different elements of intelligence were positively correlated using a statistic known as factor analysis

• This statistic resulted in a single scored termed: general intelligence, g

• Terman

• Redeveloped Binet’s test to the Stanford-Binet to be used in America

• Goal was to push eugenics and to promote discriminatory practices against the “feeble-minded”

• More interested in identifying the “gifted”

• Developed IQ formula = mental age x 100

chronological age

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE TESTING

• Wechsler

• Developed today’s most widely used intelligence test

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

• Scoring is based on “normal distribution” and most test today, follow suit

• Normal distribution of IQ scores.

• Z =standard deviation, X = mean

DIFFERENT THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE

• Gardner: Multiple Intelligences: 7 categories: linguistic, logic-math, music, body-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/multiple-intelligences.html#lesson

• Sternberg: Triarchic theory of intelligence: 3 distinction measures: analytical, creative, practical

• http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/sternbergs-triarchic-theory-of-intelligence.html#lesson

• Emotional Intelligence: skilled at perceiving, understanding, managing, and using emotion

ETHICS IN TESTING

• Test are great tools to obtain a lot of information.

• They have their limits, though. It is a snapshot of one moment in time.

• The tool needs to be valid and reliable.

• The tool needs to be fair.

RELIABILITY

• RELIABILITY IS FOUND WHEN A TEST YIELDS DEPENDABLE AND CONSISTENT SCORES.

• To determine reliability, a test is used repeatedly.

• Stanford-Binet & Wechsler are highly reliable, meaning you would likely score very similarly every time you too one.

• Motivation to perform, anxiety, illness, etc. will impact reliability.

• RELIABILITY IN SCORING

• Those scoring a test need to have common expectations.

• If one AP grader gave your exam a 5 and another gave it a 2, that’s evidence of a lack of grader reliability.

VALIDITY

• VALIDITY IS FOUND WHEN A TEST MEASURES WHAT IT SAYS IT IS MEASURING OR PREDICTS WHAT IT CLAIMS TO PREDICT.

• IQ tests can be valid if the information is interpreted and applied correctly.

• Predictive validity: A test predicts what it claims to predict. The SAT is designed to predict college success. It does a good enough job, to warrant its use as a criteria for admissions.

• Content validity: A test is testing what it claims to be testing. If when we take our next quiz/test I give you questions over memory or sensation and claim it is a test over personality, then it does not have content validity.

STANDARDIZATION

• STANDARDIZATION IS THE UNIFORM PROCEDURES USED IN THE ADMINISTRATION AND SCORING OF A TEST.

• Tests must be administered the same way, every time, for every person.

• Tests must be scored the same way, every time, for every person.

• Norms must be established as a basis of comparison.

THE BOTTOM LINE…

• The test is simply a tool, not the culprit of inequality, though. It is what we do with the information that leads to the inequitable treatment of people.

TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE

• FLUID INTELLIGENCE

• Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

• “Young person smarts”

• CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE

• Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age; wisdom

• “Old person smarts”