Chapter 9 Types of Tests 1 Mental Ability Tests a Intelligence general mental ability IQ b Aptitude Test specific types of mental ability such as math mechanical aptitude c Achievement mastery knowledge of various subjects you actually have to know it PACT 2 Personality Scales Tests tests motives interests values and attitudes such as shyness or conscientiousness a Overrated b Get samples of behavior and measuring individual differences c Can t predict behavior accurately Reliability Validity Reliability looks at consistency o Test retest compares the results of a test that is taken two different times o Alternative Forms two different forms of the same test o Interater like Olympics with figure skating or gymnastics different people are rating the same thing Hopefully the two people say the same thing about the subject Validity does it measure what it s supposed to o Content Validity does it cover the topic fairly and completely o Criterion Validity does it predict o Construct Validity abstract idea or concept Psychology violence intelligence aggression are constructs o Face Validity does it seem valid on the face of it Does it appear to be valid Not real o Could a test be reliable but not valid Yes o Can you have validity without reliability No If a test isn t reliable then it s not valid IQ tests History o Galton cousin of Darwin looked at heredity Looked at intelligence within families o Smart parents smart children didn t take into account that intelligence would be because the parents were educated o Thought that people who were smart had good reaction times and good perception hearing color perception seeing not true Coined the term Nature Versus Nurture o Believed in nature over nurture o Binet French psychologist that was commissioned by the French government to test school children Tried to figure out who needed special remedial training First successful intelligence test o Mental Age looked at the mental performance of someone Could be 8 years old with a mental age of 6 Lead to the Binet Simon test o Terman revised the Binet Simon to come up with the Stanford Binet Came up with IQ intelligence quotient which could compare children of different ages o IQ mental age chronological age 100 o Wechsler improved measurement with adults Came up with the WAIS Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Less dependent on verbal Put scores in a normal distribution bell curve a Standard deviation 1SD 34 85 to 100 or 100 to 115 b Said average IQ would be 100 i 68 of people are between 85 and 115 c 2SD 14 115 Normal Distribution see above Concerns IQ is not as broad as originally thought o Factor analysis correlations among many variables that are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables rate your interest from 1 to 5 where 1 is the least interesting and 5 is the most interesting would group like activities together i e partying and talking on the phone b c of the social aspect G general mental ability o Fluid Intelligence reasoning ability memory capacity and speed of information processing decreases with age o Crystallized Intelligence applying knowledge maintained throughout life o Adverse impact discrimination against people that you shouldn t ex Janitors or the cop who didn t get hired because he was too smart o IQ personality tests o When hiring for a job look for High IQ Conscientiousness hereditary environmental influence o Reaction Range genetically determined limits on IQ Genetic Limit on IQ may be 85 to 95 and have a stimulating childhood making there IQ closer to 95 Flynn Effect IQ is going up in recent years due to environmental changes cultural IQ is not that widely used in the far eastern part of the world o 10 15 point gap between whites and the large minority groups Due to environment o Heritability one theorist says that 80 of IQ is genetics Wrong because there is a 15 point gap between white black lower class IQ and middle upper class people o Socio economic Disadvantage lower class families have less enriching environments less books more one parent families etc Majority of minorities are lower class o Stereotype Threat anxiety you feel because you think others will attribute failure to your stereotype 1 2 Do not know Correlation Coefficient Chapter 10 Motivation goal directed behavior or the process by which behavior is activated effort and directed choice o Drive Theories people seek homeostasis a state of physiological equilibrium Self correcting System i e thermostat in classroom Need physiological only Drive psychological only usually based on needs o Evolutionary Theories people s main goal is to have offspring that have offspring maximize reproductive success Strip clubs and larger tips to fertile women due to hormones o Incentive Theories much the same as operant conditioning Motivation of Hunger Eating o American Adults Measured by BMI body mass index BMI Weight Height doesn t take into account muscle mass 25 29 9 overweight 30 obese Getting worse more recently due to prevalence of unhealthy foods that are also cheap 1 3 normal 1 3 overweight 1 3 obese mortality rates increase when more than 20 lbs over weight heart attacks diabetes cancer fitness not fatness o Biological Factors Set point vs settling point both work because the body monitors fat cell levels Set Point rigid Settling Point can be changed with diet and exercise Genetics you don t inherit being fat you inherit the vulnerability to obesity Biology Environment Brain regulation hypothalamus controls eating 1 Lateral Hypothalamus vs Ventromedial Nucleus of the Hypothalamus o Stimulate it and you keep eating even though you are full and vice versa lesion it o Showed promise but 2 Arcuate Nucleus Periventricular nucleus showed promise but pathways are more important 3 Neural circuits pass through hypothalamus focus is on pathway not structure Glucose Regulation o Glucose simple structure that provides energy o Glucostats neurons that are sensitive to glucose levels o Glucostatic Theory the fluctuations of blood glucose influenced hunger Levels don t change that much or that fast Digestive Regulation after we eat cells in the stomach send messages to brain to say that we are full and how enriching nutritional the food is Hormonal Regulation Chapter 9 1 Insulin secreted by the pancreas if you have excess insulin it will increase hunger Heredity Environment p 373 376 a Looking at food can increase hunger by increasing insulin New Directions p 382 386 levels 2 Ghrelin secreted by the