12 07 2010 Testing IQ 12 07 2010 Intelligence is the ability to acquire knowledge to think and reason effectively and deal adaptively with the environment general mental capacity specific mental abilities Psychological Tests method for measuring individual differences related to some psychological construct mental tests are very important and strongly relied on what is a psychological test Any standardized measure of behavior o i e how you answer questions SATs purpose is to measure differences among individuals where people fall in variability avg low or high need to account for factors that can affect results of tests shift up or down from accurate score o i e sleep glucose deprived stress personal situations affecting concentration person next to you farting goal of test is to be designed to reduce sampling error psychometrics statistical study of psychological tests o approach attempts to map structure of intellect and how many classes of mental ability underlie test performance factor analysis correlate tests scores to identify clusters that correlate highly with one another and must have a common underlying factor i e verbal ability or math reasoning abilities problems g factor general intelligence capacity that underlies more specific intellectual o core of intelligence cuts across virtually all tasks Crystallized intelligence ability to apply previously acquired knowledge to current Fluid intelligence ability to deal with situations in which personal experience does not provide a solution shift from fluid to crystallize as we attain wisdom Three stratum theory of cognitive abilities 3 levels of mental skills general broad and narrow in a hierarchical model Cognitive process theories approaches to intelligence that analyze the mental processes that underlie intelligent thinking Triarchic theory of intelligence theory distinguishing between analytical practical Analytical intelligence academically oriented problem solving skills measured by and creative intelligence traditional intelligence tests Practical intelligence skills needed to cope with everyday demands and to manage oneself and other people effectively Creative intelligence the mental skills needed to deal adaptively with novel Emotional intelligence ability to read and respond appropriately to others emotions problems and control one s own emotions Mental Ability Tests o Achievement Tests particular domains designed to measure achievement or knowledge in i e exams o Aptitude tests designed to measure potential in a particular domain i e SATs colleges try to choose students who are more likely to succeed and graduate w a degree o Hypothetical constructs tests designed to measure theories like general intelligence IQ or ADHD Standardization test administered under uniform circumstances like the SATs o Done to reduce variability of sampling errors Norms score itself is only meaningful in relation to other ppl s scores o i e curving grades your grade normed to other grades o top x A next top y B o SAT is a normed test only has meaning relative to a pool of scores Sensible bc admissions depts need to make informed decisions o Percentile is what s important in a normed test o IQ test normed score to an age group Supposed to be roughly stable throughout the lifetime Normal distribution bell shaped curve with most scores clustering around center avg Validity Reliability o Validity how well a test actually measures what it is designed to measure IQ tests need to be high in content validity test measures all of the knowledge or skills that underlie construct of interest ability of test scores to correlate with meaningful Criterion validity criterion measures Important with aptitude i e SATs generally shoe that ppl w high sat scores do well in college How good it does in predicting success in a specific domain need to accurately measure theory that cannot Construct validity really be tested otherwise Are other things affecting measurements making it unreliable i e altitude watches measures pressure to determine altitude but weather can affect pressure too o Reliability consistency of measurement Test retest reliability ensure that each set of testing delivers roughly the same scores i e IQ score tests should be consistent after multiple Internal consistency consistency of measurement within the test tests itself Interjudge reliability consistency of measurement when different people observe same score or event What does IQ mean and what does it mean to have a higher IQ o IQ tests are normally distributed avg 100 Normed to age valuable to compare ppl of different ages o What king of characteristics do ppl have that make us think they re intelligent Speed swiftness i e Einstein terrible socially but high IQ someone brilliant with computers but terrible at school static testing traditional approach to testing in which test is administered under highly standardized conditions dynamic testing static testing followed by interaction with the examiner in which subject is given feedback then see how subject utilizes info Intelligence and IQ IQ measure of general intelligence Valuable bc allows comparison of different age and backgrounds and can be administered to anyone IQ fairly constant throughout lifetime so retests not so different Fairly high in reliability although taking of test should be standardized Intelligence is a hypothetical construct so does IQ test actually measure general intelligence intelligence fit in Is intelligence specialized i e music or general If specialized where does general IQ test does not have high construct validity bc don t have good idea of what test is supposed to be measuring IQ is good predictor of ability to perform academically good aptitude but NOT GOOD MEASURE OF GEN INTELLIGENCE High in criterion validity Where does general intelligence come from o Nature or nurture o Eugenics characteristics of pop can be manipulated through breeding Breed individuals who have desired characteristics by preventing ppl w unwanted from breeding In US used to sterilize ppl with low IQ scores Like Nazis too o Twin Studies Try to see influence of genes vs enviro Identical twins genetically identical Fraternal twins shared genes Identical twins reared apart had higher correlation in IQ than fraternal together genetics plays big role in IQ o Some enviros lack in characteristics that tend to produce higher IQ scores The longer one spends in a deprived enriched enviro the larger the IQ gap Ideal environment if
View Full Document
Unlocking...