Testing

Psychological Tests  Tests abilities, interests, creativity, personality, behavior  Must be standardized, reliable, and valid  Timing, instructions, scoring standards, and conditions should be the same  No matter when you take it and who scores it, the score should be the same.

Standardization & Norms  Psychometrics: Measurement of mental traits, abilities, and processes  Psychometricians: focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data; mental traits, abilities, and processes  Constructs (behaviors): hypothetical abstractions related to behavior and defined by small groups of objects of events  Ideas that help summarize a group of related ideas, objects of phenomenas (happiness, honesty, intelligence)  Standardization: 2 step process  Establishes test norms from the test results of the large representative sample  Ensures that the test is both administered and scored uniformly for all test takers  Norms: Standards used to compare scores of test takers

Standardized Tests Usually Follow a Normal or Bell Curved Distribution Where Most Scores Occur in the Middle. Ninety-five percent of all people fall within 30 points of 100 Number of scores Wechsler intelligence score Sixty-eight percent of people score within 15 points above or below 100

Reliability vs. Validity (DON’T MIX THEM UP)  Reliability deals with consistency (repeatability)  Asks the question: “Do I always get SIMILAR results each time the test is administered?  Interrater reliability: The extent to which two or more scorers evaluate the responses in the same way  Validity deals with accuracy or predictability.  Asks the question does the test measure what it is supposed to measure?

Methods to Measure Reliability  Test-Retest  Same test to same group but on different occasions then scores are compared  The closer the correlation coefficient is to 1.0 the more reliable  Split half  The score of half the test is correlated with the score of the other half to see if there is consitency  Alternate form/Equivalent form  Two different versions of a test on the same material is given to the same test takers and scores are correlated

Methods for Measuring Validity  Face Validity: A measure of extent to which the content of the test measures all of the knowledge/skills that are supposed to be included within the domain being tested according to the test takers  Content Validity: A measure of extent to which the content of the test measures all of the knowledge/skills that are supposed to be included within the domain being tested according to expert judges  Criterion Related Validity: A measure of the extent to which a test’s results correlate with other accepted measures of what is being tested  Predictive Validity: A measure of the extent to which the test accurately forecasts a specific future result  Construct Validity: The extent to which the test actually measures the hypothetical construct or behavior it is designed to assess.  Some psychologists consider this the true measure of validity  Some people question whether IQ tests have construct validity

The Flynn Effect  Since the advent of intelligence tests, people’s IQ scores have been improving with time (Flynn Effect).  If standardized with today’s tests, scores 80 years ago would have an average IQ of 76.  Possible Causes?

The Flynn Effect

Low Extreme of Intelligence  Mental Retardation: condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of below 70 and difficulty adapting to the demands of life.

Extremes of Intelligence  Down Syndrome: condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one’s genetic makeup.  Many mentally retarded people with Down Syndrome can adapt to disorder and some have earned college degrees with accommodations…many learn how to read.  Savants: Individuals otherwise considered mentally retarded, that have a specific exceptional skill, usually math (calculating), music, or art.

Degrees of Mental Retardation Level Typical Intelligence Scores Percentage of the Retarded Adaptation to Demands of Life Mild % Most learn academic skills up to sixth-grade level. Adults may, with assistance, achieve self-supporting social and vocational skills. Moderate May progress to second-grade level. academically. Adults may contribute to their own support by labor in sheltered workshops. Severe May learn to talk and perform simple work tasks under close supervision but are generally unable to profit from vocational training.

Key Dynamic of Intelligence  Creativity: the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas  components of creativity:  expertise  imaginative thinking skills  venturesome personality  intrinsic motivation  creative environment

Is Intelligence Genetic or Environmental?  Influenced by both, but the most genetically similar have the most similar scores. Similarity of intelligence scores (correlation) Identical twins reared together Identical twins reared apart Fraternal twins reared together Siblings reared together Unrelated individuals reared together

Genetic Influences  With age, genetic influences become more apparent.  Adopted children’s intelligence scores become more like their biological parents, and identical twins similarities continue to increase as they age.  Still hard to tell what percentage of intelligence comes from genes to account for differences between people (heritability).

Genetic Influences years 16 years Child-parent correlation in verbal ability scores Children and their birth parents Adopted children and their birth parents Adopted children and their adoptive parents

Group Differences in Intelligence Scores Are Probably Mostly Attributed to the Environment Variation within group Difference within group Poor soilFertile soil Seeds