1. Intelligence

2. What is Intelligence? ▪ Definition: – The mental abilities to adapt to and shape the environment ▪ Involves reacting to and forming your surroundings ▪ Average IQ = 100 ▪ Intelligence ≠ Achievement – Achievement: knowledge & skills gained from experience ▪ Debate: Is intelligence one “skill/ability” or multiple “skills/abilities?” – The debate has led to the development of several theories

3. Mental Age v. Chronological Age ▪ Mental Age: – Reflects the child’s mental abilities in comparison to the average child of the same age – Could be higher or lower than your actual age ▪ Chronological Age: – Your actual age, as in how old you turn on your birthday

4. Aptitude v. Achievement Tests ▪ Aptitude: – Predicts your capacity to learn if given an adequate education ▪ Ex: Intelligence Test ▪ Achievement: – Measures what you have already learned ▪ Ex: a test in school

5. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

7. Wechsler Intelligence Scale ▪ More commonly used ▪ Measures verbal and non-verbal (performance) abilities ▪ Score determined by comparing scores with scores of others of the same age ▪ Used to identify learning disabilities

9. Principles of Test Construction ▪ All psychological tests must meet these three characteristics! ▪ Standardization – Process of having uniform procedures for administering a test and interpreting the scores – Should form a normal distribution (bell-shaped curve) with the average score receiving the most scores ▪ Reliability – Degree to which a test gets consistent results ▪ Ex: get a similar score each time the same test is taken ▪ Validity – Degree to which a test measures what it is designed to measure ▪ Ex: intelligence scores can actually predict how successful a person is in life