1. Application: Methods of assessing intelligence

2. How do you measure intelligence?
An IQ test is the most common way of measuring intelligence, but how do you determine what IQ is?
One of the first intelligence tests (the Stanford-Binet) assessed fluid (problem solving) and crystallised (knowledge and language) intelligence.
A good IQ test should be standardised and should only be used on a target group of people, i.e. a child’s IQ test will not measure an adult’s IQ.
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3. Examples of intelligence assessment
The most common IQ test used in psychology is the Wechsler intelligence scale which can either be used for adults or children.
Sternberg, who earlier identified three types of intelligence (analytic, practical, creative), assesses these using the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test (STAT).
Human drawing of figures can be used with young children, as intelligence can be measured based on how accurate the human looks (e.g. are the legs in proportion to the body?).
Emotional intelligence can be assessed by questioning an individual about social problems and then seeing if that person gives an answer that correlates with the majority of other people.
Can you see any issues with these measurements of intelligence?
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4. Evaluating IQ tests IQ tests can be evaluated in several ways:
The validity of an IQ test can be seen as low if there is a ‘ceiling’ or ‘floor’ effect. The ceiling effect is when too many of the participants score full points on an intelligence test and the floor effect is when too many participants score few or no points. Both effects make it hard to differentiate the intelligence of individuals.
IQ tests should avoid cultural bias as tests created in one culture might not work in other cultures. Yerks (1919) claimed that black Americans were less intelligent than white Americans. However, when looking at his test, it was clear that it only assessed white American culture.
IQ tests can lack ethics, for example when trying to use an IQ test to move primary school students into selective schools (see the 11+).
However, IQ tests are useful, e.g. they can help students identify what types of learning works best for them.
Several different IQ tests can also help both reliability and concurrent validity – can you explain why?
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