1. Wednesday, January 3
How could taking an intelligence test (and knowing or have schools know the scores) help a student/child?
How could taking an intelligence test (and knowing or have schools know the scores) hurt a student/child?
Today’s topic:
Assessing Intelligence
Upcoming Dates:
Tonight’s HW
Test Construction Questions
Read
Pages by tomorrow
Pages by Friday
Assessments:
Test – Friday?
Retest - Wednesday

2. Assessing Intelligence

3. Origins Alfred Binet and Theordore Simon
Intelligence is whatever intelligence tests measure.
Intelligence test – a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.
Alfred Binet and Theordore Simon
All children develop intellectually in the same way but some develop quicker
Mental age – a measure of intelligence; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

4. Origins
Lewis Terman (Stanford) revised Binet’s test  Stanford-Binet (American version)
adapted some questions, established new age norms, and extended the upper end of the test’s range from teenagers to “superior” adults
William Stern (German) developed the intelligence quotient (IQ)
mental age
chronological age
IQ is no longer computed with intelligence tests; now used as a term to refer to a score on an intelligence test
x 100

5. Misuse of IQ and Intelligence Tests
Historically, IQ tests have been used to label certain groups of people (immigrants, etc) as inferior.
Again, intelligence tests assess intelligence which is culturally defined (Terman had to adapt the French test to fit the American culture)
It is no wonder immigrants did poorly on American intelligence tests and were classified unfairly.

6. Modern Tests
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) – developed by David Wechsler, the most widely used intelligence test; contains both verbal and nonverbal subtests
11 subtests
Yields an overall intelligence score, and also scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed.
Results are important to identify learning disabilities or brain disorders (important for teachers, employers, and therapists) 
WAIS examples
Also a version for children

7. Aptitude vs. Achievement Tests
What is the difference between an aptitude test and an achievement test?
Give examples of both.
Is an AP Psychology Exam an example of an aptitude test or an achievement test?

8. Modern Tests
Aptitude tests – designed to predict a person’s future performance as aptitude is the capacity to learn.
Ex: SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test, formerly called the Scholastic Aptitude Test – seeks to predict your ability to do well in college)
Achievement tests – designed to assess what a person has learned.
Ex: EOC and AP Psyc Exam (End of Course exam – seeks to assess what you learned in the course)

9. Monday, January 8
An 11 year old has a mental age of 7. What would his IQ score be?
How is the WAIS different from the Stanford-Binet intelligence test?
What is the difference between an aptitude and an achievement test?
Do you think intelligence is more of a product of nature or nurture?
Today’s topic:
Standardization and Outliers
Upcoming Dates:
Tonight’s HW
Read
Read up to page 556
STUDY
Finish last terms of the semester
Assessments:
Test tomorrow
Retest Thursday

10. Principles to Test Construction: Standardization
Standardization – defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested standardization group.
Tests need to be constantly restandardized to properly assess different generations
Flynn effect = intelligence scores have been rising over time.

11. Principles to Test Construction: Standardization
When a test is standardized, the results when graphed typically form a normal curve
symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many psychical and psychological attributes; most scores fall near the average and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extreme.
On an intelligence test, the average score is 100.

12. Principles to Test Construction: Reliability
The extent to which a test yields consistent results
How do you think you can determine if a test is reliable?
Measured by 2 test halves, alternate forms, or retesting
People should generally score the same when the test is taken multiple times

13. Principles of Test Construction: Validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
How do you think a test can be determined valid?
Content validity – the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest
Ex: the AP Psyc Exam should contain items on Psychology
Predictive validity – the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict
Criterion – the behavior a test is designed to predict
Ex: the SAT is designed to predict future college performance which is the criterion (and it actually does a good job at doing this)

14. Warm-up: What’s your value?
Students identified as gifted should be removed from regular classes and placed in specific gifted programs.

15. Intellectual Disabilities and Giftedness
Outliers
Intellectual Disabilities and Giftedness

17. Savant Syndrome
A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
4/5 savants are male
Many have autism however, AUTISM ≠ SAVANTISM

18. Heritability
Heritability is a number that indicates the amount or proportion of some ability, characteristic, or trait that can be attributed to genetic factors
Intelligence is 50% nature – 50% nurture
Verbal ability is 55% nature – 45% nurture
Memory is 55% nature – 45% nurture
Researchers also suggest that your IQ score can vary points depending upon your socioeconomic environment

19. Extremes of Intelligence – Below 70
Intellectual Disability – a condition of limited mental ability , indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficult in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound.
Intellectual Disabilities can sometimes have a physical cause – Down syndrome – a condition of ID and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one’s genetic makeup.

20. Intellectual Disability Severity
Many with intelligence scores just below 70 have been integrated into regular education classrooms and mainstream society  more happiness and dignity.

21. IQ of Gifted People
A moderately gifted child is usually defined by an IQ score between 130 and 150
A profoundly gifted child has an IQ score of about 180 or above

22. More than just IQ . . . Possess outstanding talent
Show potential for performing at high levels of accomplishment and achievement
Possess creative qualities
Have outstanding abilities
Leadership, language, music/art, math
Compared to others their age, gender, environment

23. Extremes of Intelligence – Above 130
Some extraordinarily intelligent children are more isolated and introverted, but most thrive and continue on to higher education.
Controversy over gifted children programs: not as many children labeled as gifted are actually extraordinarily gifted
“Tracking” children of different abilities can cause them to live up or down to a perception of their intelligence/abilities (self-fulfilling prophecy)

24. Intellectual Differences and Biases
Nature vs. Nurture – Male vs. Female

25. Nature and Nurture
Genetic
Environmental
Twin studies show that identical twins reared together have almost identical intelligence scores
Adoptive children’s intelligence scores tend to resemble those of their birth parents rather than adoptive parents.
Intelligence score of identical twins raised apart is less similar than scores of pairs raised together.
Other studies have shown that children raised in impoverished or enriched environments or different cultures show that experiences influence test performance.

26. Gender Differences better at math problem solving more underachievers
Females
Males
better spellers
more verbally fluent and can remember more words
better at nonverbal memory
more sensitive to touch, taste, and color
better at math computation
higher emotional intelligence - empathy
better at math problem solving
more underachievers

27. The Question of Bias
Scientific bias – however, intelligence tests, like the SAT, are not biased in the fact that they are less valid for some groups.
The predictive validity of the SAT (as in whether it accurately predicts future behaviors) is the same for men and women, blacks and whites, and the rich and poor.
Stereotype threat – the self-confirming belief that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.

28. The Question of Bias Are intelligence tests discriminatory?
Yes – they are designed to distinguish individuals apart from their peers.
No – they are not designed to distinguish individuals based on political, racial, or ethnic backgrounds