Intelligence Test a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes

and comparing them with those of others, using numerical

scores
Mental Age a measure of intelligence test performance devised by
Binet; the chronological age that most typically
corresponds to given level of performance. Thus, a child
who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have
a mental age of 8
Stanford-Binet the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford)
of Binet's original intelligence test
Intelligence Quotient defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to
(IQ) chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus,
IQ=ma/caX100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the
average performance for a given age is assigned a score of
100
Operant Learning Skinner believed that we can explain language
development with familiar learning principles, such as
association, imitation, and reinforcement
Linguistic Determinism Whorf's hypothesis that language determines what we
think; "Language itself shapes a (person)'s basic ideas"
Procedural Memory "Language itself shapes a (person)'s basic ideas"; thinking
affects our language, which then affects our thought
Intelligence mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from
experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to
new situations
Factor Analysis a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related
items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different
dimensions of performance that underlie one's total score
General Intelligence (g) a general intelligence factor that Spearman and others
believed underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore
measured by every task on an intelligence test; debated;
defined differently in different cultures
Savant Syndrome a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental
ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in
computation or drawing; score low on intelligence tests;
many have autism; 4 in 5 are male
Gardner's Eight verbal, mathematical, musical, spacial, kinetic, intrinsic,
Intelligences extrinsic, disagreed upon by some psychologists
Robert Strenberg's Analytical, creative, practical
Intelligences
Emotional Intelligence the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate
emotions
Creativity the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas; not
measured on intelligence tests
Eugenics a 19th century movement that proposed measuring human
traits and using the results to encourage to discourage
people from reproducing
Aptitude Test a test designed to predict a person's future performance;
aptitude is the capacity to learn; aptitude test results are
influenced by achievement test results and vis versa
Achievement Test a test designed to assess what a person has learned;
aptitude test results are influenced by achievement test
results and vis versa
Wechsler Adult the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test;
Intelligence Scale contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests;
(WAIS) differences in verbal and performance scores indicate a
learning disability; 11 subtests
Standardization defining meaningful scores by comparison with the
performance of a pretested "standardization group"
Normal Curve the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the
distribution of many physical and psychological attributes.
Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer
scores lie near the extremes
Reliability the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as
assessed by he consistency of sores on two halves of the
test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting
Validity the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is
supposed to
Content Validity the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of
interest (such as a driving test that samples driving tasks)
Criterion the behavior (such as college grades) that a test (such as
the SAT) is designed to predict; thus, the measure used in
defining whether the test has predictive validity)
Predictive Validity the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is
designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the
correlation between test scores and he criterion behavior
(also called criterion-realated validity)
Mental Retardation a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an
intelligence score below 70 and difficulty in adapting to the
demands of life; varies from mild to profound
Mild Mental Retardation Intelligence Test Score: 50-70
85% of people with mental retardation
learn academic skills to the 6th grade and live on their own
with a job
Moderate Mental Intelligence Test Score: 35-49
Retardation 10% of people with mental retardation
learn academic skills to the 2nd grade and maybe get a job
Severe Mental Intelligence Test Score: 20-34
Retardation 3-4% of people with mental retardation
may learn to talk and perform simple tasks under close
supervision, usually unable to profit from vocational
training
Profound Mental Intelligence Test Score: below 2o
Retardation 1-2% of people with mental retardation
require constant aid and supervision
Down Syndrome a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup
Stereotype Threat a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based
on a negative stereotype