CHAPTER 9: INTELLIGENCE AND MEASUREMENT

INTELLIGENCE
-a multifaceted capacity that manifests itself in difference ways across the life
span

Intelligence defined: Views of the Lay Public

Research by STENBERG (1981)

-In general, the researchers found a surprising degree of similarity between
the experts’ and laypeople’s conception of intelligence
-However, in terms of academic intelligence
-Experts put emphasis on motivation, while laypeople stressed the importance
of social aspects

Research by SIEGLER and RICHARDS (1980)

-There’s a different conceptions of intelligence as a function of developmental
stage

Research by YUSSEN and KANE (1980)

-Suggested that children also have notions about intelligence as early as first
grade

Intelligence defined: Views of Scholars and Test Professionals

1. FRANCIS GALTON
-first person to published on the heritability of intelligence, thus framing the
contemporary nature-nurture debate
-he believed that the most intelligent persons were those equipped with the
best sensory abilities
-attempted to measure this sort of intelligence in many of the sensorimotor
and other perception-related tests he devised

INTERACTIONISM
(Heredity + Environment = Intelligence)

2. ALFRED BINET
-components of intelligence: reasoning, judgment, memory and abstraction
-more complex measure of intelligence

3. DAVID WECHSLER
-intelligence as “aggressive” or “global” capacity
-considered other factors (traits and personality) in assessing intelligence
-at first, he proposed two qualitatively abilities: Verbal and Performance
-then, he added other factors: Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory,
Perceptual Organization, Processing Speed

4. JEAN PIAGET
-intelligence is evolving biological adaptations to the outside world
-focused on the development of cognition in children
-schema (or schemata) -an organized action or mental structure that when
applied to the world, leads to knowing and understanding
-the basic mental operations:
-Assimilation -actively organizing new information so that it fits in what
already perceived and thought
-Accommodation -changing what is already perceived or thought so that it
fits with the new information
-Disequilibrium -causes the individual to discover new information perceptions
and communication skills

FACTOR ANALYSIS THEORIES

5. CHARLES SPEARMAN
-Theory of General Intelligence / Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence
-(g) - general intellectual ability
-(s) - specific components
-(e) - error components
-The greater the magnitude of g in a test of intelligence, the better the test
was thought to predict overall intelligence
-g factor is based on some type of general electrochemical mental energy
available to the brain for problem solving
-Abstract Reasoning were thought to be the best measures of g in formal test
-Group Factors - an intermediate class of factors common to a group of
activities but not at all
Ex: Linguistic, Mechanical, Arithmetical

6. JOY PAUL GUILFORD

-Intelligence is a systematic collection of abilities or functions for the
processing of information of different kinds in various ways
-de-emphasized (g)
-research on US Army Air Corps during the War, and he was able to identify
25 important mental ability factors
-Structure of Intellect Model (SI Model)

7. LOUIS LEON THURNSTONE

-intelligence is considered as mental trait. It is the capacity for abstraction,
which is inhibitory process
-seven primary abilities
-word fluency
-verbal comprehension
-spatial visualization
-number facility
-associative memory
-reasoning
-perceptual speed

8. HOWARD GARDNER
-intelligence is the ability to solve problems or to create products, that are
valued within one or more cultural settings
-theory of multiple intelligence:
-logical-mathematical
-bodily-kinesthetic
-linguistic
-musical
-spatial
-interpersonal
-intrapersonal

9. RAYMOND CATTELL
-two major types of cognitive abilities:
-Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
-acquired skills and knowledge that are dependent on exposure to a
particular culture as well as on formal and informal evaluation
(Example: Vocabulary)

-Fluid Intelligence (Gf)

-nonverbal, relatively culture-free and independent of specific instruction
(Example: Encoding of Short Term Memory)

10. JOHN HORN

-Addition of several factors to his mentor’s, Raymond Cattel, work
-Gv - Visual Processing
-Ga - Auditory Processing
-Gq - Quantitative Processing
-Gs - Speed Processing
-Grw - Reading and Writing
-Gsm - Short Term Memory
-Glr - Long Term Storage and Retrieval

11. JOHN CARROLL

-Three Stratum Model of Human Cognitive Abilities
-Stratum III -the general level/general intellectual ability
-Stratum II -the broad level; 8 factors
-Stratum I -the specific level; more specific factors

12. MCGREW AND FLANAGAN

-Cattel-Horn-Carroll Models (CHC)
-10 Broad Stratum
-Over 70 narrow stratum

INFORMATION-PROCESSING VIEW

13. ALEKSANDR LURIA

-Information-Processing Approach -focuses on the mechanisms by which
information is processed -”how it is processes and what is being processed”
-two basic types:
-simultaneous (parallel)
-information is integrated at all time
 -successive (sequential)
-each bit of information is individually processed in sequence
-Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children 2nd Edition rely heavily on this
concept

14. ROBERT STERNBERG

-Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
-Metacomponents -planning, monitoring, evaluating
-Performance Components -performing the instructions of
metacomponents
-Knowledge Acquisition -learning something new

15. Others
-PASS Model
-Planning -strategy development for problem solving
-Attention/Arousal -receptivity to information
-Simultaneous and Successive -the type of information processing
employed

Measuring Intelligence

Some tasks used to measure intelligence

A. Infancy (Birth to 18 months)
-measuring sensorimotor development
-techniques:
-testing alerting response
-assessing responsiveness
-focusing a light on the eyes of the infant
-testing orienting response
-assessing the ability in turning in direction of stimulus
-ringing of bell
B. Child
-measuring of verbal and performance abilities

C. Adult
-according to Wechsler, abilities such as retention of general
information, quantitative reasoning
-expressive language and memory, and social judgment
-obtain during clinical evaluation or corporate assessment

Some tests used to measure intelligence

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales: Fifth Edition (SB5)

1st Edition
-The first published intelligence test to provide organized and detailed
administration and scoring instructions
-The first American test to employ the concept of IQ. And it was the first test to
introduce the concept of an alternate item, an item to be substituted for a
regular item under specified conditions
-Criticism: lack of representativeness of the standardization sample

Revisions:
1937
-Included the development of two equivalent forms, labeled L (for Lewis) and
M (for Maud)
-New types of tasks for use with preschool-level and adult-level testtakers
-Adequate standardization sample
-Criticism: lack of representation of minority groups during the test’s
development

1960
-consisted of only a single form (labeled L-M) and included the items
considered to be the best from the two forms of the 1937 test, with no new
items added tot he test
-the use of the deviation IQ tables in place of the ratio IQ tables

1972
-the quality of the standardization sample was criticized
-norms may also have overrepresented the West, as well as large urban
communities

4th Edition - Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition (1986)

-previous versions used age scale, but the 4th edition uses Point scale
-Point Scale -a test organized into subtests by category of item, not be
age at which most testtakers are presumed
-Test Composite -a test score or index derived from the combination of,
and/or a mathematical transformation of, one or more subtest scores

5th Edition - SB5 (2003)

-designed for administration to assessees as young as 2 and as old as 85 (or
older)
-yields a number of composite scores, including a Full Scale IQ derived from
the administration of ten subtests
-subtest scores (mean = 10; sd = 3)
-composite scores (mean = 100, sd = 15)
-In addition, the test yields five Factor Index scores corresponding to each of
the five factors that the test is presumed to measure
-It was based on CATTELL-HORN-CARROLL Theory of intellectual abilities

SB5 Factor Name

Fluid Reasoning (FR)

-novel problem solving, understanding of relationships that are not culturally
bound

Knowledge (KN)
-skills and knowledge acquired by formal and informal education

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

-knowledge of mathematical thinking including number concepts, estimation,
problem-solving and measurement

Visual Spatial Processing (VS)

-ability to see patterns and relationships and spatial orientation as well as the
gestalt among diverse visual stimuli

Working Memory (WM)

-cognitive process of temporarily storing and then transforming or sorting
information in memory

-Routing Test
-A task used to direct or route the examinee to a particular level of
questions
-Direct an examinee to test items that have a high probability of being at
an optimal level of difficulty

-Teaching items
-designed to illustrate the task required and assure the examiner that the
examinee understands

-Floor -lowest level of the items on a subtest

-Ceiling -highest level of the items on a subtest

-Basal Level -A stage in a test achieved by a testtaker by meeting some

preset criterion to continue to be tested for example, responding correctly to
two consecutive items on an ability test that contains increasingly difficult
items may establish a “base” from which to continue testing

-Ceiling Level -A stage in a test achieved by a testtaker as a result of meeting

some preset criterion to discontinue testing for example, responding
incorrectly to two consecutive items on an ability test that contains
increasingly difficult items may establish a presumed “ceiling” on the
testtaker’s ability

-Testing the Limit -A procedure that involves administering test items beyond
the level at which the test manual dictates discontinuance

-SB5 has a test administration protocol that could be characterized as

adaptive in nature

-Extra-test Behavior -Observations made by an examiner regarding what the

examinee does and how the examinee reacts during the course of testing

Measured IQ Range Category

145-160 Very gifted or highly advanced
130-144 Gifted or very advanced
120-129 Superior
110-119 High average
90-109 Average
80-89 Low Average
70-79 Borderline impaired or delayed
55-69 Mildly impaired or delayed
40-54 Moderately impaired or delayed

The Wechler Tests

Wechsler-Bellevue (W-B1) or Wechsler-Bellevue (W-B) 1939

-Point Scale
-Items were classified by subtest
-Organized into six verbal subtests and five performance subtests and five
performance subtests, and all the items in each test were arranged in order of
increasing difficulty

-Wechsler-Bellevue 2 (W-B 2) - 1942; an alternative form

-Criticisms:
-The standardization sample was rather restricted
-Some subtests lacked sufficient inter-item reliability
-Some of the subtests were made up of items that were too easy
-The scoring criteria for certain items were too ambiguous

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - 1955

-organized into Verbal and Performance scales
-Scoring yielded a Verbal IQ, a performance IQ, and a Full Scale IQ

-WAIS-R (1981)
-new norms and materials
-alternate administration of verbal and performance tests

-WAIS-III (1997)
-contained updated and more user-friendly materials
-test materials were made physically larger to facilitate viewing by older adults
-some items were added to each of the subtests that extended the test’s floor
in order to make the test more useful for evaluating people with extreme
intellectual deficits
-extensive research was designed to detect and eliminate items that may
have contained cultural bias
-norms were expanded to include testtakers in the age range 74-89
-yielded a full scale (composite) IQ as well as four Index Scores - Verbal
Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, and Processing
Speed -used for more in-depth interpretation of findings

-WAIS-IV (2008)
-It is made up of subtests that are designated either as core or supplemental
-Core subtest is one that is administered to obtain a composite score
-Supplemental Subtest is used for purposes such as providing additional
clinical information or extedning the number of abilities or processes
sampled
-Intended for use with individuals ages 16 to 90 years and 11 months
-contains ten core subtests (Block Design, Similarities, Digit Span, Matrix
Reasoning, Vocabulary, Arithmetic, Symbol Search, Visual Puzzles,
Information and Coding)
-and five supplemental subtests (Letter-Number Sequencing, Figure Weights,
Comprehension, Cancellation and Picture Completion)
-more explicit administration instructions as well as the expanded use of
demonstration and sample items - this in an effort to provide assessees with
practice in doing what is required, in addition to feedback on their
performance
-all of the test items were thoroughly reviewed to root out any possible cultural
bias
-Floor = 40, Ceiling = 160

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

-1st edition 1949
-currently in its 5th edition

-WISC-V (2014)
-ages 6 years old to 16 years and 11 months
-FSIQ, Primary Index Scores and Ancillary Index Scores
-21 subtests; 15 composite scores
-completion time: 60 minutes

Wechsler Pre-School and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)

-1st edition 1967
-currently in its 4th edition

-WPPSI (2012)
-ages 2 years and 6 months up to 7 years and 7 months
-completion time:
-ages 2:6 to 3:11 = 30-45 minutes
-ages 4:0 to 7:7 = 45-60 minutes

Short Forms of Intelligence Test

-Short form refers to a test that has been abbreviated in length, typically to
reduce the time needed for test administration, scoring and interpretation
-In 1958, David Wechsler endorsed the use of short forms but only for
screening purposes. Years later, perhaps in response to the potential for
abuse of short forms, he took a much dimmer view of reducing the number of
subtests just to save time
-From a psychometric standpoint, the validity of a test is affected by and is
somewhat dependent on the test’s reliability. Changes in a test that lessen its
reliability may also lessen its validity

-Wechsler Abbreviated Scaled of Intelligence (WASI) 1999

-designed to answer the need for a short instrument to screen intellectual
ability in testtakers from 6 to 89 years of age
-the test comes in a two-subtest form (consisting of Vocabulary and Block
Design) that takes about 15 minutes to administer and a four-subtest form that
takes about 30 minutes to administer

-WASI-2 2011
-making the test materials more user friendly, and increasing the
psychometric soundness of the test

Group Tests of Intelligence

-1917 World War 1

-Army Alpha Test -administered to Army recruits who could read. It
contained tasks such as general information questions, analogies, and
scrambled sentences to reassemble
-Army Beta Test -designed for administration to foreign-born recruits with
poor knowledge of English or to illiterate recruits. It contained tasks such
as mazes, coding and picture completion
-An original objective of the Alpha and Beta tests was to measure the
ability to be a good soldier. However, after the war, that objective seemed
to get lost in the shuffle as the tests were used in various aspects of
civilian life to measure general intelligence. An Army or Beta test was much
easier to obtain, administer and interpret than a Stanford-Binet test, and it
was also much cheaper

-World War 2
-Army General Classification Test (AGCT) -administered to more than 12
million recruits

-Today
-group tests are still administered to prospective recruits, primarily for
screening purposes
-Screening tool -an instrument or procedure used to identify a particular
trait or constellation of traits at a gross or imprecise level

-Group Test in School Setting

-Group intelligence test results provide school personnel with valuable
information for instruction-related activities and increased understanding of
the individual pupil
-Group intelligence tests in the schools are used in special forms as early as
the kidergarten level. The tests are administered to groups of 10 to 15
children, each of whom receives a test booklet that includes printed pictures
and diagrams. For th most part, simple motor responses are required to
answer items. Oversized alternatives in the form of pictures in a multiple-
choice might appear on the pages, and it is the child’s job to circle or place an
X on the picture that represents the correct answer to the item presented
orally by the examiner. During such testing in small groups, the testtakers will
be carefully monitored to make certain they are following the directions
-Some group intelligence test for school settings:
-California Test of Mental Maturity
 -Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Test
-Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability
-Cognitive Abilities Test
-Otis-Lennon School Ability Tests (OLSAT) (formerly Otis-Lennon Mental
Ability Tests - OLMAT)
-the first group intelligence test to be used in US schools
-designed to measure abstract thinking and reasoning ability and to assist in
school evaluation and placement decision-making
-a multiple choice test commonly used in the US to identify gifted children
-completion time: max 75 minutes
-age range: k to 12
-in general, group tests are useful screening tools when large numbers of
examinees must be evaluated either simultaneously or within a limited time
frame

Other Measures of Intellectual Abilities

-Cognitive Styles
-a psychological dimension that characterizes the consistency with which one
acquires and processes information
-Examples:
-Field Dependence vs Field Independence
-Reflection vs Impulsivity
-Visualizer vs Verbalizer

-Meaures of Creativity:
-Originality -the ability to produce something that is innovative or nonobvious
-Fluency -the ease with which responsesare reproduced and is usually
measured by the total number of responses produced
-Flexibility -the variety of ideas presented and the ability to shift from one
approach to another
-Elaboration -the richness of detail in a verbal explanation or pictorial display
-A criticism frequently leveled at group standardized intelligence tests (as well
as at other ability and achievement tests) is that evaluation of test
performance is too heavily focused on whether the answer is correct
-The heavy emphasis on correct response leaves little room for the evaluation
of processes such as originality, fluency, flexibility and elaboration
-Convergent thinking
-a deductive reasoning process taht entails recall and consideration of facts
as well as a series of logical judgments to narrow down solutions and
eventually arrive at one solution
-Divergent thinking
-a reasoning process in which thought is free to move in many different
directions, making several solutions possible
-requires flexibility of thought, originality, and imagination

-Remote Associates Test (RAT)

-developed by Sarnoff Mednick in the 1960s
-presents the testtaker with three words; the task is to find a fourth word
associated with the other three
-a test used to measure creative convergent thinking
-a possible weakness of this test is its focus on verbal associative habits -
meaning it might be more difficult for non-native speakers of English. Also, it
may not favor those who are more comfortable with visual thinking

-Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)

-developed by E. Paul Torrance in 1960s
-consist of word-based, picture-based and sound-based test materials
-each subtest is designed to measure various characteristics deemed
important in the process of creative thought

-It is interesting that many tests of creativity do not fare well when evaluated
by traditional psychometric procedures

Intelligence: Some Issues

Nature vs Nurture
-Preformationism
-all living organisms are preformed at birth
-all of the organism’s structures, including intelligence, are preformed at birth
and therefore cannot be improved
-it is like a cocoon turned into butterfly

-Predeterminism
-one’s abilities are pre-determined by genetic inheritance and that no amount
of learning or other intervention can enhance what has been genetically
encoded to unfold time
-Arnold Gesell
-”training does not transcend maturation”
-mental development as a progressive morphogenesis of pattern of behavior
-behavior patterns are predetermined by “innate process growth”

-Francis Galton
-believed that genius was hereditary

-Richard Dugdale
-argued that degeneracy (being immoral) was also inherited

-Henry Goddard
-role of hereditary in feeblemindedness
-feeblemindedness is the product of recessive gene

-Lewis Terman
-the father of the American version of Binet’s test
-based on his testing he concluded that Mexican and Native American are
inferior

-Karl Pearson
-”Jews are somewhat inferior physiologically and mentally”

-Wendy Johnson
-VPR Model -strong genetic influence on mental ability

-In general, the proponents of the nurture side of nature-nurture controversy

emphasize the crucial importance and post-natal environment, socioeconomic
status, educational opportunities and parental modelling with respect to
intellectual development

-Interactionist View
-we are free to become all that we can be

The Stability of Intelligence:

-Intelligence does not seem to be stable for much of one’s adult life
-Full scale IQ may seem to remain the same over time, although the individual
abilities assessed may change significantly
-Verbal Intellectual skills to be highly stable over time
-Young adulthood intelligence is the most suitable determinant of cognitive
performance
-Terman, suggested that gifted children tended to maintain their superior
intellectual ability
-In contrast, Winner (2000) writes that child prodigies may become “frozen
into expertise”

The Construct Validity of Tests of Intelligence

-the evaluation of a test’s construct validity proceeds on the assumption that
one knows in advance exactly what the test is supposed to measure
-It is essential to understand how the test developer defined intelligence

Other issues:
-Flynn effect
-intelligence inflation/10 years

-Personality
-Street efficacy -perceived ability to avoid violent confrontations and to be safe
in one’s neighborhood

-Gender
-males have the edge when it comes to g factor in intelligence especially
when only the highest-scoring group on the ability test is considered
-males also tend to outperform females on tasks requiring visual spatialization
-girls may general outperform on language-skill related task, although
differences may be minimized when assessment is conducted by computer

-Family Environment
-divorce may have significant consequences in the life of child ranging from
impaired school achievement to impaired social problem solving ability

-Culture
-Culture loading -a test incorporates the vocabulary, concepts, traditions,
knowledge, and feelings associated with a particular culture
-Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
-designed to minimize the influence of culture with regard to various aspects
of the evaluation procedures