Chapter.

9 Intelligence and Measurement ● While Galton argued that intelligence consisted of distinct
processes that could be assessed only by separate tests,
● Intelligence is a multifaceted capacity that includes the
Binet viewed intelligence as inseparable abilities that required
abilities to:
complex measurements to determine.
- Acquire and apply knowledge
- Reason logically, plan effectively, and infer perceptively
● David Wechsler (1958) conceptualized intelligence as “the
- Make sound judgments and solve problems
aggregate...capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to
- Grasp and visualize concepts
think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.
- Find the right words and thoughts with facility
It is composed of elements or abilities which...are qualitatively
- Cope with and adjust to novel situations
differentiable”.

Intelligence as Defined by the Lay Public

● Wechsler was of the opinion that the best way to measure
intelligence was by measuring several “qualitatively
● Sternberg and associates sought to shed light on the lay
differentiable” abilities, which were verbal- or performance-
public’s definition of intelligence, as well as its definition by
based in nature.
psychologists.
● Differences between laypeople’s definitions and that of
● The Wechsler-Bellevue (W-B) Scale provided the calculation
experts included motivation (with experts tending to
of a Verbal IQ and a Performance IQ.
emphasize motivation) and the interpersonal aspects of
intelligence (as emphasized in the lay public's definition).
● Jean Piaget focused his research on the development of
cognitive abilities in children (i.e., how children think, and how
● Seigler and Richards (1980) asked developmental
they understand themselves and the world around them).
psychology students to list behaviors associated with
intelligence in infancy, childhood, and adulthood.
● Piaget defined intelligence as an evolving biological
- Different conceptions of intelligence as a result of
adaptation to the outside world; a consequence of interaction
development was noted (e.g., coordination as a characteristic
with the environment, psychological structures become
of intelligence in infancy, and verbal facility as characterizing
reorganized.
intelligence in childhood).
● According to Piaget, as individual stages are progressed
● Yussen and Kane (1980) found that notions of intelligence
through, the child has experiences within the environment
emerge as early as first grade.
that requires some form of cognitive organization in a schema.
- Younger children tended to emphasize interpersonal
skills while older children emphasized academic skills.
● Schema: organized action or a mental structure that, when
applied to the world, leads to knowing or understanding
Intelligence as Defined by the Experts
● As the infants grow older the schemata become more
● Sir Francis Galton was the first person to publish on the
complicated
heritability of intelligence.
● Applies schemata to objects & events to achieve
understanding
● Galton believed that the most intelligent persons were
equipped with the best sensory abilities.
● Learning was hypothesized by Piaget to occur through two
- By such logic, tests of visual acuity or hearing ability are
operations:
measurements of intelligence.
- Assimilation: the active organization of new information
into an existing schema
● Galton developed many sensorimotor and perception-
- Accommodation: the adjustment of an existing schema to
related tests by which he attempted to measure his definition
new information.
of intelligence
● According to Piaget, there are four periods of cognitive
● Alfred Binet did not define intelligence explicitly but instead
development, each representing a more complex form of
described various components of intelligence, including
cognitive reorganization.
reasoning, judgment, memory, and abstraction.
- These stages range from the sensorimotor period in
infancy to the formal operations period in adolescence.
● Binet and a colleague criticized Galton’s approach to
intellectual assessment and instead called for more complex
measurements of intellectual ability.
● Interactionism: the mechanism by which heredity and
environment is presumed to interact and influence the
development of intelligence.
● Louis L. Thurstone conceived of intelligence as composed of
what he termed primary mental abilities (PMAs).
● Thurstone (1938) developed and published the Primary
Mental Abilities test, which consisted of separate tests, each
designed to measure one PMA: verbal meaning, perceptual
speed, reasoning, number facility, rote memory, word fluency,
and spatial relations.
Factor-Analytic Theories of Intelligence
● Factor-analytic theories of intelligence: focus squarely on
identifying the ability or groups of abilities deemed to
constitute intelligence.
● Factor analysis: a group of statistical techniques designed to
determine the existence of underlying relationships between
sets of variables
● Charles Spearman (1927) postulated the existence of a
general intellectual ability factor (g) and specific factors of
intelligence (s). (Two factor theory of intelligence)
- g was assumed to afford the best prediction of overall
intelligence, best measured through abstract-reasoning
problems.
- Group factors: an intermediate class of factors common
to a group of activities but not all, neither as general as g nor
as specific as s
Many multiple-factor models of intelligence have been
proposed:
● Some (Guilford, Thurstone) have sought to explain mental
activities by deemphasizing/eliminating any reference to g.
● Seven primary abilities, moderate correlation between test
● Gardner developed a theory of seven intelligences: logical-
mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, musical, spatial,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal
● Horn and Cattell developed a theory of intelligence
postulating the existence of 2 major types of cognitive abilities:
- Crystallized intelligence (Gc): includes acquired skills and
knowledge that are dependent on exposure to a particular
culture as well as on formal and informal education
- Ex. Vocabulary
- Fluid intelligence (Gf): nonverbal, relatively culture-free,
and independent of specific instruction
- Ex. Memory for digits
● The CHC Model integrates the Cattell-Horn and Carroll
models, featuring ten “broad-stratum” abilities and over
seventy “narrow-stratum” abilities.
- Each broad-stratum ability subsumes two or more narrow-
stratum abilities.
- Fluid intelligence, crystalized intelligence, quantitative
knowledge, reading and writing ability, short term memory,
visual processing, auditory processing, long-term storage and
retrieval processing speed, decision/ reaction time speed
● Omission of g (McGRew-Flanagan CHC Model)
- Improve practice of psychological assessment in education
(psychoeducational assessment)
- Provide comprehensive assessment of student’s abilities
- Lacks utility in psychoeducational evaluation
● Thorndike conceptualized intelligence in terms of three
clusters of ability: social intelligence, concrete intelligence,
and abstract intelligence.
● Information-processing theories: focus on identifying the
specific mental processes that constitute intelligence.
- Simultaneous (parallel) processing: the integration of
information occurs all at once
- Successive (sequential) processing: information is
individually processed in a logical sequence
● Robert Sternberg (1986) proposed a triarchic theory of
intelligence with three principle elements:
- Metacomponents: involved in planning actions, self-
monitoring, and self-evaluation
- Performance components: administer the instructions of
metacomponents
- Knowledge-acquisition components: involved in “learning
how to do something in the first place” (Sternberg, 1994)
● Sternberg
- Successful intelligence: the notion proposed by Sternberg
(1997) that is gauged by the extent to which one effectively
adapts, shares, shapes, and selects environments in a way that
conforms to both personal and societal standards of success
Measuring Intelligence
● Measuring intelligence entails sampling an examinee’s
performance on different types of tests and tasks as a function
of developmental level.
● In infancy, intellectual assessment primarily focuses on
sensorimotor development (ex. nonverbal motor responses).
● In older children, intellectual assessment focuses on verbal
and performance abilities (ex. vocabulary or social judgment).
● Adult intelligence scales should tap abilities such as general
information retention, quantitative reasoning, expressive
language, and social judgment.
- Intelligence tests are rarely administered to adults for
purposes of educational placement, but rather to ascertain
clinically relevant information or learning potential.
Considerations:
● The theory (if any) on which the test is based
● The ease with which the test can be administered
● The ease with which the test can be scored
● The ease with which results can be interpreted for a
particular purpose
● The adequacy and appropriateness of the norms
● The acceptability of the published reliability and validity
indices
● The test’s utility in terms of costs versus benefit
Test of Intelligence
Binet-Simon Scale
- Created in 1905
- Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon
- First formal intelligence test
- Used in the United states as early as 1908
Stanford-Binet intelligence Scale
- Published in 1912
- Extended age range of the test downward
- Work of Lewis Madison Terman at Stanford university
- First published intelligence test to provide organized and
detailed administration and scoring instruction
- Lack of representativeness of the standardized sample
- First test to introduce Alternate Items (examiner failed to
properly administer the regular item)
- 1926 Terman collaborated with Maud Merrill to revise SB
- 1937 scale includes the development of two forms labeled
as L and M as well as new task for preschool-level and adult-
level testtakers
- Lack of representation of minority groups
- Revised in 1956 consist of only a single form labeled as L-
M. Include the items considered to be the best in two forms of
the 1937 version
- The use of Deviation IQ tables in place with Ratio IQ
- Earlier version of SB employed Ratio IQ which is based on
the concept of mental age
- Ratio IQ: the ratio of the testtaker’s mental age divided by his
or her chronological age, multiplied by 100 to eliminate
decimals:
- With the third edition of the Stanford-Binet, the
deviation IQ replaced the ratio IQ
- Deviation IQ: a comparison of the performance of the
individual with the performance of others in the same age in
the standardization sample
- With the fourth edition, a point scale was implemented
which organized subtests by category of item rather than age
scale where in item are grouped by age which a test taker can
respond correctly
- The fifth edition was designed for administration to ages 2 –
85.
- The test yields a composite of scores, including a Full-Scale
IQ, Abbreviated Battery score, Verbal IQ score, and Nonverbal
IQ score.
- Test composite can be defined as test score or index derived
from the combination of, and/ or a mathematical
transformation of one or more subtest
- The Stanford-Binet Full Scale score can be converted into
nominal categories designated by cutoff boundaries for quick
reference:
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 Wechsler Tests
- Wechsler-Bellevue 1 (W-B 1) (1939)
- Point scale (items are classified by subtests)
- Six verbal subtests and five performance subtests
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS; 1955)
- Until recently, all Wechsler scales yielded several possible
composite scores, including a Full-Scale IQ (a measure of
general intelligence), a Verbal IQ, and a Performance IQ.
- WAIS-R (1981)
- WAIS-R test administration manual mandated the
alternate administration of verbal and performance tests
- WAIS-III (1997)
- Contained updated and more user-friendly materials (ex.
larger test materials for older adults)
- Norms were expanded to include testtakers in the age
range of 74 to 89
- WAIS-III yielded a Full Scale IQ and 4 Index Scores: Verbal
Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory
and Processing Speed
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th Ed
- Consists of subtests that are designated as either “core” or
“supplemental.”
- Core subtest: a subtest administered to obtain a
composite score
- Supplemental subtest: a subtest administered to provide
additional clinical information or extend the number of
abilities/processes sampled
- The WAIS-IV contains 10 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).
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
- First published in 1949
- WISC-R included non-white as standardization sample,
more modernized and “childized”
- WISC III Published in 1991
- The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 5th Ed.
- Published in 2014
- The WISC-IV yields a measure of general intellectual
functioning (a Full Scale IQ) as well as five index scores: Verbal
Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working
Memory, and Processing Speed.
- The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence
(WPPSI)
- The WPPSI (1967) was developed to assess children and
racial minorities.
- WPPSI-R (1989), Age 3 through 7 years and 3 months
- WPPSI-III (1992) age 2ys and 6 months
- Includes several subtests, including Matrix Reasoning,
Symbol Search, Word Reasoning, and Picture Concepts
- The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence,
4th Ed (WPPSI-IV)
- The WPPSI-IV covers the age ranges from 2:6 through 7:7
- Like other Wechsler tests, the WPPSI-IV is well
constructed, has excellent reliabilities, and is well grounded in
modern theory.
• WAIS-IV
– 16 through 90 years 11 months
• WISC-V
– 6 through 16 and 11 months
• WPPSI-IV
– 2 years and 6 months to 7 years and 7 months

● Short forms: a test that has been abbreviated in length,
typically to reduce the time needed for administration,
scoring, and interpretation
● Much debate surrounds the use of short forms and many
scholars suggest “finding the time” to administer the long form
of the intelligence test.
● Some suggest short forms be used only for screening
purposes, rather than to make placement or educational
decisions.
● WASI (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale for Intelligence)
- Published in 1999
- 6 to 89 years old
- Screen intellectual ability
- Yields a Full-Scale IQ, Verbal IQ and Performance IQ
● Group Administration
- On April 7, 1917, Robert Yerkes began efforts to mobilize
psychologist to help in war effort.
- Urgency to develop instrument to identify both the “unfit
and those of “exceptionally superior ability”
- Ready for printing during July 7
- Army Alpha
- For recruits who could read
- Contains general information questions, analogies,
scrambled sentence to reassemble
- Army Beta
- For foreign born recruits with poor knowledge of English
or to illiterate recruits (could not read news paper or could not
write a letter home)
- Used by civilians to measure intelligence after the war
● Other Tests of Intelligence
- Individual administration
- Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT)
- Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT)
- Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC)
- Group administration
- Army Alpha test
- Army Beta test
- School ability test
- California Test of Mental Maturity
- Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligent Tests
- Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability
- Cognitive Abilities Tests
Intelligence: Some Issues
● Nature versus nurture
- Today, most behavioral scientists believe that measured
intellectual ability represents an interaction between innate
ability and environmental influences.
- Historically, however, this interactionist perspective was
not popular.
- Preformationism: a theory that holds that all living organisms
are preformed at birth; all of an organism’s structures,
including intelligences, are preformed at birth and cannot be
improved upon.
- Predeterminism: the doctrine that holds that one’s abilities
are predetermined by genetic inheritance and that no amount
of learning or other intervention can enhance what has been
genetically encoded to unfold
- Gesell (1929) was a major proponent of predeterminism
and with twin studies, concluded that “training does not
transcend maturation.”
 - Gesell believed that neural mechanisms, rather than
experience, were most important in the development of
intelligence.
- He argued that behavior patterns are determined by
“innate processes of growth” that he likened to maturation.
● Culture and Measured Intelligence
- Culture provides specific models for thinking, acting, and
feeling, enabling people to survive both physically and socially
and to master the world around them.
- Values may differ radically between cultural groups, and thus
individuals from these varying cultures may have radically
differing views on what constitutes intelligence.
- Items on an intelligence test tend to reflect the culture of the
society where the test is employed, thus many theorists have
expressed a desire to develop a culture-free intelligence test.
- Culture-free intelligence tests are difficult if not
impossible, and thus “culture-fair” intelligence tests began to
be developed.
- Culture loading: the extent to which a test incorporates the
vocabulary, concepts, traditions, knowledge, and feelings
associated with a particular culture
- For intelligence tests, it is imperative to understand how the
test developer defined intelligence.
- If intelligence is defined as Spearman’s g, then factor
analysis should yield a single large common factor that
indicates the different questions or tasks largely reflected the
underlying characteristic (g).
- If intelligence is defined in accordance with Guilford’s
theory, then no one factor should be expected to dominate,
but instead many different factors reflecting a diverse set of
abilities.
- Flynn effect: the progressive rise in intelligence test scores
that is expected to occur on a normed intelligence test from
the date when the test was first normed
- Personality
- Wechsler and Binet both believed that the study of
intelligence was either synonymous with or highly involved
in the study of personality.
- Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of children have
explored the relationship between various personality
characteristics and measured intelligence, including
aggressiveness with peers, initiative, and high need for
achievement.
- Temperament can affect an infant’s measured intellectual
ability in that irritable children have a negative reciprocal
influence on their parents and examiners.
- Gender
- Research has examined the differences between males
and females with regard to cognitive, motor, and other
abilities related to intelligence.
- Some differences have been consistently found but
significance is questionable.
- Males tend to outperform females on tasks requiring
visual spatialization, while females tend to excel at language
skill-related tasks. - Gender
- Research has examined the differences between males
and females with regard to cognitive, motor, and other
abilities related to intelligence.
- Some differences have been consistently found but
significance is questionable.
- Males tend to outperform females on tasks requiring
visual spatialization, while females tend to excel at language
skill-related tasks.
- Family environment
- Children thrive in a loving home where their safety and
welfare are of utmost concern and learning and growth are
promoted.
- The presence of resources, parental use of language,
parental expression of concern about achievement, and
authoritative parenting may also effect measured intelligence.
A Perspective
● A consensus on the definition of intelligence still has not
been reached.
● Many have called for a more liberal definition, allowing for
behavior presumed to be indicative of intelligence in the real
world.
● Another issue includes group differences in measured
intelligence: humans vary on many fronts and it is reasonable
to consider that is a physical basis for differences in intellectual
ability as well.
● The relationship between intelligence and a wide range of
social outcomes has been well-documented.
- Scores on intelligence tests, when used with other
indicators, have value in predicting outcomes such as school
performance, years of education, and social status.