Group intelligence tests, which are administered to a group of students with minimal examiner-examinee interaction, are useful screening devices at best, and their results should be interpreted with caution. Individual intelligence or IQ tests, administered on a one-to-one basis by a psychologist, are the preferred way to measure intelligence.
Typically individual tests of intelligence take an hour to an hour and a half to administer and are given by psychologists. These measures of learning aptitude typically encompass a range of cognitive tasks of a verbal, conceptual, perceptual and quantitative nature. The IQ is the more common indicator used to assess intelligence. Most intelligence tests also have scale scores and subtest scores that allow for greater precision in the interpretation of results and identification of strengths and weaknesses.
A representative sample is a subset of the population that accurately represents the general population. If, for example, you measured the height of the women in your classroom only, you might not actually have a representative sample. Because basketball players tend to be taller than average, the women in your class may not be a good representative sample of the population of American women.
But if your sample included all the women at your school, it is likely that their heights would form a natural bell curve. The same principles apply to intelligence tests scores. Individuals earn a score called an intelligence quotient IQ. Over the years, different types of IQ tests have evolved, but the way scores are interpreted remains the same. The average IQ score on an IQ test is Standard deviations describe how data are dispersed in a population and give context to large data sets.
The bell curve uses the standard deviation to show how all scores are dispersed from the average score [link]. In modern IQ testing, one standard deviation is 15 points. An IQ score of or above is considered a superior level. Only 2. An individual in this IQ range would be considered to have an intellectual disability and exhibit deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Formerly known as mental retardation, the accepted term now is intellectual disability, and it has four subtypes: mild, moderate, severe, and profound [link].
On the other end of the intelligence spectrum are those individuals whose IQs fall into the highest ranges. People are considered gifted if they have an IQ score of or higher, or superior intelligence in a particular area. Long ago, popular belief suggested that people of high intelligence were maladjusted. This idea was disproven through a groundbreaking study of gifted children. In , Lewis Terman began a longitudinal study of over children with IQs over Terman, In the past, individuals with IQ scores below 70 and significant adaptive and social functioning delays were diagnosed with mental retardation.
When this diagnosis was first named, the title held no social stigma. Earlier in the chapter, we discussed how language affects how we think. Do you think changing the title of this department has any impact on how people regard those with developmental disabilities?
Does a different name give people more dignity, and if so, how? Does it change the expectations for those with developmental or cognitive disabilities? Why or why not? The value of IQ testing is most evident in educational or clinical settings. Without IQ testing—or another measure of intelligence—children and adults needing extra support might not be identified effectively. In addition, IQ testing is used in courts to determine whether a defendant has special or extenuating circumstances that preclude him from participating in some way in a trial.
The WAIS-IV is correlated highly with other IQ tests such as the Stanford-Binet, as well as with criteria of academic and life success, including grades, measures of work performance, and occupational level.
It also shows significant correlations with measures of everyday functioning among the mentally retarded. Canadian post-secondary institutions request official high school transcripts demonstrating minimum grade admission requirements, while most American colleges and universities require students to take the Scholastic Assessment Test SAT or the American College Test ACT.
These aptitude tests also measure, in part, intelligence. Intelligence tests are also used by industrial and organizational psychologists in the process of personnel selection. The psychologists begin by conducting a job analysis in which they determine what knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics KSAPs are required for a given job. Based on the results of the job analysis, the psychologists choose selection methods that are most likely to be predictive of job performance.
Measures include tests of cognitive and physical ability and job knowledge tests, as well as measures of IQ and personality. The brain processes underlying intelligence are not completely understood, but current research has focused on four potential factors: brain size, sensory ability, speed and efficiency of neural transmission, and working memory capacity.
There is at least some truth to the idea that smarter people have bigger brains. Studies that have measured brain volume using neuroimaging techniques find that larger brain size is correlated with intelligence McDaniel, , and intelligence has also been found to be correlated with the number of neurons in the brain and with the thickness of the cortex Haier, ; Shaw et al.
It is important to remember that these correlational findings do not mean that having more brain volume causes higher intelligence. It is possible that growing up in a stimulating environment that rewards thinking and learning may lead to greater brain growth Garlick, , and it is also possible that a third variable, such as better nutrition, causes both brain volume and intelligence.
Another possibility is that the brains of more intelligent people operate faster or more efficiently than the brains of the less intelligent. And the brains of more intelligent people also seem to run faster than the brains of the less intelligent. Although intelligence is not located in a specific part of the brain, it is more prevalent in some brain areas than others. Duncan et al. Although different tests created different patterns of activation, as you can see in Figure 9.
Intelligence has both genetic and environmental causes, and these have been systematically studied through a large number of twin and adoption studies Neisser et al. The role of genetics gets stronger as children get older. But there is also evidence for the role of nurture, indicating that individuals are not born with fixed, unchangeable levels of intelligence.
Twins raised together in the same home have more similar IQs than do twins who are raised in different homes, and fraternal twins have more similar IQs than do nontwin siblings, which is likely due to the fact that they are treated more similarly than nontwin siblings are. The fact that intelligence becomes more stable as we get older provides evidence that early environmental experiences matter more than later ones.
This is because most upper-class households tend to provide a safe, nutritious, and supporting environment for children, whereas these factors are more variable in lower-class households. Social and economic deprivation can adversely affect IQ. Both of these factors can slow brain development and reduce intelligence.
If impoverished environments can harm intelligence, we might wonder whether enriched environments can improve it. Government-funded after-school programs such as Head Start are designed to help children learn.
In part this correlation may be due to the fact that people with higher IQ scores enjoy taking classes more than people with low IQ scores, and thus they are more likely to stay in school. But education also has a causal effect on IQ. It is important to remember that the relative roles of nature and nurture can never be completely separated. A child who has higher than average intelligence will be treated differently than a child who has lower than average intelligence, and these differences in behaviours will likely amplify initial differences.
This means that modest genetic differences can be multiplied into big differences over time. Although most psychologists have considered intelligence a cognitive ability, people also use their emotions to help them solve problems and relate effectively to others.
Furthermore, other researchers have questioned the construct validity of the measures, arguing that emotional intelligence really measures knowledge about what emotions are, but not necessarily how to use those emotions Brody, , and that emotional intelligence is actually a personality trait, a part of g, or a skill that can be applied in some specific work situations — for instance, academic and work situations Landy, Although measures of the ability to understand, experience, and manage emotions may not predict effective behaviours, another important aspect of emotional intelligence — emotion regulation — does.
Research has found that people who are better able to override their impulses to seek immediate gratification and who are less impulsive also have higher cognitive and social intelligence. They have better test scores, are rated by their friends as more socially adept, and cope with frustration and stress better than those with less skill at emotion regulation Ayduk et al. Because emotional intelligence seems so important, many school systems have designed programs to teach it to their students.
Figure 9. Ackerman, P. Working memory and intelligence: The same or different constructs? Psychological Bulletin, 1 , 30— Ayduk, O. Regulating the interpersonal self: Strategic self-regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79 5 , — Baltes, P. Cohort effects in cognitive development of children as revealed by cross-sectional sequences.
Developmental Psychology, 1 2 , — Bellinger, D. Intellectual impairment and blood lead levels [Letter to the editor]. The New England Journal of Medicine, 5 , Binet, A. A method of measuring the development of the intelligence of young children 3rd ed. Bink, M. Cognitive regularities in creative activity. Review of General Psychology, 4 1 , 59— Brody, N. Construct validation of the Sternberg Triarchic abilities test: Comment and reanalysis. Intelligence, 31 4 , — What cognitive intelligence is and what emotional intelligence is not.
Psychological Inquiry, 15, — Brooks-Gunn, J. The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 7 2 , 55— Ceci, S. How much does schooling influence general intelligence and its cognitive components? A reassessment of the evidence. Developmental Psychology, 27 5 , — Schooling, intelligence, and income.
American Psychologist, 52 10 , — Deary, I. These tools are explicitly designed to measure what a student knows in a variety of content areas. It is certainly important for us to calibrate how well a student has benefited from their educational experiences and the relationship between academic skills and ability to think.
What we strive to understand is if acquisition of specific academic skills has been limited by a weakness in thinking abilities. If so, it may suggest the existence of a specific learning disability. We all want to use tools that help us know how well a student can think and learn. We also want measures that are socially just, are sensitive to learning strengths and weaknesses, and are easy to explain to parents, teachers, and students.
We want tools that provide a direct path to relevant and effective intervention and instructional design. After all, one of the most important tasks we have as school psychologists is to provide information about the intellectual status of a student, how that relates to current academic performance, and what interventions are needed to help the student achieve. When our intelligence tests measure thinking not knowing, we achieve our ultimate goal of helping teachers, parents, and most importantly the student, have an accurate understanding of their intellectual strengths and weaknesses.
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