History & Characteristics of Intelligence Testing.html

History & Characteristics of Intelligence Testing

In the early 1900’s, the first test, the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, was developed to help classify school students based on cognitive ability. It is the scale off of which several subsequent psychological assessments have been based. This type of testing gives a composite score to a person's intelligence level, and is based on measures of individuals' abilities to reason, solve problems, and integrate newly-learned information to reach conclusions. Closer to the middle of the 1900’s, other intelligence tests were being developed, including the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, which focused on patterns of factors of intellectual skills and shortcomings as well as general cognitive abilities. Several intelligence tests have been made using this scale in the years since its creation.

With the development and evolution of intelligence tests, and an increasing emphasis on measuring perception and motor skills, there became a pressing need for standardization of testing. Standardizing assessments allowed for results to be more reliable and generalizable when extending findings to different subgroups and demographics.

Intelligence tests are meant to measure an individual's complete intellectual and cognitive capabilities at the time that the test is administered. They are often used in educational settings, such as when evaluating a student in order to ensure that he/she will be placed in the most appropriate level of classes.

All intelligence tests should include behavior samples that have been observed under standardized conditions. The environment should always be kept consistent among test-takers to eliminate the possibility that any variation in scores were due to environmental influences.

Perhaps the most important feature of intelligence tests is the way in which scoring occurs. Good tests have a specific set of rules for scoring; these rules keep examiners' scoring of the responses consistent and results in a much more reliable test.

Psychological testing results.html

Psychological testing results

The results of a psychological test can be affected by a variety of factors, ranging from the way in which the tests are constructed to the environment the test is given in. The way in which the items on a test are ordered, constructed, and how they prime individuals to think can affect how items are responded to.

Errors made during administration or scoring can lead to unreliable results that do not represent an individuals' actual intelligence. It is important to ensure that instructions are presented clearly and accurately to test takers.

Environmental factors can also affect results. If a room is too hot, too cold, dimly lit, noisy, or has some other distraction can lead test-takers to respond differently. Bad experiences with testing in the past can lead someone to have higher stress levels when testing. It is impossible to account for each individual's internal environment and attitudes going into a test, but by making sure that all other factors aren't interfering with responses, the reliability of a test increases markedly.

When examining test results, they are standardized to represent individual differences in the population. The distribution of all responses is represented graphically as a symmetrical bell curve. The center of the distribution represents the most common response, and the farther away from the center the tails go, the less common they tend to be. Extremes are seen in the responses furthest from the center.

For many published tests, norm tables are provided, and have been created through data collection from individuals across different demographics. Norm tables allow comparisons to be made between a score and the most appropriate demographic group. When this is done, it is assumed that the conditions in the normative sample and the administered test are the same.

Intelligence Testing.html

Intelligence Testing

How would you define intelligence?

Intelligence is a very abstract construct, and therefore, it is difficult to precisely define intelligence. Because there is no single definition of intelligence, there exist a number of theories of intelligence, each with a different idea of what makes up intelligence. Even though psychologists do not agree on what intelligence (or general mental ability) really consists of, being familiar with the theories will help you understand the structure and content of the mental ability tests.

The primary distinction between different theories of intelligence is based on whether the theory views intelligence as a single construct or as an entity consisting of multiple dimensions representing specific abilities.

Intelligence theorists who believe that intelligence consists of only one construct call that construct g, which represents general mental ability. For those theorists who believe that intelligence is made up of multiple constructs, a number of mental abilities should be assessed in the intelligence tests.

One of the most influential contemporary theories of intelligence is the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model. This model states that general intelligence (or g) is composed of two sub-factors: fluid intelligence and crystalized intelligence.

• Fluid intelligence involves reasoning, conceptual classification, and problem-solving ability. It involves the use of new information in order to solve problems. Intelligence is fluid in the sense that it continuously changes on the basis of new information. Tests that require a respondent to solve problems on the basis of original or novel information test fluid intelligence.
• Crystallized intelligence involves the knowledge acquired through experience and education. Crystallized intelligence involves using existing knowledge to solve problems. Tests of knowledge such as school tests assess crystallized knowledge.