Standardization in Testing: Comparing Scores & Uniformity

The modern concept of multiple intelligences (as proposed by Gardner and Sternberg) assumes that the analytical school smarts measured by traditional intelligence tests are important abilities but that other abilities are also important. Different people have different gifts. What are yours?

Joseph, a Harvard Law School student, has a straight-A average, writes for the Harvard Law Review, and will clerk for a Supreme Court justice next year. His grandmother, Judith, is very proud of him, saying he is way more intelligent than she ever was. But Joseph is also very proud of Judith: As a young woman, she was imprisoned by the Nazis. When the war ended, she walked out of Germany, contacted an agency helping refugees, and began a new life in the United States as an assistant chef in her cousins restaurant. According to the definition of intelligence in this unit, is Joseph the only intelligent person in this story? Why or why not?

How is intelligence defined?

What are the arguments for and against considering intelligence as one general mental ability?

How do Gardners and Sternbergs theories of multiple intelligences differ?

What are the four components of emotional intelligence?

To what extent is intelligence related to brain anatomy?

To what extent is intelligence related to neural processing speed?

According to Robert Sternberg, what kind of intelligence is assessed by traditional intelligence tests? a. Linguistic b. Practical c. Creative d. Spatial e. Analytical

According to Charles Spearman and others, which of the following underlies specific mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test? a. Savant syndrome b. General intelligence ( g ) c. Factor analysis d. Intelligence e. Emotional intelligence

Of the following, which term best describes the condition in which a person with limited mental ability excels at a specific skill such as computation? a. Savant syndrome b. g factor c. Creative intelligence d. Emotional intelligence e. Street smarts

Which of the following is not a component of emotional intelligence? a. Understanding emotions b. Perceiving emotions c. Using emotions d. Managing emotions e. Inventing emotions

Give a summary, a strength, and a weakness of Charles Spearmans idea of general intelligence.

Name and describe Robert Sternbergs three intelligences.

Are you working to the potential reflected in your standardized test scores? What, other than your aptitude, is affecting your school performance?

What was the purpose of Binets pioneering intelligence test?

When and why were intelligence tests created?

Whats the difference between achievement and aptitude tests?

What are standardization and the normal curve?

What are reliability and validity?

A test-developer defines uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group. Which of the following best describes this process? a. Reliability testing b. Validation c. Content validation d. Standardization e. Predictive validity

Which of the following best describes the extent to which a test yields consistent results upon retesting? a. Content validity b. Validity c. Reliability d. Predictive validity e. Normal curve

Which of the following can be used to demonstrate that only about 2 percent of the population scores are at least two standard deviations above the mean on an intelligence test? a. Reliability test b. Aptitude test c. Predictive validity test d. Test-retest procedure e. Normal curve

What are the fundamental differences between achievement and aptitude tests?

Name and briefly describe the three essential principals of test construction.

How do you feel about mainstreaming children of all ability levels in the same classroom? What evidence are you using to support your view?

The Smiths have enrolled their 2-year-old son in a special program that promises to assess his IQ and, if he places in the top 5 percent of test-takers, to create a plan that will guarantee his admission to a top university at age 18. Why is this endeavor of questionable value?

How stable are intelligence scores over the life span?

What are the traits of those at the low and high intelligence extremes?

Which of the following is a longitudinal study? a. Researchers test the intelligence of all the students in a high school. b. Intelligence tests are given to the residents of a nursing home. c. Researchers randomly select 50 students from a high school with 2000 students. The 50 students are given intelligence tests. d. A group of college juniors is given an extensive battery of tests over a period of 2 days. e. A group of kindergartners is given an intelligence test. They are retested every other year for 30 years.

Which of the following best represents crystallized intelligence? a. Jake can solve math word problems quickly. b. Grandpa Milt is good at crossword puzzles. c. Aliyah has a knack for training dogs. d. Anna writes creative computer programs. e. Heng bakes excellent chocolate chip cookies.

Who conducted a famous study of high IQ children? a. Lewis Terman b. David Wechsler c. Robert Sternbergd. Howard Gardnere. Alfred Binet

Intellectual disability is defined by both IQ and which of the following? a. Chronological age b. Mental age c. Adaptive abilityd. Physical conditione. Heritability

Name and describe the two main types of evidence used to determine whether there is an intellectual decline as people age.

Explain three reasons why more intelligent people might live longer

How have genetic and environmental influences shaped your intelligence?

As society succeeds in creating equality of opportunity, it will also increase the heritability of ability. The heritability of intelligence scores will be greater in a society marked by equal opportunity than in a society of peasants and aristocrats. Why?

What evidence points to a genetic influence on intelligence, and what is heritability?

What does evidence reveal about environmental influences on intelligence?

Heritability relates to the a. percentage of a persons intelligence that is due to environmental influences. b. percentage of a persons intelligence that is due to genetics. c. correlation of intelligence test scores among family members. d. extent to which variability among individuals intelligence scores can be attributed to genetic variation. e. genetic stability of intelligence over time.

The correlation between the IQ scores of fraternal twins raised together is lower than IQ scores of identical twins raised together. What conclusion can be drawn from this data? a. Nothing, because the type of twin has not been held constant. b. Nothing, because there is no comparison between twins and adopted children. c. Nothing, because cultural differences have not been considered. d. There is a genetic effect on intelligence. e. There is an environmental effect on intelligen

Which of the following is true of the mental similarities between adoptive children and their adoptive parents as they age? a. Adoptive children become much more similar to their adoptive families over time. b. Adoptive children become slightly more similar to their adoptive families over time. c. There is hardly any similarity, either when the adoptive children are young or when they are older. d. Adoptive children become slightly less similar to their adoptive families over time. e. Adoptive children become much less similar to their adoptive families over time.

According to Carol Dweck, students are often hampered by a fixed mindset. This means they believe: a. intelligence is biologically set and unchangeable. b. it is never good to change your mind once it is made up. c. intelligence can be repaired by doing specific mental exercises. d. they have already done everything they can to improve. e. problems can only be solved a particular way.

Explain two environmental interventions that might help poverty-level schoolchildren develop better cognitive skills.

Explain whether each of the following comparisons indicates a greater influence of genetics on intelligence or a greater influence of environment on intelligence. The correlation of intelligence test scores for identical twins raised together is about +.85. For identical twins raised apart, the correlation is about +.72. The correlation of intelligence scores for identical twins raised together is about +.85. For fraternal twins raised together, it is about +.60.

How have your expectations influenced your own test performance? What steps could you take to control this influence?

What is the difference between a test that is biased culturally, and a test that is biased in terms of its validity?

How and why do the genders differ in mental ability scores?

How and why do racial and ethnic groups differ in mental ability scores?

Are intelligence tests inappropriately biased?

Which of the following is true of boys compared with girls? a. Boys have a higher average intelligence score. b. Boys are better spellers than girls. c. Boys are better at detecting emotions. d. Boys are more verbally fluent. e. Boys are more likely to have extremely low intelligence scores

Which of the following provides the best evidence that race is more of a social construct than a biological category? a. People of varying ancestry may categorize themselves in the same race. b. The races arose in different continents. c. Behavior traits (like running speed) are associated with race. d. Skin cancer rates vary by race. e. The incidence of high blood pressure varies by race

According to most experts, intelligence tests are not biased because a. the average scores for various racial and ethnic groups do not differ by much. b. the tests do a pretty good job of predicting what they are supposed to predict. c. cultural background has little influence on test scores. d. scores on the test are not very stable even when you dont consider race. e. scores are increasing for almost all groups because of the Flynn effect.

Robert and Maya are having an argument about whether intelligence tests are biased. Robert thinks they are but Maya insists they are not. How can they both be right?

Explain three reasons why racial differences in intelligence might be caused by environmental factors

Children are said to have an intellectual disability if they have difficulty adapting to the demands of independent living and have IQ scores below a. 60. b. 70. c. 80. d. 90. e. 100.

Charles Spearmans g refers to a. general intelligence. b. grouped intelligence factors. c. genetic intelligence. d. generated creativity. e. generalized reliability

What would be true of a thermometer that always reads three degrees off? a. It is valid but not reliable. b. It is both reliable and valid. c. It is neither reliable nor valid. d. It is not valid, but you cannot determine if it is reliable from the information given. e. It is reliable but not valid.

In general, males score higher than females on tests of a. spelling. b. verbal fluency. c. emotion detection. d. spatial ability. e. sensitivity to touch, taste, and odor

Achievement tests are to aptitude tests as a. verbal performance is to spatial performance. b. elementary school skills are to secondary school skills. c. measurement is to prediction. d. reliability is to validity. e. general intelligence is to multiple intelligences.

Howard Gardner found evidence of multiple intelligences in individuals who scored low on intelligence but had an area of exceptional abilityfor example, to make complex calculations. These people have a. the Flynn effect. b. savant syndrome. c. advanced mental age. d. Wechsler syndrome. e. intelligence heritability

Which of the following is one of Robert Sternbergs types of intelligence? a. Naturalistic intelligence b. General intelligence c. Practical intelligence d. Savant intelligence e. Kinesthetic intelligence

The Flynn effect refers to the a. superiority of certain racial and ethnic groups on intelligence tests. b. extreme scores (very high and very low scores) that are more common for males than females on math tests. c. stereotype threat that might cause some Black students to underperform on standardized tests. d. predictive ability of intelligence tests. e. gradual improvement in intelligence test scores over the last several decades.

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions is called a. interpersonal intelligence. b. general intelligence. c. practical intelligence. d. emotional intelligence. e. adaptive intelligence.

Heritability of intelligence refers to a. the extent to which a persons intelligence is caused by genetics. b. the effect of adoption on the intelligence of adopted children. c. the amount of group variation in intelligence that can be attributed to genetics. d. the extent to which the quality of schools and other environmental factors determine intelligence. e. the correlation between intelligence test scores of identical twins.

Recent research about brain size and function suggests that a. the occipital lobe is more active when people are thinking about questions on intelligence tests. b. people who are smarter use less energy when solving problems. c. there is no correlation between processing speed and IQ scores. d. people with larger brains are always smarter than those with smaller brains. e. subjects with larger parietal lobes tended to process information more slowly.

The most widely used modern intelligence test was developed by a. Alfred Binet. b. Louis Terman. c. Robert Sternberg. d. David Wechsler. e. Howard Gardner.

Students who do well on college entrance exams generally do well in their first year of college. This helps establish that these exams have a. predictive validity. b. split-half reliability. c. content validity. d. test-retest reliability. e. standard validity

The purpose of Alfred Binets early intelligence test was to a. predict how children would do in school. b. identify differences among ethnic and racial groups. c. help French graduates find the occupation in which they were most likely to succeed. d. establish the scientific definition of intelligence. e. facilitate genetic breeding experiments.

The original formula for a childs intelligence quotient compared a childs a. aptitude to his or her school performance. b. mental age to his or her chronological age. c. intelligence to his or her siblings intelligence. d. intelligence to his or her parents intelligence. e. math intelligence to his or her verbal intelligence.

Shervin is a high school student who excels in academics and usually scores very high on academic standardized tests. His friend, Hany, struggles in his coursework and with standardized tests, but is a brilliant pianist and dancer. For each of the following intelligence theorists, briefly explain the psychologists intelligence theory and identify how the theory might describe Shervins and Hanys intelligence. Howard Gardner Robert Sternberg Charles Spearman

The principal of a new elementary school wants to give an IQ test to all students when they enter the school. The students will then be placed in groups of students of similar IQ scores. The principal assures the community that this plan is supported by scientific research and will improve education for all students, regardless of their ability. Using evidence, present an argument for or against intelligence testing for children early in life. Using evidence, present an argument for or against schools that track children based on intelligence test scores, separating high scorers from students with lower scores. Using evidence, present an argument supporting the claim that environmental influences affect intelligence. Using evidence, present an argument supporting the claim that labeling or tracking students could lead to stereotype threat.

Professor Emic wants to first develop an intelligence test that can be used cross-culturally, and then to assess the reliability and validity of that test. Briefly explain how Professor Emic could examine the following characteristics about this new intelligence test: Standardization Reliability Validity Bias