OBJECTIVES  WEB LINKS  ESSAY QUESTION

PHOTO GALLERY          Personality Assessment

READING  TEST                      POWERPOINT

PROJECTS

 

CHAPTER 11

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

WEB SITES FOR PROJECTS

TJPSYCH    INTELLIGENCE    IQ    STERNBERG
Two views on the Bell Curve
Bell Curve as a Hot Topic

EUROPEAN IQ TEST
Mensa Workout
Self-Discovery Workshop
15 Second IQ test
The 5 minute IQ test
Puzzle Tests
Another IQ Test site
Queendom.com
E-Mode.com
                                                                                       TOP

PROJECTS FOR WEEK OF 3/5

1.  Take any 4 of the IQ tests from the websites listed above.  Summarize your results and the tests themselves.  Looking at how tests are constructed and tested for various types of reliability and validity in your text, apply the terms and describe why you think or do not think the individual tests you took were valid and reliable in each type.

2.  Construct your own 30 question IQ test.  By looking at the models from above and others available in your textbook, books such as Eysenyck Know Your Own IQ available at Crown and libraries, try to select questions that measure both "fluid" and "crystalized" intelligence.  Either by putting the site up on the web or making copies, administer your test to a minimum of 10 subjects from various age ranges including elementary school, high school, college (Spring Break is here) and adults over the age of 30.  Do an item analysis by age and decide whether your test shows a decline or not for fluid intelligence in adults and whether you elementary age subjects do better on verbal/math questions vs nonverbal measures.

3.  Using the two sites listed above in the web section, read the articles or critiques of the Bell Curve.  When you get to the Indiana site, you need to go to HOT TOPICS to access the 3 authors review of the findings.  After reading the articles, and forming some of your own opinions, type a two page position paper (may be longer) on the Bell Curve controversy, citing from these sources.

4.  There are four other issues at the Hot Topics section at Indiana.  Read through these, several are brief, and summarize each using their outline of issues to format your review.  Draw a two sentence (or longer) conclusion of your own musings about each.

5.  Go to the Psychology Place site (psych ap  and password colonials) and pull down topics until you get to intelligence.  Read the first article by Claude Steele and the one by James Freeman.  Describe their experiments and findings and your opinion of these.  The links at the bottom of the first article are dead, but if you wish to find out more about Steele's work go to the Atlantic Monthly online and search for the three part article on Thin Ice:  The Stereotype Threat for Black Students in 1999.
                                                                                 TOP

OBJECTIVES

pp. 414-430  Functions and Characteristics of Psychological tests

1. Define the term psychometrics.  Explain what is meant by the words
 standardized  and  tests  in the phrase standardized tests.
2. Explain how Galton s discovery that psychological characteristics are
normally distributed supported his belief that many of these characteristics
are inherited.
3. Describe the earliest uses of psychological tests and list some
contemporary uses as well.
4. Describe the six steps through which tests are constructed and
standardized.
5. Define reliability and validity.  List three sources of unreliability in a
test and give examples.  Compare an contrast the test-retest, split-half, and
equivalent forms procedures for reliability. Compare and contrast predictive
and concurrent validity; describe the situations in which each form of
validity is used.  Relate content and face validity. Describe some ways in
which a tests construct validity can be assessed.
6.  Explain why adding more test items to a test can increase its reliability
and validity.  Describe what is involved in an item analysis; explain what
high and low item-total correlations tell one.

 pp. 430-437  Nature of Intelligence

7. Explain how knowledge and intelligence are different , but related and why
intelligence can not be tested directly but only indirectly.
8. Describe the relation  between Spearman s g-factor an  specific
abilities . Compare and contrast Spearman s view of intelligence with that of
Thurstone.
9. Relate Guilford s structure of the intellect theory to Thurstone s primary
mental abilities theory.  List and describe the three dimensions that
underlie Guilford s structure of intellect model.
10.  What does Gardner s Multiple Intelligences mean--what are the Seven
Flavors of Intelligence?
11. Explain the rationale in cognitive theories of using reaction time as a
measure of intelligence.
12. New theories relate intelligence to cultural influences--the contextual
theories.  Describe the three dimensions in Sternberg s Triarchic
theory--context, experiential and componential.

  pp. 437-444  Assessment of Intelligence and Ability

13. Describe the usual uses of group vs. individual intelligence tests and
some advantages of individual intelligence tests over group tests.  List
advantages ($) to group tests.
14. Explain  why Binet created the first intelligence tests and how he
defined mental age.  Describe how mental age and chronological are are
related to IQ.
15. Scan the 15 sub tests of the Stanford-Binet test on p. 440, 11-6.
Describe these sub tests and list some of the weaknesses of this measurement.
16. Describe some of the differences between the Weschler and Stanford-Binet.
17. Explain the differences between aptitude tests and achievement tests.
Discuss and evaluate changes in SAT test scores from 1963 to 1981.  What
changes are found in the new Scholastic Assessment test?
18. Compare and contrast the purposes and formats of speed and power tests;
give an example of each type of test; give an example of a test in which
speed and power have been combined.
19. List IQ score ranges for the following groups:  a. mildly retarded  b.
moderately retarded; c. severely retarded and d. profoundly retarded.

 pp. 444-451  Assessment of Personality

20. List and describe the basic features and assumptions of the
psychoanalytic, behavioristic and self-report inventories in assessing
personality.  List some of the strengths/weaknesses
 of the self-report inventories.
21. Explain what is meant by the statement that the MMPI is an  empirical
scale , relate this to concurrent validity.
22. Explain why projective tests might be better than self-report inventories
in determining unconscious motives and controlling the problem of faking.
Describe some of  the things examined  in scoring an inkblot test.  Describe
how the TAT is scored. List the strengths and weaknesses of projective tests.
23. List and briefly describe the behavioral approach to personality testing.
 Describe the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.  Summarize the
current debate over trait vs. situation tests from these three perspectives.

 pp. 452-458  Social Issues in Psychological Assessment.

24. Describe the effects of examiner familiarity, race of examiner and sex of
examiner on the test taker s test performance.  Describe how anxiety, age,
sex, race of the examinee effect the performance on the test.
25.  Identify Arthur Jensen.  Describe the relationship between race and
intelligence test scores in terms of mean differences of racial groups and
the overlap of the scores of the racial groups.  Discuss the evidence for and
against the notion that the differences between intelligence scores of blacks
and whites are due to genetic differences.
26.  Discuss the current legal status of racial bias in testing and speculate
about the nature of future tests of intelligence and personality.
                                                      top

ESSAY QUESTION

In this unit we have talked about intelligence:  the nature and definition of it and the attempts to quantify and measure it by various tests.It is now time for you to synthesize this information and reflect upon what you have learned and challenge it based on your personal observations, readings and presentations.  Your essay should include:
a. a definition or statement about the nature of intelligence  (don't give me the book definition)
*b.  a summary/critique of any two of the following theories of intelligence
        1.  Galton   2. Spearman    3. Thurstone   4. Guilford   5. Sternberg   6.  Gardner  7. Goleman
*c.  an understanding of two of the following tests of intellingences
        1.  Stanford Binet     2.  Raven   3.  Weschler    4.  Multiple Intelligence Inventory
        5. Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test   6.  Emotional Intelligence Inventory
*d.  a description of how any two of the following might effect intelligence testing performance
       1.  race    2. age    3. culture   4.  genetics   5. sex
e.  the distinction between speed and power tests; and crystallized vs fluid intelligence,
f.   theory to support the nature/nurture issue of IQ

On Monday, different periods will have the two choices from b, c, and d selected for them.
                                                                                TOP
 
 


Theories of Intelligence

Six Theories of Intelligence
Intelligence Theory     Tests for the Theory    Testability/Validity
Psychometric Approach
Intelligence is represented by a general "g" factor
There are many tests that measure intelligence in psychometric sense. Such
as, the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet tests, which test general intelligence.
More specific tests are the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and Raven's
Progressive Matrices.   These tests can predict specific types of
achievement, such as school achievement. However, to base intelligence purely
on test scores is to ignore important aspects of mental ability.


Piaget  Piaget stated that intelligence develops through the assimilation of
new information into exisisting cognitive structures and the accommodation of
those structures into new information, in all children.     Piaget devised
methods quite different from conventional testing methods (i.e. the
conservation task).     These tasks can be modified to serve as measures of
individual differences, and thus correlate with psychometric tests.

Vygotsky    Vygotsky's theory argues that all intellectual abilities are
social in their origin.     Vygotsky uses "dynamic" testing, in which the
tester provides guided and graded feedback, to give some indication of the
child's latent potential.   These ideas are now being developed and extended
by many contemporary psychologists.

Gardner     Gardner proposes a theory of "multiple intelligences," meaning
that the study of intelligence should not be limited to "normal" children,
but widened to include "gifted" children as well.   Gardner proposes tests
which measure linguistic and spatial intelligence through testing their level
of extemporaneous speech or their ability to find their way through an
unknown area, respectively.     Although the stability and validity of the
tests in these new domains is not clear, they have attracted a great deal of
attention.

Sternberg   Sternberg proposes that there are 3 fundamental aspects of
intelligence-analytic, creative and practical.  Questionnaires designed to
measure tacit knowledge ("action-oriented" knowledge, acquired without the
help of others, that allows individuals to achieve personally valued goals)
have been developed for various areas, especially business management.  Not
without its critics, however, the results of these tests tend to support the
distinction between analytic and practical intelligence.

Biological Approach     Many aspects of brain anatomy have been suggested as
being relevant to intelligence.     Tests on the brain's influence on
intelligence include the new forms of brain imaging, such as the PET and MRI
scans.  Even with the technological advances in brain imaging, it is
difficult to test the specific characteristics of brain function.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference
Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Boykin, A. W.,
Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. F., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R.,
Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns.
American Psychologist, 51, 77-101.
                                                                          TOP

Chapter 11: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

 1.  Which of the following is true of the IQ scores of
groups of U.S. citizens?
a. The difference between ethnic groups is about the same as thedifference between
socioeconomic groups of the same ethnicity.
 b. The difference between ethnic groups is smaller than the difference
between socioeconomic groups of the same ethnicity.
c. The difference between ethnic groups is greater than the difference
 between socioeconomic groups of the same ethnicity.
d. No matter how you divide Americans, the average IQ scores for various
groups are virtually the same.

2. In 1925, Henry took the original Stanford-Binet intelligence test. Although hewas six years
old at the time, the result indicated that he had a mental age ofthree.
What was Henry's IQ according to the original formula?
a. 50           b. 100               c. 150              d. 200

 3.  Jean Marie is seventy-one years old. Which of the following is most likely true
concerning her mental abilities today compared with her mental abilities at thirty-one?
a. She should be able to process information at the same speed as before.
b. She should be able to use her crystallized intelligence as well as before.
 c. She should be able to hold the same amount of information in working memory as before.
 d. She should be able to use her fluid intelligence as well as before.

4.  Kenji just took a test that measured his crystallized intelligence. In otherwords, the test measured
a. his reasoning and problem-solving abilities.                         b. his aptitude.
c. the knowledge he has accumulated over his lifetime.       d. his creativity.

5.  Bert often has difficulty understanding what people say to him. He also has difficulty
recalling words when he is speaking. Which of the following is the most appropriate diagnosis for Bert?
a. Dyslexia      b. Dysphasia      c. Dysgraphia     d. Dyscalculia

6.   Bud took an IQ test and received a score of 65. Which of the following options is most
consistent with his apparent level of intellectual functioning?
a. He should be able to hold an unskilled job and maintain a family.
b. He should be able to live with his parents and perform simple chores.
c. He probably cannot benefit from schooling and requires constant supervision.
d. He probably can learn to speak and feed himself but requires constant supervision.

 7.  Carlos, who is four years old, is given Binet's test of mental abilities. When thetest is scored,
it is found that Carlos functions mentally at the level of a six-year-old child. The results reflect Carlos's
a. personal intelligence.     b. mental age.       c. crystallized intelligence.      d. metacognition.

 8.   Jane's car broke down on a deserted back road. Although she had no trainingshe confidently lifted up the hood and tried to fix her car. According to Cattell, which intelligence is Jane using in this situation?
 a. Fluid        b. Spatial           c. Crystallized             d. Logical

 9.   According to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence, a poet is to________________intelligence,
as a popular politician is to___________ intelligence.
a. bodily-kinesthetic; linguistic                     b. emotional; "street smart"
c. linguistic; personal                                      d. spatial; logical-mathematical

10.   Jill took an exam that tested her ability to use divergent thinking. This exam most likely measured
a. creativity.         b. achievement.       c. aptitude.         d. IQ

11.   Tony believes that intelligence is a general mental ability. Tony would most likely agree with
which theory of intelligence?
 a. Thurstone's           b. Spearman's            c. Gardner's             d. Cattell's

 12.  Betsy teaches fourth grade and is told the IQ scores for her students. She  expects the students with high IQ scores to do more work and perform beter in  class. What will be the effect of these expectations?
 a. The students with high IQ scores will achieve more in her class.
 b. The students with high IQ scores will fall short of her expectations and probably fail.
c. The students with high IQ scores will not achieve more but will enjoyschool more than the other children.
 d. The students with high IQ scores will not achieve more and will enjoy school less than the other children.

 13.   Ten-year-old Joseph is intellectually gifted with an IQ of 150. His cousin
 Andrew has an average IQ of 100. Applying the findings of the Terman Study
of the intellectually gifted, one can predict that when they're adults
a. Andrew would be more likely than Joseph to suffer from mental illness.
 b. Andrew would probably have a higher income than Joseph.
c. Joseph would not be as physically healthy as Andrew.     d. Joseph would probably be famous.

14.Mr. Cleaver gave his third-graders a creativity test that he devised. In order to check the reliability of the test, he compared each student's score on the odd-numbered questions with his score on the even-numbered questions. Mr.Cleaver is using which method of reliability?
 a. Alternate form        b. Criterion      c. Split-half          d. Test-retest

15.   After doing badly on his American history final, Henry complained to theteacher that the test was not representative of the material that was covered in class. Henry's complaint concerns the test's ________ validity.
 a. construct              b. content              c. criterion                d. predictive

16.  Which statement about test anxiety is true?
 a. Girls are much more likely to experience test anxiety than boys.
 b. High test anxiety is correlated with lower IQ scores.
c. Most people outgrow their test anxiety by the time they get to college.
d. People tend to perform best on tests when their arousal levels are low.

 17.   Dr. Miller takes the information-processing approach to intelligence. Accordingly, he's most
likely to define a smart person as someone who
 a. has greater speed and attention capacity than most people.
b. is able to select, shape, and adapt to the most relevant aspects of his or her environment.
c. is high in both fluid and crystallized intelligence.                      d. scores above 135 on an IQ test.

18. Which of the following would be classified in Robert Sternberg's triarchictheory of
intelligence as analytic?
a. Being able to draw a credible still-life
  b. Dreaming up a variety of solutions for a social problem, such as homelessness
c. Figuring out what to do when you left your keys inside a locked carwhose engine is running
d. Knowing how to prove a math theorem

 19.  Jennifer took a test that asked her to read a short story and then come up with
as many apt titles for it as she could in a short span of time. Jennifer was being tested for
 a.  heuristic intelligence     b. convergent thinking.     c. divergent thinking.       d. practical intelligence.

20.   Six-year-old David and his eight-year-old sister Beth love to work with clay.One day, their uncle announces that he's going to pay each of them a dollarevery time that they create what he considers a masterpiece. According to the research on motivation to pursue creative production, it is likely that David and  Beth will
 a. become less creative than before.       b. become much more creative.
c. no longer want to work with clay.          d. not be affected by the promise of rewards.
                                                                                                 TOP

HOME