IQ Testing and Group Intelligence Testing

In defining intelligence, there has always been the question of whether intelligence is measured as a remarkable occurrence or if it has many variables that are combined. For example, is it how "smart" a person is? Or is it their ability to perform well on standardized tests? Are they measuring a person"s intelligence? Or just some arbitrary quantity of the person"s IQ? Or is it a mixture of survival, mathematical, social and other abilities. There are many debates regarding whether measuring intelligence is determined from test scores and results, or if it is measured by the person"s ability to process and problem solve. Uses of intelligence testing in an educational setting, intelligence and achievement tests are administered routinely to assess individual accomplishment. They are used to improve instruction a!

nd curriculum planning. High schools use these tests to assist in the students future educational planning and help decide what college or type of college to attend. Elementary schools utilize screening and testing procedures to help determine readiness for writing and reading placement. Intelligence can be measured, by intelligence tests, among them the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Scale. These tests are intended to determine an individual"s intelligence quotient (IQ). Intelligence tests usually provide an estimate of global cognitive functioning as well as information about functioning within more specific domains. Intelligence tests are quite stable compared to measures of other human traits. However, the degree of stability increases with age such that early childhood and preschool measures of intellectual function are far less predictive of later functioning than assessments taken during middle childhood. The stability of intelligence test scores may!

change as a function due to important environmental factors. Therefore, intelligence test scores are descriptive of a child"s functioning at that point in time when taking a test. The test scores could also be effected by environmental factors, child"s psychiatric status or educational program. Components of a good intelligence test are (a) Validity; does the test really measure intelligence and not something else? (b) Reliability; does the test produce consistent measures? (c) Norms; are the participants being fairly compared? Components that make an intelligence test flawed are (a) Poor validity; tests may be sensitive to social factors. (b) Poor norms; comparing people who are different. (c) Poor application; tests measure something that the school or job has nothing to do with.

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Theories of Process Psychometric Model Psychometric approach is defined as psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests ! for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and personality traits. There are various psychometric approaches to intelligence. The following paragraphs describe three different theorists and their psychometric model. First is Charles Spearman, who believed that intelligence is a combination of two parts.

According to his two-factory theory of intelligence, the performance of any intellectual act requires some combination of g, (general intelligence factor) which is available to the same individual to the same degree for all intellectual acts. (Specific factors) or s is specific to that act and varies in strength from one act to another. S is specific knowledge such as verbal reasoning or spatial problem solving. Spearman equated g with mental energy. If one knows how a person performs on one task that is highly saturated with g, one can safely predict a similar level of performance for another highly g saturated task.

The prediction of perfor! mance on tasks with high s factors is less accurate. Thus, the most important information to have about a person"s intellectual ability is an estimate of their g or mental energy (Plucker 1989). Guilford"s theory includes 150 abilities, arranged in three dimensions; contents, operations, and products. Guilford"s three-dimensional Structure of Intellect classified intellectual acts into 120 separate categories.

These categories are operations dimension, products dimension and material or content dimension. He developed firm convictions regarding the ability of individual difference among people. Guilford believed that intelligence is much too complicated to be subsumed by a few primary mental abilities and g factor. His systematic theory gave rise to what is known as informational-operational psychology. Information-Processing Informational theorists believe human cognition is best understood as the management of information through a system with limit!ed space or resources (Bukato and Daehler 1998).

Thurstone"s theory is based on seven primary mental abilities. In the area of intelligence, his theory maintains that intelligence is made up of several primary mental abilities rather than just the g and s factors. He was among the first to purpose and demonstrate that there are numerous ways in which a person can be intelligent. Thurstone"s Multiple-Factors Theory identified these seven primary mental abilities; Verbal Comprehension, Associative Memory, Word Fluency, Number Facility, Reasoning, Spatial Visualization, and Perceptual Speed.

Thurstone"s theory has been used to construct intelligence tests that yield a profile of the individual"s performance on each of the ability tests, rather than general that yield a single score such as an IQ. Two theorists that promote informational processing models are Sternberg and Gardner. Sternberg"s triarchic theory consists of three parts; cognitive components of intelligence, experien!

They are divided into three major sub-theories: Componential is encoding, combining and comparing stimuli, and evaluating one own performance. Contextual is the adaptation to one"s environment. One of Sternberg"s most important contributions to intelligence theory has been the redefinition of intelligence to incorporate practical knowledge. As Sternberg insists, "real life is where intelligence operates" and not in the classroom...The true measure of success is not how well one does in school, but how well one does in life (Trosky, 1998)"

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