|
 Alfred Binet | psychologist commissioned by Parisian school system to design intelligence test for educational placement |
| mental age | the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance; used by Binet to characterize early IQ scores |
| William Stern | German psychologist who developed the formula for intelligence quotient (IQ); [mental age/chronological age] X 100 = IQ |
| Lewis Terman | revised and adapted Binet's test for use in the US; assisted with development of intelligence tests for the army during WWI |
| Stanford-Binet | the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test |
| Francis Galton | advocated use of intelligence tests as a measure of mental "fitness"; proponent of the eugenics movement & cousin of Charles Darwin |
| Charles Spearman | researcher who promoted theory of general intelligence (g) after factor analysis of major intelligence |
| intelligence | the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations |
| factor analysis | a statistical procedure that indentifies clusters of related test items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one's total score |
| general intelligence (g) | general ability that Spearman and others believed underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test |
| savant syndrome | a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an expectional specific skills, such as in computation or drawing |
| Howard Gardner | researcher known for his theory of multiple intelligences |
| multiple intelligences | the idea that there may be several specific "intelligences" that can exist in a individual independently of one another (e.g. visual-spatial, kinesthetic, verbal, etc.) |
| emotional intelligence | the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions; "EQ" |
| Robert Sternberg | devised a theory of "successful intelligence" (academic problem-solving, practical, and creative); theory also known as "Triarchic Theory of Intelligence" |
| Successful Intelligence | Sternberg's notion that successfully functioning individuals must be 1.) analytical, 2.) creative, 3.) practical; a.k.a. triarchic theory of intelligence |
| creativity | human ability believed to be enhanced by expertise, imaginative thinking abilities, venturesome personality type, intrinsic motivation, and a conducive environment |
| aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance or capacity to learn |
| achievement test | a test designed to assess what a person has learned (e.g. final exam in a literature course) |
| Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) | the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance subtests |
| Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) | an individual test developed especially for school-aged children; it yields verbal, performance, and full scale IQ scores |
| Standardization | defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested, representative, sample group. |
| Flynn effect | finding that average IQ scores have been rising at a rate of approximately 3 points per decade |
| test-retest reliability | the degree to which test scores are similar or stable over time versus the degree to which scores change or fluctuate upon repeated testings |
| reliability | the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting |
| alternate form reliability | A type of reliability, where different versions of same instrument are used and scores are compared |
| split-half reliability | A test is divided into 2 halves and the scores on the halves are compared to see if the test is cosistant within itself. Odds - Evens is the best way to do this. |
| validity | the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to |
| content validity | the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest (such as a driving test that samples driving tasks). |
| predictive validity | The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. |
| criterion | the behavior (such as future college grades) that a test (such as the SAT) is designed to predict; thus, the measure used in defining whether the test has predictive validity (i.e. it's the "thing" or ability that the test is supposed to measure) |
| crystallized intelligence | one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age |
| fluid intelligence | one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood |
| mental retardation | a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound |
| Down Syndrome | A condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup. |
| stereotype threat | a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype |
| standard deviation | a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score; square root of the variance |
| z-score | a measure of how many standard deviations you are away from the norm (average or mean); calculated for a particular test score by subtracting the mean from the score and dividing the result by the standard deviation. |
| variance | average of the squared difference scores for a data set; standard deviation squared |
| normal curve | the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes. |
| positively skewed distribution | asymmetric distribution in which the majority of the data is concentrated below (to the left of) the mean |
| negatively skewed distribution | asymmetric distribution in which the majority of the data is concentrated to the right of the mean |
| mean | arithmatic average |
| median | the middle score in a data set; best measure of central tendency in a skewed distribution |
| mode | the most frequently occurring score |
| measures of central tendency | mean, median, & mode |
| measures of variation | range, variance, & standard deviation |
| descriptive statistics | numbers that describe and summarize a set of research data |
| inferential statistics | procedures used to draw conclusions about larger populations from small samples of data |