- achievement test: test designed to assess what a person has learned
- aptitude test: test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn
- content validity: extent to which test samples the behavior that is of interest (like a driving test that samples driving skills)
- creativity: ability to produce a novel and valuable idea
- criterion: the behavior (such as future college grades) that a test (SATs) is designed to predict
- Down syndrome: condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup
- emotional intelligence: ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
- factor analysis: statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test
- general intelligence (g): general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
- intelligence: mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
- intelligence quotient (IQ): defined originally as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100
- intelligence test: method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores
- mental age: measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; chronological age that most typically corresponds to a give level of performance
- mental retardation: condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below
- normal curve: symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes
- predictive validity: success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict
- reliability: extent to which a test yields, consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test
- savant syndrome: condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill
- standardization: defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested standardization group
- Standford- Binet: widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test
- stereotype threat: self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
- validity: extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is suppose to
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test: the WAIS is the most used intelligence test