This lesson introduces intelligence testing and traces how influential tests were developed. Understanding their history helps explain what test scores can—and cannot—tell us.
IQ stands for intelligence quotient and refers to a score earned on a test designed to measure intelligence. In the late 1800s, Sir Francis Galton developed an early broad test of intelligence. More reliable testing began in the early 1900s, when French researcher Alfred Binet was asked to identify children who might need additional help in school. His test included many verbally based tasks.
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How do reliability and validity differ?
Reliability concerns consistency of results; validity concerns whether a test measures what it is intended to measure.
What do norms represent?
Reference scores showing how a group performed on a test; they are not expectations of what the group ought to know.
Which indices are included in the WISC-V?
Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed; it also provides a Full Scale IQ.
Why is an IQ score not a complete assessment of a person?
It describes performance on a test, but does not by itself establish potential, worth, adaptive functioning, or support needs.
What does the Flynn effect describe?
The observation that average IQ test scores have risen across generations.
Quiz questions
What was Alfred Binet asked to help identify with his early intelligence test?Answer: Children who might need additional help in school.
What does a normal distribution of test scores typically look like?Answer: Many scores cluster near the average, with fewer toward either extreme.
In the framework described for intellectual disability, what is required in addition to low intellectual functioning?Answer: Significant limitations in adaptive functioning, with difficulties present before age 18.
What did Louis Terman’s revision of Binet’s test become known as?Answer: The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
What does reliability indicate about a psychological test?Answer: How consistently the test produces results.
Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.