INTELLIGENCE TESTING EVALUATION

Intelligence Testing Evaluation

Intelligence Testing Evaluation

The unchanging nature of IQ tests has begun to thaw. For the first three-quarters of a century, from Binet's 1905 scale until to about 1980, there was the Binet and there was the Wechsler and that was about it. Then came a series of tests that included novel tasks and an attempt to link theory to IQ assessment (Gould, 2006). Today, clinicians have more choice than ever before and these choices include a pick of theory - namely Horn-Cattell gf-gc , expanded Horn gf-gc , and Luria PASS.

Most IQ tests are reliable—that is, people who take them consistently obtain the same scores when they are retested. However, serious questions exist about the validity of IQ tests. For a test to be “valid,” it must actually measures what it claims to measure. The results of valid tests can be used to make predictions about certain outcomes (Fairchild, 2008).

While IQ is fairly good at predicting academic success, few researchers still believe that it is an accurate measure of general intelligence. Many now look to the general mental factor (referred to as g) as a better measure of some basic ability that underlies intelligence. However, researchers still face the challenge of defining g and designing tests that accurately measure it across different populations (Ettinger, 2004).

Despite the widespread use of intelligence tests in society, many scholars believe that such tests are biased against African Americans and other minority groups. Indeed, in the past, intelligence tests have been used to discriminate against minorities. In the early 1900s, for example, European immigrants to the United States were given intelligence tests upon their arrival at Ellis Island, the main immigration center in New York harbor. Those who failed the tests—which were administered only in English (despite the fact that many immigrants could ...