Topic 6

• Measuring cognitive performance has been a hallmark of clinical psychology since its origin
• Intelligence


  A client's intellectual abilities
• Achievement tests


  Measure what a client has accomplished with their intellectual abilities
• Neuropsychological tests


  Focus on issues of cognitive or brain dysfunction, including the effects of brain injuries and illnesses
• Abilities emphasized as central to intelligence

  • Speed of mental processing
  • Sensory capacity
  • Abstract thinking
  • Imagination
  • Adaptability
  • Capacity to learn through experience
  • Memory
  • Reasoning
  • Inhibition of instinct
• General intelligence ("g")


  A person's global, overall intellectual ability (Spearman's theory)
• Specific abilities ("s")


  Distinct abilities that have little relationship to one another (Thurstone's theory)
• Fluid intelligence


  The ability to reason when faced with novel problems
• Crystallized intelligence


  The body of knowledge one has accumulated as a result of life experiences
• Three-stratum theory of intelligence (Carroll)


  Intelligence operates at three levels: a single "g" at the top, eight broad factors immediately beneath "g," and more than 60 highly specific abilities beneath these broad factors
• Major intelligence tests used by clinical psychologists

  • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
  • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
  • Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
  • Woodcock-Johnson tests
  • Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-II
• Wechsler intelligence tests


  • Yield a single full-scale intelligence score, four or five index scores, and about a dozen specific subtest scores
  • Administered one-on-one and face-to-face
  • Each subtest is brief and consists of items that increase in difficulty
• Hierarchical model of intelligence


  The full-scale intelligence score reflects a general, global level of intelligence ("g") and the index/factor scores and subtest scores represent increasingly specific areas of ability ("s")
• Wechsler intelligence tests


  • Administered one-on-one and face-to-face
  • Cannot be administered to a group
  • Not entirely pencil-and-paper tests
  • Administration requires extensive training
• Wechsler intelligence test administration

  1. Structured interpersonal interaction

  2. Subtests are brief (2-10 minutes)

  3. Subtests increase in difficulty

  4. Examinees continue until they fail a predetermined number of consecutive items
• Wechsler intelligence test subtests

  • Verbal
  • Nonverbal
• Wechsler intelligence test factors

  • Verbal Comprehension Index
  • Perceptual Reasoning Index
  • Working Memory Index
  • Processing Speed Index
• Wechsler intelligence test scores

  • Full-scale IQ scores have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15
  • Subtest scores have a mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3
• Wechsler intelligence test score interpretation

  1. Consider full-scale IQ score

  2. Interpret index scores in relation to each other

  3. Analyze pattern of subtest scores

  4. Note observable patterns of behavior and inconsistent performance
• Wechsler intelligence tests have strong reliability and validity
• Clinical applications of Wechsler intelligence tests

  • Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)
  • Developmental delays
  • Giftedness
  • Educational and vocational planning
  • School placement and qualification
  • Neuropsychological (e.g. Alzheimer's disease)
  • Emotional (e.g. mood disorders)
  • Behavioral (e.g. ADHD)
• 1. Q-interactive system


  Digital platform for administering and scoring Wechsler tests using tablets
• 1. interactive system can reduce test length and scoring errors, but also brings challenges like the need for psychologists to be tech-savvy and client discomfort with tablets
• Wechsler intelligence tests


  • Strengths: Impressive reliability and validity, comprehensive normative data, wide age range, clinical utility of scores
  • Limitations: Cultural bias, limited ecological validity, complex/subjective scoring on some subtests
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales—Fifth Edition (SB5)


  • Similar to Wechsler tests in many ways, but covers entire life span (ages 2-85+) as a single test
  • Includes normative data for individuals with specific diagnoses like learning problems, intellectual disability, and ADHD
  • Measures 5 factors: Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial Processing, Working Memory
• SB5 factors are each measured both verbally and nonverbally, a new innovation
• Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test-2 (UNIT-2)


  • Completely language-free test of intelligence
  • Requires no speaking or shared understanding of language between examiner and examinee
  • Responses consist of pointing or minor object manipulation
• UNIT-2 subtests


  • Memory tier: Object Memory, Spatial Memory, Symbolic Memory
  • Reasoning tier: Cube Design, Mazes, Analogic Reasoning
• UNIT-2 assesses a more limited range of abilities than traditional IQ tests and is only appropriate for clients aged 5-21 years
• Object Memory


  Examinee views a visual assortment of common objects for 5 seconds and then views a larger array and identifies the objects from the first array
• Spatial Memory


  Examinee recalls the placement of colored chips on a three-by-three or four-by-four grid
• Symbolic Memory


  Examinee recalls and re-creates sequences of visually presented symbols
• Cube Design


  Examinee arranges colored blocks in a specific three-dimensional design
• Analogic Reasoning


  Examinee solves analogy problems that are presented visually rather than verbally
• UNIT-2


  • Assesses a more limited range of abilities than more traditional IQ tests
  • Appropriate only for young clients (no version for preschool children or adults older than 21 has yet been developed)
  • Psychometric data, although encouraging, is limited in quantity
  • As a relative newcomer to the intelligence test field, it is nowhere near as well established or popular as the standard Wechsler or Stanford-Binet tests
• The Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability includes only minimal spoken instructions at the outset and mostly pictorial directions for clients throughout the subtests
• Limitations of nonverbal or "culture-free" tests are common
• The development and increasing acceptance of the UNIT-2 and similar tests represent a significant step forward in the culturally sensitive practice of intelligence assessment
• Intelligence


  A person's cognitive capacity
• Achievement


  What a person has accomplished, especially in the kinds of subjects that people learn in school, such as reading, spelling, writing, or math