Ch 9 - ClinPsy

• Intelligence tests


  Measure a client's intellectual abilities
• Achievement tests


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


  Focus on issues of cognitive or brain dysfunction, including the effects of brain injuries and illnesses
• Intelligence


  Clinical psychologists have never reached a consensus regarding the definition of intelligence
• 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
• Charles Spearman's theory


  Intelligence is a singular characteristic, labeled "g" for general intelligence, representing a person's global, overall intellectual ability
• Louis Thurstone's theory


  Intelligence should not be understood as a single, unified ability but as numerous distinct abilities that have little relationship to one another
• Hierarchical model of intelligence


  Specific abilities ("s") existed and were important, but they were all at least somewhat related to one another and to a global, overall, general intelligence ("g")
• Fluid intelligence


  Ability to reason when faced with novel problems
• Crystallized intelligence


  Body of knowledge one has accumulated as a result of life experiences
• John Carroll's three-stratum theory of intelligence


  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
• Widely used intelligence tests among clinical psychologists

  • Woodcock-Johnson tests
  • Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-II
  • Wechsler Intelligence Tests
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV)


  Year Published: 2008, Age Range (Years): 16-90, Has 4 factors: Verbal Comprehension Index, Perceptual Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, Processing Speed Index
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V)


  Year Published: 2014, Age Range (Years): 6-16, Has 5 factors: Verbal Comprehension Index, Visual Spatial Index, Fluid Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, Processing Speed Index
• Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence—Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV)


  Year Published: 2012, Age Range: 2 years and 6 months to 7 years and 3 months, Has 5 factors: Verbal Comprehension Index, Visual Spatial Index, Fluid Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, Processing Speed Index
• Characteristics shared by the 3 Wechsler intelligence tests

  • Yield a single full-scale intelligence score, four or five index scores, and about a dozen (depending on optional subtests chosen) specific subtest scores
  • Administered one-on-one and face-to-face
  • Each subtest is brief (lasting about 2–10 minutes) and consists of items that increase in difficulty as the subtest progresses
  • Most subtests appear in all three tests as either core or supplemental subtests
• Common subtests in Wechsler intelligence tests

  • Vocabulary
  • Similarities
  • Information
  • Comprehension
  • Block Design
  • Picture Completion
  • Matrix Reasoning
  • Coding
  • Symbol Search
• Verbal Comprehension Index


  A measure of verbal concept formation and verbal reasoning
• Perceptual Reasoning Index


  A measure of fluid reasoning, spatial processing, and visual-motor integration
• Working Memory Index


  A measure of the capacity to store, transform, and recall incoming information and data in short-term memory
• Processing Speed Index


  A measure of the ability to process simple or rote information rapidly and accurately
• Approach to interpretation of Wechsler test scores

  • Assessors are instructed to first consider the full-scale IQ score
  • Interpret each index score in relation to the others and then the pattern of subtest scores
  • Note more detailed aspects of the testing, such as observable patterns of behavior
• Wechsler tests are used for a wide range of clinical applications: intellectual disability, developmental delays, giftedness, educational and vocational planning, school placement and qualification, as well as in neuropsychological, emotional, or behavioral contexts
• 1. interactive system


  Digital platform that allows psychologists to use tablets for Wechsler tests, but has challenges such as needs to be sufficiently tech-savvy, clients' potential discomfort with the tablets, and financial expense
• Strengths of Wechsler tests

  • Impressive reliability and validity
  • Feature comprehensive and recent normative data
  • Cover an extremely wide age range
  • Provide full-scale, index, and subtest scores that have great clinical utility
  • Familiar to most clinical psychologists
• Limitations of Wechsler tests

  • Some subtests may be culturally loaded or biased
  • Ecological validity (connection between the tests and day-to-day life) may be limited
  • Scoring can be complex or subjective on some subtests
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales—Fifth Edition (SB5)


  Administered face-to-face and one-on-one, employs a hierarchical model of intelligence, yields a singular measure of full-scale IQ ("g"), five factor scores, and many more specific subtest scores, features the same means (100) and standard deviations (15) as the Wechsler tests
• Factors in the SB5

  • Fluid Reasoning
  • Knowledge
  • Quantitative Reasoning
  • Visual-Spatial Processing
  • Working Memory
• One of the primary criticisms of the Wechsler tests, the SB5, and other renowned IQ tests has centered on issues of cultural fairness, as they have been described as featuring numerous subtests, especially those relying on verbal skills, that place individuals from minority cultural groups at a disadvantage
• Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test-2 (UNIT-2)


  A completely language-free test of intelligence, requiring no speaking or shared understanding of language between the person administering the test and the person taking it, administered one-on-one
• Visual processing


  • Analyze visually presented information, including relationships between objects, spatial orientation, assembling pieces to make a whole, and detecting visual patterns
• Working Memory


  The ability to hold and transform information in short-term memory
• One of the primary criticisms of the Wechsler tests, the SB5, and other renowned IQ tests has centered on issues of cultural fairness
• These tests have been described as featuring numerous subtests, especially those relying on verbal skills, that place individuals from minority cultural groups at a disadvantage
• Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test-2 (UNIT-2)


  A completely language-free test of intelligence that requires no speaking or shared understanding of language between the person administering the test and the person taking it
• UNIT-2 administration


  1. Examiner presents instructions via eight specific hand gestures taught in the test manual and demonstrated in an accompanying video

  2. Administered one-on-one and face-to-face
• UNIT-2


  • Appropriate for clients aged 5 to 21 years
  • Consists of six subtests organized into a two-tiered model of intelligence: Memory and Reasoning
• Memory subtests

  • Object Memory
  • Spatial Memory
  • Symbolic Memory
• Reasoning subtests

  • Cube Design
  • Mazes
  • Analogic Reasoning
• Intelligence


  A person's cognitive capacity, what a person can accomplish intellectually