5.10 Psychometric Principles

• What are psychometricians?

  psychologists who specialize in measuring psychological characteristics such as intelligence and personality
• A good test must be -

  standardized, reliable, valid
• What does it mean for a test to be standardized?


  having uniform testing procedures and the test must be graded the same way for everyone.
• What does it mean for a test to be reliable?


  For a test to be reliable, it has to yield the same results multiple times. It is best to test reliability by retesting and seeing if the score distribution is similar.
• What does it mean for a test to be valid?


  measures what it claims
• What does the target analogy say about reliability?

  If you were to shoot a bunch of darts and they all landed to the right of the middle, you would have reliable results, but not valid results.
• What does the target analogy say about validity?

  If you were to shoot a bunch of darts that landed slightly above the middle, slightly below the middle, and slightly on the sides of the middle, with a few darts far away, you would have valid results, but not reliable results.
• What are the two primary types of tests?

  achievement and aptitude
• What is an achievement test?


  a test designed to assess what a person has learned
• What is an aptitude test?


  a test designed to predict a person's future performance
• Who is Alfred Binet?


  Administered intelligence tests to schoolchildren in France with the goal of developing a measure to determine which children were in need of special education

  
  

  Lead to the creation of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence scale or IQ test
• What is mental age?


  the age at which a person functions intellectually.

  
  

  
  

  For example, a 9-year-old could have a mental age of a 14-year-old because of their advanced knowledge in certain subjects.
• What did Lewis Terman do?

  Modified Binet's intelligence test and incorporated teenagers and adults
• What was the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test?

  deviation based rather than ratio based to include more ages
• What is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale? (David Wechsler)

  The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale was the first test for use with adults and measured two factors of intelligence.
• What did Francis Galton do?

  wrote Studies of Hereditary Genius

  - suggested that intelligence has a strong biological basis.
• What is the stereotype threat and how could it affect intelligence testing?

  where someone may do worse on a test because they are told they aren't good enough (because of the stereotypes that exist in society).

  
  

  The stereotype threat causes a change in our behaviors which, in turn, affects our IQ.