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Intelligence has always been a major and controversial issue for psychologists. Intelligence has three major areas of debate: its definition, its measurement, and its heritability (Source: Weinberg, 1989). The title of this essay asks specifically about measurement of intelligence, but this thereby requires an investigation into the definition of intelligence used, because of its massive influence on its potential measurement. It also raises the question of whether intelligence can be measured at all. A common criticism of I. Q.
tests is that they only show how good you are at I. Q. tests and do not reflect true intelligence. The solution therefore to understand intelligence better before we try to measure it, although this is by no means an easy task. Cicero was the first to use the term intelligent in an attempt to provide a Latin equivalent for a Greek philosophical term (Source: Cyril Burt, 1955 pp. 159). Today there are many different definitions of intelligence, and obviously this shows that it means different things to different people.
Intelligence therefore is a term that is vague yet flexible and has many characteristics. (Source: I. Roth 1990) Nowadays it is widely accepted that intelligence is a general cognitive ability (i. e. capacity), but this is still far to vague a definition to be useful in measuring it.
Binet and Simon (1905) raised the issue that intelligences generality is a problem: "Almost all the phenomena that occupy psychology are phenomena of intelligence... Should we put all of psychology in the tests?" (Binet and Simon, 1905; Quoted in Wolf, 1973, p. 178) There are 3 major approaches to intelligence: the psychometric approach, the information processing approach and the developmental approach. The psychometric approach, as the name infers, focuses on the measurement of intelligence. Psychometrics takes a practical approach to intelligence, but the definition of intelligence it uses- "that which is measured by IQ tests" - is flawed in that it does not avoid the problem of defining intelligence, it merely predisposes the problems of definition onto the structure and type of test used. The information processing approach is more complex that the psychometric approach: it enquires into the nature of intelligence and how it works, rather than attempting to measure it, and in doing this it is a more advanced and mature approach.
He (1949) divided intelligence into two categories that have proved useful in approaching intelligence: Intelligence A and Intelligence B. "Intelligence A" is that part of intelligence which is inherited (i. e. genetically coded for), "the biological underlay of all cognitive activities. " (Quote: Weinberg). "Intelligence B" is that part of intelligence which is learned. The usefulness of this insight is however limited because the two categories are functionally and intrinsically linked, making it extremely hard (if not impossible) to study, or test, one alone from the other.
Another more important question concerning the structure of intelligence is that of whether it is based on a single factor (monarchic) or multiple factors (oligarchic). Details of such structural definitions of intelligence severely effects the structure and scoring of the tests. Binet and Simon saw intelligence as monarchic. The statistical technique of factor analysis was first applied by Charles Spearman (18... ) in an attempt to settle the argument between factor theories. Spearman concluded that intelligence does have a general underlying factor (which he termed g) and that, on top of g there are capacities that are specific to a particular task: s. Calls model of intelligence divided Spearman's g into two: fluid intelligence: the biological capacity to solve novel problems creatively; and crystallised intelligence: the learned capacity to solving knowledge based problems.
The phenomenon of idiots savants says something about the complexity of the structure of intelligence. Cyril Burt, Philip Vernon and others in the 1940 s and 1950 s carried out research using factor analysis and concluded that Spearman's 2 factor theory was too simplistic. Vernon developed a hierarchical model in the 1950 s, which broke g down into many subcategories. This injects further complexity into the design of an I. Q. test that sums up all these subcategories in one score- it becomes apparent that the use of a common sense approach in choosing test questions is far too simplistic a method.
Francis Galton constructed the worlds first intelligence test. Galton found were that hereditary factors are "overwhelmingly important"-unsurprising in view of his biased support for the eugenics movement. Galton tried to examine innate (genetically inherited) intelligence and attempted to do this by using a selection of sensory discrimination tests. Galton himself found that his different tests on sensory discrimination do not correlate with one another, nor with other measures of intelligence such as scholastic achievement, nullifying his hypothesis.
However, even today, research into a measurable physiological basis of intelligence provides weak and shaky evidence (Source: Stott, 1983). Binet & Simon developed the first useful intelligence test in 1905. They used a common-sense approach in deciding what type of questions to use, and chose a wide variety of tasks normally associated with intelligence. They then went on to use standardisation samples to establish test norms within age groups- giving rise to the term "mental age." Stern, in 1912 was the first to attempt at constructing an intelligence quotient. He wanted to develop one that reflects a persons mental age in relation to their real age. He therefore derived the formula "IQ = Mental Age / Chronological Age 100 ", but this formula is flawed because it states in adulthood intelligence levels plateau, yet chronological age continues to increase, im balancing the formula and causing the IQ level to actually start retarding.
The current, most widely used IQ test is derived from David Wechsler's WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and WAIS (Wechsler's Adult Intelligence Scale). Wechsler found that if an intelligence test is given to a large sample of people it resembles the normal distribution curve. He thereby deduced that it would be sensible to represent I. Q. scores as a degree of deviation from the mean, i. e.
the standard deviation. A persons I. Q. is therefore worked out by comparing their test results to the mean of their age group. Such use of mental age with chronological age conflicts with the notion of intellectual potential rejects the concept of the early developer or late developer. The WISC (the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) manual lays strict criteria for what is a correct answer to the test questions.
This gives rise to an undesirable judgmental element for the test examiner, in deciding whether a childs answer fits into the criteria given. The strong white Anglo-Saxon, middle class bias of the WISC test questions is easily observed. The WISC contains questions such as "In what way are Whisky and Sherry alike?" and "What should your friend do if she looses one of your toys?" - questions which are most definitely culture specific. "Intelligence testing aims to obtain quantitative measurement that expresses an individuals standing relative to others" (Quote: Joanna Ryan, 1972) - but it seems that to some extent this comparison cannot be cross-cultural. Attempts have been made to create culture non-specific tests, yet it must be accepted that even the lowest common denominator- the test itself, is somewhat culture specific. In some cultures the formal testing of mental abilities (verbal, visual or written) is so uncommon, it is likely that individuals from those cultures would find an IQ test a confusing, if not also pointless, activity. It has also been found that IQ test bias can also be as localised as a rural- urban boundary (Myra Shimberg, 1929).
For example, questions like "What is butter made from?" would be rural-biased, whereas questions li...
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Research essay sample on Mental Age Iq Test
