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... ke "what are the colours of the American flag/" would be urban-biased. There are examples of I. Q.
tests that are more culture-fair than the Wechslers, for example Ravens Progressive Matrices. This is a visual, non-verbal test that is designed to measure abstract reasoning ability. There is also Calls Culture Fair intelligence test. Although these are better, they are by no means entirely culture fair, and this is a widely accepted fact.
So far in this essay the theory of intelligence testing has been critically reviewed but not the actual methods of intelligence measurement. Intelligence tests, like all mental tests, must be reliable, valid and unbiased. The reliability of a test is the consistency and stability with which it measures (Quote: I. Roth, 1990) Certain techniques can be used to test this reliability, these are called "split-half" reliability, "parallel form" reliability, and "test-retest" reliability.
A test is predictive valid if it measures "what it purports to measure. " (Quote: I. Roth, 1990). With IQ tests this is done by correlating the IQ scores with levels of scholastic achievement, eg GCSE or A-level results, known as "criterion validation." There is also "congruent validation" which is another predictive validation. It involves the correlation of the test score with other test scores, which is useful in seeing if a new test measures the same thing as other existing tests. As well as predictive validity there is "construct validity" and "face validity." A test has construct validity if its findings fit in to the relevant theoretical construct. A test has face validity if the findings have statistical validity yet do not fit into a valid construct.
Pyle & Nuttall (1985) raise the important point that "to validate tests as measures of the construct of intelligence, we need a theory of intelligence that will predict how measures of intelligence relate to other kinds of construct (such as motivation) " The psychometric approach provides no construct of intelligence. Where one is used (eg Vernon's hierarchical model) it is based on findings from factor analysis so it only relates to relationships between tests of intellectual attributes and not to other measures (eg of motivation) or to other kinds of evidence about intellectual functioning. (Adapted from Pyle & Nuttall, 1985) In other words, one of the problems of the psychometric approach is the fact that not enough attention has been paid to the construct validation of the tests other that factor analysis of test scores. (Source: Pyle & Nuttall, 1985) Psychometrics has revealed very little about the nature of intelligence, conversely it has enabled the development of some dangerous assumptions, the most important of which are mentioned below. Psychometrics also assume that the tests measure the capacity of a persons intelligence, whereas they actually only measure test score achievement, which is not necessarily the same thing. Correlations with scholastic achievement show a strong relationship: Jensen (1980, 1981) states that the correlation coefficient between I. Q. and scholastic performance as between 0. 5 and 0. 8 (i.
e. a 50 % to 80 % likelihood of the relationship being significant. ), and the correlation coefficient between IQ and occupational status as 0. 5 to 0. 7. Such correlations may be impressive yet they do not imply direct causality. If low IQ scores are interpreted as measuring actual intellectual capacity, it allows the educational system to write off underachievers as not having the capacity to perform tasks any better.
Why should a low score on an IQ test be the cause for low levels of scholastic achievement? The interpretation of causality into a relationship pattern is a classic mistake in psychological research, and in this case it has had far reaching implications in education and employee recruitment. Some researchers are extremely critical of intelligence tests saying that all that tests really accomplish is to label youngsters, stigmatizing the ones who do not do well and creating in them an injurious self-fulfilling prophecy. It is agreed that there may be some truth in this view. It is also true to say that intelligence tests have been used in the past for other reasons than intended, for example, to give scientific weight behind xenophobic views. There is a vicious circle effect that can be postulated: if at an early age teachers develop a low, even negative expectations of the child student then, compounded with inefficient streaming (eg placing the child in a low level class and labelling them as difficult. ), this could create negative self fulfilling prophecies.
Could this kind of cause-effect chain contribute to the correlations found between a childs I. Q. and their future achievements? After an intense analysis of IQ testing it may seem to the cynical that they do more harm than good.
Stott (1978) makes interesting comments on this subject: "If a low IQ tells us anything, it is that in certain fields of mental function the child is performing poorly. Once we have learned to resist the temptation to attribute this to low intelligence, the low IQ, or any other indication of poor performance, can become can become the starting point for an enquiry into the reasons therefor... Once freed from the concept of intelligence as an all-too-easy explanation, we can look beyond poor mental performance to discover how it has come about. " (Stott, 1978, p. 19) Even today we have no satisfactory definition or testing methods for intelligence. It is now widely accepted that "intelligence" an out of date term that is too vague to be of any technical use. We should not embrace the psychometric view that intelligence is an explanatory construct of causality (I. Roth, 1990); i.
e. the view that a low level of intelligence causes low IQ test results and low levels of scholastic achievement. It is important to remember that intelligence is very much effected by learning (within the biological limits of the individual) and therefore to see intelligence as the effect of learning. This view would also help the plight of low scoring children because it allows us to "look beyond the poor mental performance and discover how it has come about" (Stott, 1978) and, so far as possible, to remedy the poor mental performance using teaching techniques such as task analysis. It must be highlighted that the problem is mainly the way IQ scores are used, or wielded in society (education, employment etc. ). The test results themselves, as explained above, do have useful applications. (Source: Cronbach, 1984) However, the psychometric approach does have 2 main weaknesses (Source: Pyle & Nuttall, 1985).
Firstly, there is a lack of construct validation of the tests other than factor analysis. Secondly, psychometrics widely ignores the processes underlying intelligent behaviour. The information processing approach is most certainly advantageous over the psychometric approach. The psychometric approach fails to even approach the how question, i.
e. how does intelligence work? This is where the information-processing approach comes into play. It would be a very sensible idea to use an information processing approach in decomposing the term intelligence by finding out the active processes involved in carrying out intelligent behaviour, and getting rid of the psychometric illusion of IQ objectivity. (Source: Seller & Richards, 1982, p. 920; and: Joanna Ryan (1972) ). BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cronbach (1984); "Essentials of psychological testing", Harper & Row publishers H.
J. Eysenck (1953), "Uses and abuses of Psychology", Pelican Books. Nuttall "Unit 11: The Nature Of Intelligence", OU Press. Ilona Roth (1990); " Introduction to Psychology", OU Press.
W. Pyle & D. L. Ryan, J (1972) IQ- The illusion of objectivity -From Ken Richardson (ed. ) Race, Culture & intelligence Stott, D.
H. (1978) "Helping children with learning difficulties", London, Ward Lock Lecturer Name (6 / 1 / 97) ITP lec 17, term 2. "Assessing people - What is Intelligence (1) and (2) " (no publisher)
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