Comprehensive Guide to Intelligence and Psychometrics

Intelligence

The mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

General Intelligence (g)

A theory proposed by Charles Spearman suggesting that a single underlying factor contributes to performance on various mental tests.

Multiple Intelligences

The theory proposed by Howard Gardner that identifies 8 distinct intelligences rather than a single intelligence.

Savant Syndrome

A condition where a person with limited mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, suggesting intelligence is not a single entity.

Triarchic Theory

Robert Sternberg’s theory that simplifies multiple intelligences into three types: Practical, Analytical, and Creative Intelligence.

Practical Intelligence

The ability to adapt to everyday life and shape the environment, also known as 'street smarts'.

Analytical Intelligence

Academic problem solving assessed by traditional IQ tests.

Creative Intelligence

The ability to generate novel ideas and adapt to unique situations.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions, correlating with success in various life areas.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to solve new problems and use logic in novel situations, typically decreasing with age.

Crystallized Intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tend to increase or remain stable with age.

Mental Age

The age at which a person typically performs on a test, introduced by Alfred Binet in IQ testing.

Stanford-Binet

An adaptation of Binet's test by Lewis Terman for American audiences, which popularized the IQ formula.

IQ Formula

IQ = (Mental Age / Chronological Age) x 100; a measure of intelligence based on age-related performance.

Wechsler Tests

Modern intelligence tests created by David Wechsler that include an overall IQ score plus specific skill scores.

Standardization

Defining meaningful scores by comparison with a pretested group, typically producing a normal distribution.

Normal Distribution

A bell curve representing the distribution of scores, where most scores cluster around the mean.

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results over time or across different halves of the test.

Validity

The degree to which a test actually measures what it claims to measure.

Content Validity

The extent to which a test samples the behavior it is intended to measure.

Predictive Validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict.

Heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals in a population that can be attributed to genetic factors.

Twin Studies

Research studies that show the similarity of IQ scores between identical twins to illustrate genetic influence.

Cultural Bias

The degree to which a test reflects the experiences of a particular cultural group, potentially affecting fairness.

Stereotype Threat

The fear of being judged based on a stereotype, which can negatively affect performance.

Intellectual Disability

A condition characterized by an IQ score of 70 or below along with challenges in adapting to life demands.

Giftedness

A designation for individuals with IQ scores above 130 who often are successful academically.