What Percentage of the Population Is Described as Gifted, According to Iq Standards?

Thinking and Intelligence

Measures of Intelligence

Learning Objectives

By the cease of this section, you lot will be able to:

• Explain how intelligence tests are adult
• Describe the history of the use of IQ tests
• Describe the purposes and benefits of intelligence testing

While you're likely familiar with the term "IQ" and associate it with the idea of intelligence, what does IQ really mean? IQ stands for intelligence quotient and describes a score earned on a exam designed to measure intelligence. You've already learned that there are many ways psychologists describe intelligence (or more aptly, intelligences). Similarly, IQ tests—the tools designed to measure intelligence—have been the bailiwick of contend throughout their development and utilise.

When might an IQ test be used? What do nosotros learn from the results, and how might people use this information? IQ tests are expensive to administrate and must be given by a licensed psychologist. Intelligence testing has been considered both a bane and a benefaction for didactics and social policy. In this section, we volition explore what intelligence tests measure, how they are scored, and how they were developed.

MEASURING INTELLIGENCE

It seems that the human understanding of intelligence is somewhat limited when nosotros focus on traditional or academic-type intelligence. How then, tin intelligence exist measured? And when we measure intelligence, how practice we ensure that we capture what we're really trying to measure (in other words, that IQ tests role as valid measures of intelligence)? In the following paragraphs, we will explore the how intelligence tests were developed and the history of their use.

The IQ examination has been synonymous with intelligence for over a century. In the belatedly 1800s, Sir Francis Galton developed the outset broad test of intelligence (Flanagan & Kaufman, 2004). Although he was not a psychologist, his contributions to the concepts of intelligence testing are still felt today (Gordon, 1995). Reliable intelligence testing (you may retrieve from earlier chapters that reliability refers to a exam's ability to produce consequent results) began in earnest during the early 1900s with a researcher named Alfred Binet. Binet was asked by the French government to develop an intelligence test to use on children to determine which ones might have difficulty in school; it included many verbally based tasks. American researchers shortly realized the value of such testing. Louis Terman, a Stanford professor, modified Binet'due south work past standardizing the assistants of the test and tested thousands of unlike-aged children to establish an boilerplate score for each historic period. Every bit a result, the test was normed and standardized, which means that the test was administered consistently to a large enough representative sample of the population that the range of scores resulted in a bell curve (bell curves volition be discussed afterward). Standardization means that the style of administration, scoring, and estimation of results is consequent. Norming involves giving a test to a large population so data can be nerveless comparing groups, such equally historic period groups. The resulting data provide norms, or referential scores, past which to interpret future scores. Norms are non expectations of what a given group should know but a sit-in of what that group does know. Norming and standardizing the test ensures that new scores are reliable. This new version of the examination was called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Calibration (Terman, 1916). Remarkably, an updated version of this exam is still widely used today.

French psychologist Alfred Binet helped to develop intelligence testing. (b) This page is from a 1908 version of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Calibration. Children existence tested were asked which confront, of each pair, was prettier.

In 1939, David Wechsler, a psychologist who spent part of his career working with Earth War I veterans, adult a new IQ examination in the United States. Wechsler combined several subtests from other intelligence tests used between 1880 and World War I. These subtests tapped into a variety of verbal and nonverbal skills, because Wechsler believed that intelligence encompassed "the global chapters of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to bargain effectively with his environment" (Wechsler, 1958, p. 7). He named the exam the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale (Wechsler, 1981). This combination of subtests became ane of the most extensively used intelligence tests in the history of psychology. Although its name was later inverse to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Calibration (WAIS) and has been revised several times, the aims of the test remain almost unchanged since its inception (Boake, 2002). Today, at that place are iii intelligence tests credited to Wechsler, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-fourth edition (WAIS-IV), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), and the Wechsler Preschool and Principal Scale of Intelligence—IV (WPPSI-IV) (Wechsler, 2012). These tests are used widely in schools and communities throughout the United states, and they are periodically normed and standardized as a ways of recalibration. Interestingly, the periodic recalibrations accept led to an interesting observation known as the Flynn effect. Named after James Flynn, who was among the outset to describe this trend, the Flynn effect refers to the observation that each generation has a significantly higher IQ than the last. Flynn himself argues, however, that increased IQ scores do not necessarily mean that younger generations are more intelligent per se (Flynn, Shaughnessy, & Fulgham, 2012). As a part of the recalibration process, the WISC-V was given to thousands of children across the land, and children taking the test today are compared with their same-age peers.

The WISC-V is composed of 14 subtests, which comprise five indices, which then render an IQ score. The 5 indices are Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. When the exam is consummate, individuals receive a score for each of the five indices and a Full Scale IQ score. The method of scoring reflects the agreement that intelligence is comprised of multiple abilities in several cognitive realms and focuses on the mental processes that the child used to get in at his or her answers to each test item.

Ultimately, we are even so left with the question of how valid intelligence tests are. Certainly, the most modern versions of these tests tap into more than than verbal competencies, withal the specific skills that should be assessed in IQ testing, the caste to which any test can truly mensurate an individual'south intelligence, and the utilise of the results of IQ tests are still issues of debate (Gresham & Witt, 1997; Flynn, Shaughnessy, & Fulgham, 2012; Richardson, 2002; Schlinger, 2003).

Intellectually Disabled Criminals and Majuscule Punishment

The case of Atkins five. Virginia was a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court. On August 16, 1996, ii men, Daryl Atkins and William Jones, robbed, kidnapped, and so shot and killed Eric Nesbitt, a local airman from the U.Due south. Air Force. A clinical psychologist evaluated Atkins and testified at the trial that Atkins had an IQ of 59. The mean IQ score is 100. The psychologist ended that Atkins was mildly mentally retarded.

The jury found Atkins guilty, and he was sentenced to death. Atkins and his attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court. In June 2002, the Supreme Court reversed a previous determination and ruled that executions of mentally retarded criminals are 'cruel and unusual punishments' prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The court wrote in their decision:

Clinical definitions of mental retardation require not only subaverage intellectual functioning, merely besides pregnant limitations in adaptive skills. Mentally retarded persons often know the difference between right and incorrect and are competent to stand trial. Because of their impairments, however, past definition they have diminished capacities to sympathise and process information, to communicate, to abstruse from mistakes and learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, to command impulses, and to understand others' reactions. Their deficiencies do not warrant an exemption from criminal sanctions, but diminish their personal culpability (Atkins 5. Virginia, 2002, par. 5).

The court also decided that there was a state legislature consensus against the execution of the mentally retarded and that this consensus should correspond all of u.s.. The Supreme Court ruling left it upward to the states to determine their own definitions of mental retardation and intellectual disability. The definitions vary among states as to who can be executed. In the Atkins case, a jury decided that because he had many contacts with his lawyers and thus was provided with intellectual stimulation, his IQ had reportedly increased, and he was now smart enough to be executed. He was given an execution date and then received a stay of execution after it was revealed that lawyers for co-accused, William Jones, coached Jones to "produce a testimony against Mr. Atkins that did friction match the show" (Liptak, 2008). Later on the revelation of this misconduct, Atkins was re-sentenced to life imprisonment.

Atkins v. Virginia (2002) highlights several issues regarding society'due south beliefs around intelligence. In the Atkins example, the Supreme Court decided that intellectual disability does touch conclusion making and therefore should affect the nature of the penalty such criminals receive. Where, however, should the lines of intellectual disability be drawn? In May 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in a related case (Hall 5. Florida) that IQ scores cannot be used every bit a concluding determination of a prisoner'southward eligibility for the death penalty (Roberts, 2014).

THE BELL CURVE

The results of intelligence tests follow the bell curve, a graph in the full general shape of a bell. When the bell curve is used in psychological testing, the graph demonstrates a normal distribution of a trait, in this case, intelligence, in the homo population. Many human being traits naturally follow the bell curve. For example, if you lined upward all your female schoolmates according to height, information technology is likely that a large cluster of them would be the boilerplate tiptop for an American woman: 5'4"–5'vi". This cluster would fall in the center of the bell curve, representing the boilerplate meridian for American women. In that location would be fewer women who stand closer to four'xi". The aforementioned would be true for women of above-average acme: those who stand up closer to 5'eleven". The flim-flam to finding a bong curve in nature is to use a large sample size. Without a big sample size, it is less likely that the bell curve will represent the wider population. A representative sample is a subset of the population that accurately represents the general population. If, for instance, y'all measured the height of the women in your classroom only, you lot might non actually have a representative sample. Perhaps the women's basketball team wanted to accept this class together, and they are all in your class. Because basketball players tend to exist taller than boilerplate, the women in your course may not exist a skilful representative sample of the population of American women. Only if your sample included all the women at your school, it is likely that their heights would form a natural bell bend.

Are you of below-average, average, or above-average height?

The same principles employ to intelligence tests scores. Individuals earn a score called an intelligence caliber (IQ). Over the years, different types of IQ tests have evolved, but the way scores are interpreted remains the same. The average IQ score on an IQ test is 100. Standard deviations describe how data are dispersed in a population and give context to big data sets. The bell curve uses the standard deviation to evidence how all scores are dispersed from the average score. In modernistic IQ testing, one standard divergence is 15 points. So a score of 85 would be described equally "ane standard deviation beneath the mean." How would you draw a score of 115 and a score of lxx? Whatsoever IQ score that falls inside ane standard deviation above and below the mean (between 85 and 115) is considered average, and 68% of the population has IQ scores in this range. An IQ score of 130 or above is considered a superior level.

The bulk of people have an IQ score betwixt 85 and 115.

Only 2.2% of the population has an IQ score beneath 70 (American Psychological Association [APA], 2013). A score of lxx or beneath indicates significant cognitive delays, major deficits in adaptive functioning, and difficulty meeting "community standards of personal independence and social responsibility" when compared to same-aged peers (APA, 2013, p. 37). An individual in this IQ range would be considered to have an intellectual disability and exhibit deficits in intellectual operation and adaptive behavior (American Clan on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2013). Formerly known as mental retardation, the accustomed term at present is intellectual disability, and information technology has iv subtypes: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. The Diagnostic and Statistical Transmission of Psychological Disorders lists criteria for each subgroup (APA, 2013).

Characteristics of Cognitive Disorders

Intellectual Disability Subtype	Percentage of Intellectually Disabled Population	Clarification
Balmy	85%	3rd- to 6th-grade skill level in reading, writing, and math; may be employed and live independently
Moderate	10%	Bones reading and writing skills; functional self-care skills; requires some oversight
Astringent	5%	Functional cocky-care skills; requires oversight of daily environs and activities
Profound	<i%	May be able to communicate verbally or nonverbally; requires intensive oversight

On the other end of the intelligence spectrum are those individuals whose IQs fall into the highest ranges. Consistent with the bell curve, about ii% of the population falls into this category. People are considered gifted if they have an IQ score of 130 or college, or superior intelligence in a particular expanse. Long ago, pop belief suggested that people of high intelligence were maladjusted. This idea was disproven through a groundbreaking report of gifted children. In 1921, Lewis Terman began a longitudinal report of over 1500 children with IQs over 135 (Terman, 1925). His findings showed that these children became well-educated, successful adults who were, in fact, well-adapted (Terman & Oden, 1947). Additionally, Terman's report showed that the subjects were above boilerplate in physical build and attractiveness, dispelling an earlier popular notion that highly intelligent people were "weaklings." Some people with very high IQs elect to join Mensa, an organization dedicated to identifying, researching, and fostering intelligence. Members must have an IQ score in the top two% of the population, and they may be required to laissez passer other exams in their application to join the group.

What's in a Proper name? Mental Retardation

In the by, individuals with IQ scores beneath 70 and significant adaptive and social operation delays were diagnosed with mental retardation. When this diagnosis was kickoff named, the title held no social stigma. In fourth dimension, even so, the degrading give-and-take "retard" sprang from this diagnostic term. "Retard" was frequently used every bit a taunt, specially amongst young people, until the words "mentally retarded" and "retard" became an insult. Every bit such, the DSM-5 now labels this diagnosis as "intellectual inability." Many states once had a Department of Mental Retardation to serve those diagnosed with such cognitive delays, but most take changed their proper noun to Department of Developmental Disabilities or something similar in language. The Social Security Assistants nevertheless uses the term "mental retardation" simply is considering eliminating it from its programming (Goad, 2013). Before in the chapter, we discussed how language affects how we recollect. Do yous recollect changing the title of this section has any impact on how people regard those with developmental disabilities? Does a unlike proper name give people more dignity, and if so, how? Does it change the expectations for those with developmental or cerebral disabilities? Why or why not?

WHY MEASURE INTELLIGENCE?

The value of IQ testing is most evident in educational or clinical settings. Children who seem to exist experiencing learning difficulties or severe behavioral problems can be tested to ascertain whether the child'southward difficulties can be partly attributed to an IQ score that is significantly unlike from the mean for her age grouping. Without IQ testing—or another measure of intelligence—children and adults needing extra support might not exist identified effectively. In addition, IQ testing is used in courts to decide whether a defendant has special or extenuating circumstances that preclude him from participating in some fashion in a trial. People besides apply IQ testing results to seek disability benefits from the Social Security Assistants. While IQ tests accept sometimes been used as arguments in back up of insidious purposes, such as the eugenics movement (Severson, 2011), the following instance study demonstrates the usefulness and benefits of IQ testing.

Candace, a 14-year-quondam girl experiencing issues at schoolhouse, was referred for a court-ordered psychological evaluation. She was in regular education classes in ninth grade and was failing every subject. Candace had never been a stellar student but had always been passed to the side by side class. Frequently, she would curse at any of her teachers who called on her in class. She too got into fights with other students and occasionally shoplifted. When she arrived for the evaluation, Candace immediately said that she hated everything about school, including the teachers, the residual of the staff, the edifice, and the homework. Her parents stated that they felt their daughter was picked on, considering she was of a different race than the teachers and most of the other students. When asked why she cursed at her teachers, Candace replied, "They but call on me when I don't know the reply. I don't want to say, 'I don't know' all of the time and await like an idiot in front of my friends. The teachers embarrass me." She was given a bombardment of tests, including an IQ test. Her score on the IQ examination was 68. What does Candace's score say about her ability to excel or even succeed in regular teaching classes without help?

Summary

In this section, we learned about the history of intelligence testing and some of the challenges regarding intelligence testing. Intelligence tests began in hostage with Binet; Wechsler later developed intelligence tests that are withal in use today: the WAIS-Four and WISC-5. The Bell curve shows the range of scores that encompass average intelligence as well as standard deviations.

Review Questions

In club for a test to be normed and standardized it must be tested on ________.

1. a grouping of aforementioned-age peers
2. a representative sample
3. children with mental disabilities
4. children of average intelligence

[reveal-answer q="302623″]Show Reply[/reveal-answer]
[subconscious-answer a="302623″]B[/hidden-answer]

The hateful score for a person with an average IQ is ________.

1. 70
2. 130
3. 85
4. 100

[reveal-answer q="382219″]Testify Answer[/reveal-answer]
[hidden-respond a="382219″]D[/hidden-reply]

Who adult the IQ examination most widely used today?

1. Sir Francis Galton
2. Alfred Binet
3. Louis Terman
4. David Wechsler

[reveal-answer q="667941″]Show Answer[/reveal-reply]
[hidden-answer a="667941″]D[/hidden-answer]

The DSM-5 now uses ________ as a diagnostic characterization for what was once referred to as mental retardation.

1. autism and developmental disabilities
2. lowered intelligence
3. intellectual disability
4. cerebral disruption

[reveal-answer q="446740″]Evidence Answer[/reveal-answer]
[hidden-answer a="446740″]C[/subconscious-answer]

Critical Thinking Questions

Why do y'all think different theorists accept divers intelligence in different ways?

Since cognitive processes are circuitous, ascertaining them in a measurable way is challenging. Researchers have taken different approaches to define intelligence in an attempt to comprehensively draw and mensurate it.

Compare and contrast the benefits of the Stanford-Binet IQ test and Wechsler's IQ tests.

The Wechsler-Bellevue IQ examination combined a series of subtests that tested verbal and nonverbal skills into a unmarried IQ test in society to get a reliable, descriptive score of intelligence. While the Stanford-Binet exam was normed and standardized, it focused more on exact skills than variations in other cognitive processes.

Personal Application Question

In thinking almost the case of Candace described before, do you call back that Candace benefitted or suffered as a result of consistently being passed on to the side by side grade?

Glossary

Flynn issue

observation that each generation has a significantly college IQ than the previous generation

intelligence quotient

(also, IQ) score on a exam designed to measure intelligence

norming

administering a test to a large population then information can exist collected to reference the normal scores for a population and its groups

representative sample

subset of the population that accurately represents the full general population

standard departure

measure of variability that describes the difference between a set of scores and their mean

standardization

method of testing in which administration, scoring, and interpretation of results are consequent

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Source: https://opentextbc.ca/psychologyopenstax/chapter/measures-of-intelligence/

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