Chapter 11 Vocab.

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

factor analysis:a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one's total score.

general intelligence (g): a general intelligence factor that according to Spearman and others underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

savant syndrome: a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

creativity: the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

intelligence test: a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

mental age: a measure of intelligent test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have the mental age of 8.

Stanford-Binet: the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.

intelligence quotient (IQ): defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca x 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

aptitude test: a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

achievement test: a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

standardization: defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested standardization group.

normal curve: the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, an fewer and fewer scored like near the extremes.

reliability: the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting.

validity: the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

content validity: the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest (such as a driving test that samples driving tasks).

criterion: the behavior (such as future college grades) that a test (such as the SAT) is designed to predict; thus, the measure used in defining whether the test has predictive validity.

predictive validity: the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between tst scores and the criterion behavior.(Also called criterion-related validity.)

mental retardation: a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound.

Down syndrome: a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup.

stereotype threat: a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.