PSYCH 002 - Exam 2 Study Guide

Exam #2 Study Guide Spring Quarter 2013 1. Intelligence tests: a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores 2. Aptitude tests: a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn. - This type of test measures academic capabilities or the potential to learn a specific skill or domain (related to fluid intelligence) - Fluid intelligence: ability to think quickly and abstractly Ex: ACT, SAT, standardized tests 3. Achievement tests: a test designed to assess what a person has learned - This type of test measures what you have learned and the knowledge you have acquired (related to crystallized intelligence) - Crystallized intelligence: refers to accumulated wisdom, knowledge, expertise, and vocabulary Ex: literacy test, driver’s license exam, a final exam in a Psychology course. 4. Projective tests: a personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics 5. Rorschach inkblot test: the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots 6. Galton's studies: Galton wondered if it might be possible to measure “natural ability” and to encourage those of high ability to mate with one another. At the 1884 London Exposition, more than 10,000 visitors received his assessment of their “intellectual strengths” based on such things as reaction time, sensory acuity, muscular power, and body proportions. But alas, on these measures, well-regarded adults and students did not outscore others. Nor did the measures correlate with each other 7. Eugenic Movement: a much-criticized nineteenth-century movement that proposed measuring human traits and using the results to encourage only smart and fit people to reproduce 8. Reliability: the extent to which a test yields consistent results - as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting  knowing where you stand in comparison to a standardization group still won’t tell us much about your intelligence unless the test has reliability o unless it yields dependably consistent scores  check test’s reliability o retest people o same or split test in half to see whether odd-question scores and even question scores agree o if agree or correlate, the test is reliable 9. Validity: This characteristic of a test means it is accurately measuring the variable, construct, or ability it is designed to measure