IQ tests. Background, facts and myths

Intelligence

(from Latin intellectus - understanding, cognition) - in a broad sense, the totality of all cognitive functions of an individual. In a narrower sense, thinking, the highest cognitive process. Abroad, intelligence is often equated with giftedness.

Since the end of the 19th century, standardized psychological tests based on the calculation of so-called intelligence have been used to assess human intelligence. intelligence quotient (IQ). It is attractive for psychologists because it allows one to quantitatively express the level of intellectual abilities both in general and in its individual components, which are identified by test developers.

The “Intelligence” program is tests of the structure and level of intelligence, general intelligence quotient (IQ) and its factors - verbal, logical, social intelligence, etc. Development of the intelligence of schoolchildren and adults based on intelligence research.

Intelligence tests

Intelligence tests

Etymology of the word

Intelligence

(from Lat. Intellectus - understanding, cognition) - general abilities for cognition, understanding and problem solving. The concept of intelligence unites all the cognitive abilities of an individual: sensation, perception, memory, representation, thinking, imagination.

Intelligence is a relatively stable structure of an individual’s mental abilities, manifested in various areas of practical and theoretical activity.

Intelligence is like health: when it is there and when it works, you don’t notice it and don’t remember about it, but when it is not enough and when failures begin in its work, then the normal course of life is disrupted.

Basic approaches to understanding the essence of intelligence

Intelligence is the ability to learn

(A. Binet, C. Spearman, S. Colvin, G. Woodrow, etc.);

Intelligence is the ability to operate with abstractions (L. Theremin, R. Thorndike, J. Peterson, etc.);
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to new conditions (V. Stern, L. Thurstone, Ed. Claparède, J. Piaget, etc.).

Intelligence tests

Intelligence tests are designed to study the level of intellectual and mental development of a person. Intellect in this case does not mean any manifestation of individuality, but primarily cognitive processes or functions (thinking, memory, attention).

Intelligence tests are historically the earliest methods of psychodiagnostics.

Intelligence tests

Intelligence tests refer to tests of general ability and represent a set of techniques developed within the framework of an objective diagnostic approach. These tests are the most common in psychodiagnostics and are designed to measure the level of intellectual development.

Intelligence tests

— psychological testing tests aimed at studying the degree of development of a person’s intelligence. Intelligence tests measure the functioning of the intellect in calm, not real-life situations. The highest achievements in the intellectual activity of a particular person say little about his everyday intelligence. A person can have a very high IQ, but if he doesn’t like to use his head or doesn’t think it’s right (“you need to be able to turn off your head!”), then in many situations he will turn out to be simply inadequate.

IQ value

The concept of “intelligence quotient” (IQ) has become firmly established in psychodiagnostics as the main and fairly stable indicator of mental development. The IQ coefficient was proposed by V. Stern.

Nowadays, interest in IQ tests has increased many times, which is why many different scales have appeared.

Verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests

Based on the form of the stimulus material, verbal ones

and
nonverbal
intelligence tests.

Verbal

intelligence tests consist of tasks, the stimulus material of which is presented in linguistic form - these are words, statements, texts.

The content of the work of the subjects is the establishment of logical-functional and associative connections in stimuli mediated by the linguistic form.

They give indicators of verbal logical thinking.

Nonverbal

intelligence tests consist of tasks in which the stimulus material is presented either in visual form (in the form of graphic images, drawings, drawings) or in subject form (cubes, parts of objects, etc.).

Using non-verbal tests, visual-figurative and visual-effective logical thinking is assessed.

Verbal intelligence tests

They consist of tasks, the stimulus material of which is presented in linguistic form - these are words, statements, texts. The content of the work of the subjects is the establishment of logical-functional and associative connections in stimuli mediated by the linguistic form.

Give indicators of verbal (conceptual) logical thinking

Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scales The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a general ability test that measures general intelligence. In the psychodiagnostic test model, intelligence is understood as the ability to operate with abstract relationships and symbols, without relying on the perceptual and motor areas.

"Intelligence Test" by D. Wexler

Was published in 1939 and standardized on a sample of subjects aged 7 to 69 years

There are three test options - WAIS, WISC and WPPSI

Our country uses a modification of the WAIS test - the Adult Intelligence Scale, published in 1955.

"Intelligence Test" by D. Wexler

The test includes 12 subtests corresponding to the subtests of the WAIS test, but supplemented with easier tasks of the same type:
Subtest No. 1 “Awareness”
Subtest No. 2 “Comprehension”
Subtest No. 3 “Arithmetic”
Subtest No. 4 “Similarity”
Subtest No. 5 “Vocabulary”
Subtest No. 6 “Repetition of numbers”
Subtest No. 7 “Missing details”
Subtest No. 8 “Sequential pictures”
Subtest No. 9 “Koos Cubes”
Subtest No. 10 “Folding figures”
Subtest No. 11 “Encryption”
Subtest No. 12 “Labyrinths”

Reasons for the popularity of
D. Wechsler's intelligence scales

They cover a wide age range (from 3 to 74 years), which makes it possible to track changes in intellectual characteristics throughout almost a person’s entire life;
They are used not only to measure the intellectual development of individuals, but also as an auxiliary means of psychiatric diagnosis;
The presence of both verbal and non-verbal subtests, which allows you to evaluate different aspects of intellectual development - conceptual and visual thinking, as well as features of visual perception, sensorimotor coordination, attention, memory.

G. Eysenck test

Purpose: assessment of intellectual abilities, determination of the extent to which the subject has non-standard thinking. For the study of people from 18 to 50 years old with at least secondary education.

G. Eysenck test

There are eight different versions of the Eysenck intelligence test.

The first five tests are quite similar and provide an overall assessment of a person's intelligence given the condition. These tests are designed to provide a general assessment of intellectual ability using verbal, numerical and graphic material, with different ways of stating problems.
Three special tests: verbal, numerical and visuospatial. These tests are aimed at identifying specific abilities that cannot be determined using general tests.

Slosson test

Designed to individually measure verbal intelligence in both adults and children. It is characteristic that, as a rule, all test tasks require oral answers. The exception is a few tasks for young children that require a motor response (using paper and pencil). This test allows you to determine the mental age and IQ of the subjects. The qualifying result in this case is 120 or higher.

Wonderlic test

The test is intended to determine the level of general intellectual development for the purpose of personnel selection. The test contains 50 tasks that require a fairly high level of verbal, numerical and spatial abilities, awareness, attentiveness and speed of thinking to be solved. The subject is given 15 minutes to complete the test tasks. An indicator of general intelligence is the number of correctly completed tasks.

R. Amthauer Intelligence Test

The R. Amthauer Structure of Intelligence Test was created in 1953. It is designed to study the structure of an individual's intelligence. The intelligence test and at the same time the TSI career guidance test (IST) can be used for ages 12 years and older, but mainly up to 35-40 years old, since it is performed in limited time intervals.

All subtests of the method contain 20 tasks, with the exception of subtest 4, which includes 16 tasks. The total number of test items is 176.

School Test of Mental Development (STID)

Designed for students in grades VII-X. Its first edition appeared in 1986. It consisted of 6 subtests:

1st and 2nd - general awareness;
3rd - analogies;
4th - classifications;
5th - generalizations;
6th - number series.

The test is a group test. In 1997, a new edition of the test (SHTUR-2) was prepared. In addition to a number of revised tasks of the listed subtests, it includes two subtests for spatial thinking

Nonverbal tests

Nonverbal tests are a type of methodology in which the test material is presented in visual form (in the form of pictures, drawings, graphics, etc.). Unfortunately, it will still not be possible to completely get rid of the verbal component, because the instructions will still have to be understood. However, the fulfillment of tasks itself relies only on perceptual, psychomotor functions, and the activity of visual thinking.

Nonverbal tests also facilitate the examination of subjects with speech or hearing impairments or with a low level of education. They are also widely used in assessing spatial and combinatorial reasoning.

Nonverbal intelligence tests

They consist of tasks in which the stimulus material is presented either in visual form (in the form of graphic images, pictures, drawings) or in object form (cubes, parts of objects, etc.).

In these tests, knowledge of the language is required only to understand the instructions, which are deliberately kept simple and as short as possible.

Visual-figurative and visual-effective logical thinking is assessed

Action Tests

tests for specific populations abroad

This is due to the fact that the listed tests were originally developed and used to diagnose individuals who could not be adequately assessed using conventional, traditional verbal tests:

children with undeveloped speech;
those who cannot read and write;
preschool children with speech defects;
children with mental retardation;
- illiterate and unable to read people of any age;
foreigners;
those who spent a long time in an environment with a lack of communication (prisoners).
professional groups (draftsmen, designers, artists, etc.).

Test "Seguin Form Boards"

The “Seguin Form Board” test, known in our country as the “Test of reproducing the previous order on the board”, was developed by the French doctor E. Seguin

in 1866. It is used to diagnose children with mental retardation starting at two years of age. Seguin's technique, being quite simple to use, has good differentiating capabilities (assessing different levels of mental retardation) and is currently widely used in clinical psychodiagnostics.

Maze tests

Action tests include labyrinth tests, the first of which was developed in 1914 by S. D. Portsus.

These tests consist of a series of lined mazes of increasing difficulty. The subject is required to navigate the shortest path from the entrance to the exit of the maze without lifting the pencil from the paper. The metrics in these tests are execution time and number of errors made. They are quite widely used for diagnosing both children and adults.

Progressive matrices

developed in the UK. The authors of the first edition, which appeared in 1936 and intended for the diagnosis of children, were L. Penrose and J. Raven. Subsequently, work with test tasks was carried out by J. Raven, so the technique under consideration is sometimes called Raven's test.

The first version for adults appeared in 1960.

The first form of the test, the Standard Black-and-White Progressive Matrices (SPM), is intended for diagnosing individuals aged 8 to 65 years.
The second form of the test, Color Progressive Matrices (CPM), is intended for diagnosing children aged 5 to 11 years, as well as older adults (60 to 89 years old) and mentally retarded adults.
The third form of the test - Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) - is specially designed for testing adolescents and adults with a high level of intellectual development.

Stimulus material

The stimulus material of this technique is matrices—compositions with a missing element.

Stimulus material

"Intelligence test
free from cultural influence"
Nonverbal test developed by R. Cattell (1958)

The first option is intended for children from 4 to 8 years old and mentally retarded adults.
The second option is for children from 8 to 13 years old and adults without higher education.
The third option is for children from 10 to 16 years old and adults with higher education.
All tasks are presented in graphic form, and their completion time is limited - 3-4 minutes. Primary scores are converted into scale scores, which establish the test subject’s compliance with the statistical norm (its boundaries are 85 and 115 IQ).

Test “Draw a Person”
F. Goodenough
Diagnostics of children from 3 to 13 years old. (1926)

The assessment of the level of intellectual development was carried out on the basis of which parts of the body and details of clothing were depicted by the subject, how the proportions of the figure, perspective, etc. were taken into account.

F. Goodenough developed a scale on which 51 elements of a picture can be assessed, and also obtained statistical norms for each age group.

F. Goodenough's
Draw a Man Test In 1963, D. Harris revised it, expanded it, and published it as the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test.

Now the child was asked to draw a woman. Performance was assessed based on 73 drawing elements (for the image of a man) and 71 (for the image of a woman). Along with the evaluation of drawings by elements, a simpler processing was proposed - a qualitative assessment by comparing them with 12 standard samples (according to the degree of similarity). The norms were obtained for ages from 5 to 15 years. The test-retest reliability of the Drawing Test is higher than that of the Goodenough Test (about 0.80), and the validity remains at the same level.

Analytical intelligence test by R. Meili.

The technique is intended to measure the level of human intellectual development and is based on the author’s assumption about the existence of four main factors of intellectual abilities.

The R. Meili test is used to diagnose individuals over 11 years of age.

The stimulus material includes six groups of tasks (subtests).

The first subtest is “Establishing the sequence of events”
The second subtest is “Continuation of a number series according to an established pattern”
Third subtest - “Composing a sentence using three words”
Fourth subtest - “Completing pictures”
Fifth subtest - “Composing figures from parts”
Sixth subtest - “Geometric analogies”

Koos Cubes

Koos cubes are a technique that was developed to identify mental abilities in both children and adults. The American psychologist S. Koos created such a technique back in 1920. The cubes were named after him.

Initially, cubes were used to diagnose a child’s intelligence. Using this technique, mental abilities were analyzed in children who had speech impairments or delays in psychological development. This technique is still used by modern psychologists, as well as teachers.

Conclusion

The existence of the concept of “intelligence” in everyday consciousness, the similarity in its understanding by different groups of people, including those belonging to different cultures, the use of this term in everyday life to assess individuals and their capabilities in performing different types of activities, certainly testify in favor of reality intelligence as a mental feature. Accordingly, methods for its diagnosis are also needed.

Bibliography

Abramova, G.S. Practical psychology / G.S. Abramova. - Ekaterinburg: Business book, 1999. -512 p.
Akimova M.K., Borisova E.M., Gurevich K.M. et al. Guide to the use of the Group Intelligence Test for younger adolescents GIT. - Obninsk, 1993.
Akimova M.K., Borisova E.M., Gurevich K.M. et al. Guide to the use of the R. Amthauer Structure of Intelligence Test. - Obninsk, 1993.
Anastasi A., Urbina S. (2001). Psychological testing. SPb., Peter.
Druzhinin V.N. Psychology of general abilities - St. Petersburg: Peter Publishing House, 1999. - 368 pp.: (Series “Masters of Psychology”) ISBN 5-314-00121-7
General psychodiagnostics // Ed. A. A. Bodalev and V. V. Stolin. M.: MSU, 1987.
And also based on materials
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eysenck_Test

IQ tests. Background, facts and myths

It should be noted that the professor devoted most of his life to the study of human intelligence and evolution. These studies of his suggest that the level of IQ is significantly influenced by climate in the process of evolution: northern peoples were often forced to overcome difficult climatic conditions in order to survive. In addition, the location of the countries suggests that the northerners always ate more animal food, which consists entirely of protein - and this also significantly influenced the development of their intelligence in the process of evolution. Residents of southeastern Europe consume less protein, minerals and vitamins, which are necessary for brain development.

Lynn's earlier studies showed that, for example, metropolitan residents are somewhat smarter than their provincial counterparts. This is not at all due to differences in ecology or pace of life, but to the fact that urbanization, which is increasing every year, attracts the best minds to the capitals. It turns out that there are more geniuses per square meter there. In addition, the professor proved that the IQ level of men is on average 5 points higher than that of women. This statement caused a lot of gossip, because it turns out that a man, albeit not much, is smarter than a woman. However, the Guinness Book of Records records the highest IQ level, and it belongs to a woman.

History knows of several women whose mental intelligence was many times greater than that of men. For example, one of the highest IQ levels was demonstrated by Marilyn Much Vos Savant from Missouri, who at the age of ten already had the average IQ for a 23-year-old. She managed to pass the most difficult test for entry into the privileged Mega Society, which includes only about three dozen people with such a high IQ, which is found in only 1 person in a million! There are legends about the actress Sharon Stone, whose IQ is considered one of the highest among celebrities (according to various sources, it ranges from 140 to 160 points).

A top model from Slovenia managed to debunk the myth about the stupidity of beautiful women. Local television invited Iris Muley, a finalist in the Slovenia 2002 competition, to participate in a talk show that was supposed to be dedicated to the stupidity of models. However, during filming it turned out that the girl’s IQ was higher than that of the famous nuclear physicist, scientific consultant of the program, and was 156 points.

However, scientists continue to insist on the mental superiority of men. Maybe that's why smart women have it much more difficult. Bulgarian Daniela Simidchieva living in the UK, a mother of three children and the owner of an IQ of almost 200 points (equal to the IQ of Marie Curie), was unemployed for two years and received a modest benefit. Despite the fact that she is one of the smartest women on the planet, and her level of intelligence speaks for itself, hundreds of companies and organizations sent Simidcheva polite refusals.

Meanwhile, scientists continue to study the human brain. Studies have already been conducted that have shown the relationship between the level of intelligence and health, and as a consequence, life expectancy. The connection between IQ and aging was discovered by experts from the British Medical Research Council. They monitored the health status of more than 1,000 people belonging to different social groups and professions. The mortality rate of people who had to constantly work with their heads throughout their lives is four times lower compared to those whose brains were not under severe stress. Researchers emphasize that it is constant intellectual load that plays a role here, and not just a high IQ.

However, the level of intelligence directly depends on the size of the brain. The greater its mass and size, the higher the IQ and better spatial thinking, say Canadian scientists. The brain of an average adult man weighs 1424 g; by old age, the brain mass decreases to 1395 g. The record weight of the male brain is 2049. The largest female brain by weight is 1565 g. The brain of I.S. Turgenev weighed 2012

Who actually invented and created this unique test that divides people into groups based on their ability to perceive, remember, think logically and react quickly. The notorious German scientist Hans Jurgen Eysenck was the first to come up with tasks to identify people's mental abilities and was the first to apply them.

Hans Jurgen Eysenck was born in Berlin on March 4, 1916 into an acting family - his father acted in comedy films, and his mother played in silent films. He received his bachelor's degree in 1938 and his doctorate in 1940. He studied in Germany, worked in London, was married twice and ended up being the father of four sons and a daughter. Wrote 84 books and 1094 articles.

Despite the fact that while still in school, Eysenck publicly renounced fascism and even got into a fight because of his views, he began his experiments and research to help the Nazi search for a “superman.” The official ideology of Germany in those years acted like a dope on him as a scientist. Conversations about a “supernation” consisting of perfect people, preparations for purges and selection of the most beautiful, smart, healthy ones greatly attracted Eysenck. Biologists and chemists of Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan have already begun genetic experiments on people. Including on the brain. Eysenck was shocked by these experiments: he himself worked in several anatomical laboratories. Conducting experiments on the human brain, he tried to answer the question: does the size and weight of a person’s brain affect his mental abilities?

Not only did he call anatomy the root cause of influence on the intellect, he was also attracted to astrology. An interesting fact is that in the late thirties he corresponded with many famous astrologers in Europe and America. He personally compiled horoscopes for the top of the Third Reich and, just before the start of the war, sent letters to the Reichstag to Goebbels and Himmler - with their individual astrological charts.

While living in England, Eysenck wrote a series of articles that were deeply fascist in spirit: about the overpopulation of the planet and the coming brutal struggle for survival; about the chosen ones who should stand at the head of humanity; about their ascetic upbringing and, as a result, an iron will and an iron spirit.

For his persistent search for an “intelligent meter,” his colleagues nicknamed Eysenck “the human thermometer.” He gained popularity easily - by subjecting his then idol Sigmund Freud to scathing criticism. Eysenck hated him fiercely.

In developing a unique test, Eysenck took as a basis Binet’s idea that each age has its own norm, figured out how to apply this to adults and introduced the term intelligence quotient. IQ immediately gained popularity. It appeared in offices, offices and homes in the 50s. It was a real sensation, one day making Hans Jürgen Eysenck a star of the first magnitude. He received every degree imaginable, traveled around the world giving lectures on IQ methodology, and became a respectable wealthy man.

Many of the great master's lectures caused scandals. In 1971, after the publication of his article “Race, Intelligence and Education,” Eysenck was pelted with rotten eggs at one of his public appearances. Because he wrote in black and white: blacks have an IQ 15 points lower than whites, and this is explained by the peculiarities of the genetic code.

“His racism and cruelty stem from Eysenck’s incomprehensible relationship with the fascists. On the one hand, he ran away from them, on the other, he always expressed ideas that were close to them.” Eysenck prescribed electric shock and psychotropic drugs to patients, which caused suffocation. Because of their reluctance to be tortured, the patients immediately recovered.

Hans Jurgen Eysenck died on September 4, 1997 at the age of 81 from brain cancer.

Many scientists have tried to answer the question of what intelligence is.

“Intelligence is a relatively stable structure of an individual’s mental abilities.” “Intelligence is the mind, the ability to think, insight, the totality of those mental functions (comparisons, abstraction, concept formation, judgments, conclusions, etc.) that transform perceptions into knowledge or critically review and analyze existing knowledge.” Intelligence is also identified with a system of mental operations, with a problem-solving style, with an individual cognitive style, etc.

The lack of unambiguity in the definitions of intelligence is due to the diversity of its manifestations. However, all these manifestations have something in common that allows them to be distinguished from other behavioral features, namely: activation in any intellectual act of thinking, memory, imagination of all those mental functions that are responsible for cognition of the surrounding world.

Eysenck identified three types of intelligence: biological intelligence, which always refers to the physical superiority of one person over another; psychometric intelligence, which is determined by standard intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, and social (or practical) intelligence as a manifestation of socially useful adaptations (reasoning, problem solving, memory, learning, comprehension, information processing, strategizing, adapting to the environment).

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from the RIA Novosti Agency and other sources