Unit 10 psychology vocab

Predictive validity

In psychometrics, predictive validity is the extent to which a score on a scale or test predicts scores on some criterion measure. For example, the validity of a cognitive test for job performance is the correlation between test scores and, for example, supervisor performance ratings.

Flynn Effect

The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world from roughly 1930 to the present day.

Divergent Thinking

A cognitive process (a mode of critical thinking) in which a person generates many unique, creative responses to a single question or problem. This is different from convergent thinking which attempts to find a single, correct answer to a problem.

Normal Curve

A frequency curve where most occurrences take place in the middle of the distribution and taper off on either side. Normal curves are also called bell shaped curves. A "true" normal curve is when all measures of central tendency occur at the highest point in the curve.

Achievement Test

An achievement test is a test of developed skill or knowledge. The most common type of achievement test is a standardized test developed to measure skills and knowledge learned in a given grade level, usually through planned instruction, such as training or classroom instruction.

Intelligence Test

An intelligence test is a measure of one's intelligence (how do you like that definition?). Seriously, it is a test designed to measure a person's mental aptitude or inherent ability. The measure is taken, a numerical score is assigned, and then compared to others who've taken the same test.

Sternberg's Three Intelligence

Analytic Intelligence- Intelligence assessed by intelligence tests. Creative Intelligence- Allows us to adapt to novel situations generating new ideas. Practical Intelligence- Abilities required for everyday tasks (Street smarts).

G Factor

Charles Spearman proposed a general intelligence factor, g, which underlies all intelligent behavior. Many scientists still believe in a general intelligence factor that underlies the specific abilities that intelligence tests measure.

Standardization

Consistency and objectivity of how tests are administered and scored. In order to compare one person to another on a test, it is important that they take the test under the same conditions and the same scoring procedure is applied to both. For example, suppose one person took a math test in a thunderstorm and the other in a silent proof room. Based on the test scores, could we really say who was better in math? Or is it fairer to say that the thunderstorm condition confounded that person's score? Let us further say that we applied different scoring criteria to each of the test takers. Could we still say who was better in math? This is way standardization is so important in testing.

Content Validity

Content validity is an important research methodology term that refers to how well a test measures the behavior for which it is intended. For example, let's say your teacher gives you a psychology test on the psychological principles of sleep.

Creativity

Creativity is the ability to produce new ideas.

Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is a condition of mental retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chromosome. Each person has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one pair from each parent. A person with down syndrome has a 3rd chromosome on the 21st pair.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ) is the capacity of individuals to recognize their own, and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis is a type of statistical procedure that is conducted to identify clusters or groups of related items (called factors) on a test.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

Gardner's multiple intelligences theory says we are individuals who differ in strength of intelligences which we use to perform and accomplish different tasks. 1.Visual Spatial 2.Bodily-Kinesthetic 3.Musical 4.Interpersonal 5.Intrapersonal 6.Linguistic 7.Logical-Mathematical

General Intelligence

General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to the existence of a broad mental capacity that influences performance on cognitive ability measures. Charles Spearman first described the existence of general intelligence in 1904.

Intelligence

Human Intelligence, mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one's environment.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Intelligence Quotient, or IQ, is a theoretical construct used by psychologists within standardized tests as a means of describing one's intelligence level. In the most commonly-administered IQ test — the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) — an average score is 100; about 95% of IQ scores fall between 70 and 130.

Mental Age

Mental age is a measure of an individual's mental attainment based on the age in which it takes an average individual to reach that same level of attainment.

Reification

Reification is making something real, bringing something into being, or making something concrete. Reification may also refer to: Reification (Gestalt psychology), the perception of an object as having more spatial information than is actually present.

Savant syndrome

Savant syndrome is a condition in which a person with a mental disability, such as an autism spectrum disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal.

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. Since its introduction into the academic literature, stereotype threat has become one of the most widely studied topics in the field of social psychology.

Stanford-Binet

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (or more commonly the Stanford-Binet) is an individually administered intelligence test that was revised from the original Binet-Simon Scale by Lewis M. Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University.

Wechsler Adulty Intelligence Scale

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an intelligence test designed to measure cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents.

Heritability

The concept of heritability plays a central role in the psychology of individual differences. Heritability has two definitions. The first is a statistical definition, and it defines heritability as the proportion of phenotypic variance attributable to genetic variance.

Reliability

The term reliability in psychological research refers to the consistency of a research study or measuring test. For example, if a person weighs themselves during the course of a day they would expect to see a similar reading. Scales which measured weight differently each time would be of little use.

Criterion

When you take a test or create a test, what is it that the test is designed to measure? Regardless of what the "that" may be (future performance, intelligence, aptitude, etc), it is the criterion. For example, if you are trying to predict how a person will perform in school, you may try to predict grades (the behavior) using a predictive test (such as the SAT). But does that mean that a test is valid? Hmmmm, if you are not sure, you better look up validity and reliability.

Mental Retardation

a condition diagnosed before age 18, usually in infancy or prior to birth, that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living.

Validity

a test's ability to measure what it is supposed to measure

Aptitude Test

an aptitude test is a test designed to predict learning capacity for a particular area or particular skills. For example, the SAT is a test designed to predict how well you will perform in college (I won't get into the good and/or bad of this test). It is not designed to measure how will you did in high school (that would be an achievement test) but how capable you are of learning all the new skills necessary to do well in college.