Intelligence Testing

Intelligence is the ability to comprehend or to understand and profit from a particular experience. It is also used to describe a property of the mind or brain that encompasses related abilities, such as the capacity to reason. The idea of testing an individual\’s intelligence, and the development of standardized testing, is almost 100 years old and was once called one of psychology\’s greatest successes. Today, however, much controversy surrounds the ability of a linear test to adequately evaluate an individual\’s intelligence.

In the early 1900s Alfred Binet developed a standardized test to identify children who may have learning impairments. Today it continues to be used to identify children who have a degree of mental retardation or learning disabily and actually is used by the US military to place new recruits in positions that may meet their particular skills and abilities. Interestingly, the first Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was adapted in 1926 from the intelligence test that were first developed for the U.S. Army during World War I. (1)

At the beginning of World War I Army officials were faced with an incredible task of clearing over 2 million soldiers to determine which men were suited for specific types of positions and leadership roles. In 1917 two tests were developed and known as the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests. Army Alpha was designed as a written test and Army Beta as an oral test given to those who were unable to read. At the end of World War II the tests continue to be used in a variety of situations and circumstances. For example, they were used to screen new immigrants as they entered the United States and then were inappropriately used to make sweeping and inaccurate generalizations about entire populations. (2)

Our intelligence involves the ability to think, solve problems, analyze situations and understand social values and norms. In order to fully understand, or categorize, an individual\’s intelligence the test should be as complex as the functions the individuals brain undergoes. At this time there are two main assessments done for intelligence testing-verbal intelligence which is the ability to comprehend language-based problems and nonverbal intelligence which is the ability to solve visual and spatial problems.

But, because intelligence testing is often based on information there have been accusations that it unfairly categorizes test takers because of past exposure to information based on race, gender and culture. Intelligence testing also minimizes the importance of creativity and it propagates the idea that people are born with an unchangeable gift of intellectual potential that ultimately determines success in life.

Since the 1970s those who are involved in intelligence research and development have attempted to preserve the usefulness of those original intelligence tests while addressing the concerns that others have had about the limitations that it imposes on the different groups of individuals who take those tests. By changing and updating the basic intelligence tests being used today they better reflect the abilities of individuals who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. As a result, much of the criticism has been reduced.

Intelligence testing is often used in children in order to help determine if they are functioning within the range of normal. At this point the most well respected intelligence tests which is being used is the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. This is the third revision of the classic test developed in 1949 for use with children. The results of the test are compared against the norm referenced test results. In most cases this is required by federal special-education regulations and can provide important information on how students are approaching problem-solving in order to help give them strategies and techniques that will improve their ability to become successful.

A strict definition of intelligence continues to prove elusive, although a number of psychologists argue that it can be quantified. The number of those psychologists who continue to argue that intelligence is quantifiable however, is reducing as the body of knowledge about the workings of the human mind continues to increase. There has been a decline in interest to use intelligence tests since the late 1920s when the advent of special aptitude and personality tests were introduced.

The real question is that if IQ testing is supposed to measure a person’s intelligence, then what is really intelligence? Is it the ability to do well in school or the ability to read well and spell correctly? Is a doctor who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day intelligent? Was Mozart intelligent because he was brilliant and successful music composer, but also handle this money so poorly that he was always running from its creditors?

Today intelligence testing is used most specifically to identify individuals who require additional assistance within the school system. This is perhaps the best and only way in which intelligence testing can or should be used. To believe that to any linear test is able to identify and quantify intelligence, unless it is well outside normative values, only speaks to the intense desire that most humans have to categorize or compete against one another.

(1) American Psychological Association: Intelligent Intelligence Testing
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligent.aspx

(2) Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery: History of Military Testing
http://official-asvab.com/history_rec.htm