Explain the concept of IQ. Describe the history of measurement of intelligence.

Concept of IQ:

The most important development in the area of intelligence testing was adaptation of Stern’s concept of an intelligence quotient in the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale. Stern put forth the notion that to derive an intelligence quotient and Terman incorporated this concept into the 1916 version of Stanford Binet Scale. To obtain the IQ a person’s mental age is divided by his/her chronological or real age.

This product is further multiplied by hundred to avoid decimal fractions. IQ, short for intelligence quotient, is a measure of a person’s reasoning ability. In short, it is supposed to gauge how well someone can use information and logic to answer questions or make predictions. IQ tests begin to assess this by measuring short- and long-term memory.  They also measure how well people can solve puzzles and recall information they’ve heard and how quickly.

Every student can learn, no matter how intelligent. But some students struggle in school because of a weakness in one specific area of intelligence. These students often benefit from special education programs. There, they get extra help in the areas where they’re struggling. IQ tests can help teachers figure out which students would benefit from such extra help.

History of Measurement of Intelligence:

At the time of early development of discipline psychologists were much more interested in searching of generalised principles of human behaviour and subsequently formulating universal theories.

Measurement of individual differences received attention very late in the nineteenth century

i. Galton and Cattell: The first institutional effort to measure individual differences came from the British biologist Sir Francis Galton who administered simple tests of visual discrimination, determining highest audible pitch and kinesthetic discrimination. He thought that intelligence could be measured by the tests of sensory discrimination. He believed that the ability to discriminate among heat, cold and pain could discriminate the intelligent persons from the mentally retarded ones.

The term ‘mental test’ was used first time in the psychological literature by the American psychologist James McKeen Cattell in 1890. He described a number of tests to measure intellectual level of persons which included measures of muscular strength, speed of movement, sensitivity to pain, keenness of vision and of hearing, weight discrimination, reaction time, memory etc.

ii. Contribution of Alfred Binet: Alfred Binet set out to develop a series of tasks designed to measure individual differences on the request of the French government due to the need for a reliable diagnostic system to identify children with mental retardation. The differences that he intended to delineate included a number of complex mental facilities, such as memory, imagery, imagination, attention, comprehension, aesthetic sentiment, moral sentiment, muscular strength, motor ability, and handeye coordination.

Together with physician Theodore Simon, Binet created the Binet-Simon scale, which was published in 1905. The 1905 Binet-Simon scale differed greatly from the scale that we use today. The original scale consisted of 30 pass/fail items. The tasks were also different from today’s items and required a combination of mental and physical strategies to complete each task. The major breakthrough of the Binet-Simon scale was the complexity of the tasks and the breadth of mental abilities measured.

Furthermore, intelligence was finally able to be measured during a clinical interview, as opposed to in laboratories or by using physical measurements. Although the Binet-Simon scale is quite antiquated with regard to today’s intelligence scale standards, many current day innovations were derived from this scale. The concepts of strict administration, age-graded norms, and a rank order of items ranging from least to most difficult, are but a few. Furthermore, the inclusion of age-graded norms provided for the first estimate of mental age.

The first revision of the Binet scale was in 1908; however, the majority of the scale was left unchanged.  By 1911, the scale was in its second revision and the age range had been extended through adulthood, as opposed to its previous use for the diagnosis of mental retardation in children With the inclusion of adults, the scales needed to be rebalanced, which Binet did by including five items for each age level. The abilities targeted by the 1911 edition were language, auditory processing, visual processing, learning and memory, and problem solving.

By 1912, Lewis M. Terman of Stanford University began revisions on the 1911 Binet scale which was published in 1916 and was entitled the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The advantages that the Stanford-Binet had over other intelligence scales of the time were many. The first, and seemingly most simplistic, was that the 1916 version was the most comprehensive revision of Binet’s original scale. 

The second, and perhaps the most important, was that the standardisation procedure used by Terman was the most rigorous of the time. The third advantage was the inclusion of an extensive manual, both for administration of the test as well as for use as a teaching aide for understanding the test.

iii. World War I and Army Personnel Selection: During World War I in 1917 a committee of American Psychological Association, under leadership of Robert M. Yerkes, prescribed the use of intelligence tests for rapid classification of army personnel.

In view of this, American Army psychologists developed two tests: 

(a) Army Alpha and

(b) Army Beta.

Both the tests were group tests in which the first was a language test, while the second was a non-language performance test.

The Advantages of IQ Testing: Measuring IQ allows one to predict success in a variety of activities and to measure a person’s ability to perform socially and compete economically.

It reveals a person’s strengths and weaknesses and highlights talents people don’t know they have, improving educational and skills development.

This type of testing provides a standardized method of comparing children’s abilities and performance, accurately predicts scholastic achievement and identifies gifted students.

The Disadvantages of IQ Testing: IQ tests have severe limitations because they restrict people’s understanding of intelligence and do not test all situations that show intelligent behavior.

These tests do not consider the multidimensional nature of intelligence and are not always accurate in predicting success.

Typically, IQ tests measure only verbal and mathematical abilities despite the fact that psychologist Howard Gardner identified at least seven types of intelligence.

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