The Pros and Cons of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) Introduction This paper discusses the pros and cons of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III). First, important definitional, theoretical issues, including the nature of intelligence, a brief history, and pros and cons are discussed. Next, the development, reliability, validity, and assets and limitations of the WAIS-III are examined. This is followed by discussion of the meaning of IQ scores, use of successive level interpretation and cautions and guidelines for administration. Last, subtests, assessing special population groups, short forms, profile forms, and what a …show more content…
Sir Francis Galton (1869, 1883) quantified traits that were assumed to be correlated, and developed the first comprehensive test of intelligence. By the end of the 19th century, the foundation was laid for modern day intelligence testing (Wicket, 1998). In 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum (Neiser, et al. 1996). Shortly thereafter in 1908 and 1911, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published revisions of the Binet intelligence test (Wicket). The mental age concept was adopted to express the results in adequate units. The concept is based on an individual’s performance in comparison to the average performance of individuals in a specific chronological age group (Kaplin, & Saccuzzo). A further refinement of the Stanford-Binet scale and translation (for American culture) was published in 1916 by Lewis M. Terman, who adopted Stern’s proposal that an individual's intelligence level be measured as an intelligence quotient (I. Q.). The IQ score presumably represented an individual’s rate of mental development as a quotient, between "mental age" and actual "chronological age" times 100 (to remove the decimal). Terman's test, known colloquially as the Stanford-Binet test, formed the basis for modern intelligence
This view believes that the body and mind are two separate entities from each other, and that they function separately from each other. Lewis Terman’s view of philosophy was that of pragmatism, in which it relies on more of a practical nature. This view believes that principles of merit should be based solely on one’s workability, effectiveness, and practical ideas. Technical advances for Alfred Binet would be the fact that he had measures ranging in different difficulty levels. Binet also had a proper scoring technique in which he matched an individual’s mental age with their actual physical age. Alfred Binet did not create a suitable standardization model. Lewis Terman created a way for Alfred Binet’s intelligence test to be standardized. He included a measure of intelligence quotient and renamed it the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test. Lewis Terman’s technical advances also shone a light on individuals that scored in the extreme areas.
Testing has been used for centuries in many different ways, not just to test student intelligence levels. According to an article written in Time, the earliest form of a standardized test comes from China where government leaders would be tested on their knowledge of Confucius and poetry. The article continues with the inclusion of testing during the Industrial Revolution. The testing during this period took children who were not in school and measured their knowledge of subjects that students in schools learned. As time went on, more and more advances came to the testing scene. New products included a revised version of the test, called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, and professionals developed the test scanner by 1936. These inventions improved the time necessary to receive results from an IQ test. Today, tests, like the
Simon had nominated himself a few years before as Binet's research assistant and worked with him on the intelligence tests that Binet is known for, which share Simon's name as well. In 1905, a new test for measuring intelligence was introduced and simply called the Binet–Simon scale. In 1908, they revised the scale, dropping, modifying, and adding tests and also arranging them according to age levels from three to thirteen.
Wechsler Intelligence Scales. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) (Wechsler, 2003) was used to evaluate intellectual functioning in the majority (90%) of the children ages 6 to 16. However, some of the children (10%), ages 13 to 18, were evaluated by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence - Second Edition (WASI-II) (Wechsler, 2011) in addition with the WISC-IV subtests comprising of the working memory (WMI) and processing speed (PSI) indexes.
In 1904, a French psychologist (Alfred Binet) created the first intelligence test in order to help the French Ministry of Education segregate children that may have difficulty learning in a regular classroom. At that time, he did not know that his test would be the basis for IQ tests administered over 100 years later. He has a Stanford University psychologist, Lewis Terman, to thank for expanding his work and creating the Stanford-Binet intelligence test that took root in the United States in 1916 and is still popular today. However, along with its popularity came criticism. Critics see the current version of the Stanford - Binet test and other intelligence tests, despite attempts to make them culturally fair, as limiting to individuals who are not from the major social norm. They claim that cultural bias in test questions is why certain races do not perform as well as others on the test.
From the psychometric tradition to the cognitive development literature, researchers do not agree about the attributes that best represent adult intelligence, whether intelligence is fully available to measurement, how adult intelligence should be measured, and whether adult intellect is stable or malleable during maturity (Hoare, 2006).
WJ earned a Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of 90 based on the total combined performance of the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), and Processing Speed Index (PSI). At the 90% confidence level, his true IQ falls within the range of 85-94. This score places him within the average range of intellectual functioning (25th percentile) when compared with other individuals of the same age. There were no significant differences among WJs’ index scores; therefore, his Full Scale IQ is assumed to be a unitary construct and thus interpretable.
The role to connect to someones intelligence in the classroom and how teachers may make connections to their students with disabilities, gifted and talented or cultural aspects would be to give their specific students an individualized intelligence test if needed. The two intelligence tests where designed by two psychologist, Alfred Binet and David Wechsler. The Stanford-Binet test was designed by Alfred Binet and his student Theophile Simon (p115). The Stanford-Binet test was created in1905, and consists of a series of 30 questions focused on the testers memory and abstract concept (p115). The Stanford Binet test can be administered to anyone from ages 2 through adulthood. The tests would identify and allow examiners the ability to know if
In the 21th century the new controversial debate about IQ testing involves the many flaws and incorrect way to assess an individual. Today, many scientists have dismissed the myth of an IQ scale, which people used to fall under high or low intelligence. The question that both people and experts trying to answer “Kids who score higher on IQ tests will, on average, go on to do better in conventional measures of success in life?” (Balter, 2011, para. 1). The debate among researchers is what IQ test actually measure, and the differences in scores between ethnic groups reflect intelligence, economic, and social factors maybe even both. According to Richard Nisbett a psychologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in his book "Intelligence
Intellectual assessment and intelligence testing refer to the evolution of an individual’s general intellectual functioning and cognitive abilities (Samuel 2004) and also these assessments are de developed using standard procedures where the scores are recorded for the purpose of measuring achievement and compare the results with others in the society (Bordanora, 2001). Some authors stated that the inaccuracy of standard assessment results are caused by cultural bias (Klenowski 2009, Laros & Tellegen 2004, Bernhard 2000 and Schellenberg 2004). Also others taken into considering developmental factors of this issue (McCauley 2004). Comparison of the study, issues and research are most likely to convince cultural bias of the outcomes. Rest of
(Fass 308) After Terman adopted Binet’s tests and his succeeding of modifying the notion of intelligence quotient (IQ), the movement of IQ testing successfully began in America. However, Terman’s tests and IQ scale were not quite an accurate fit for the American school system. America entering WWI changed this issue. The army needed to be prepared for utmost effectiveness and efficiency, so they had to be organized. For this to be accomplished, a group of psychologists offered their expertise.
It refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of the world through the interaction of genetic and learned factors. Historically, the cognitive development of children has been studied in a variety of ways. This includes the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Quotient, or the IQ test, which focuses on scores based on the concept of mental age. Other theories place emphasis on a child’s native ability to learn. Behaviorist researchers such as John Watson (1878-1959), and B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), argued that the intelligence of children was based on environmental factors, in which certain behaviors were rewarded and others discouraged (Wells, 2004). No one, however, has had a greater impact on the study of cognitive development than Jean
Alfred Binet, once a pioneer of craniometry, came to the conclusion that he allowed bias to influence the results of his experiments on human intelligence. In 1905, Binet created the Binet-Simon Scale, a scale that sought to discover the measurement of a human’s intelligence without bringing brain size into the equation. However, IQ testing did not become popular outside of Binet’s native
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition(WAIS-IV) was created to account for some of the psychometric weaknesses of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III). For example, the WAIS-III lacked in fluid reasoning and as a results figure weights were added to the WAIS-IV (Flanagan & Harrison, 2012). David Wechsler, the original creator of the Wechsler scales had a theory of intelligence but included abilities that could not be measured by IQ test that was available at that time. Some of the abilities included personality, emotional, and conative factors. He was unsuccessful in creating a measure for those skills but it lead to the creation of Wechsler intelligence scales the most widely used in the world today (Flanagan & Harrison, 2012). After three revisions, the WAIS-IV was created. The WAIS-IV was normed off 2,200 individuals into 13 age bands and included 300 examinees. It is the new standard for testing intelligence in adults, with the multiple adds on such as the subtest cancellation that was taken from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Flanagan & Harrison,
Not to be outdone, Wechler developed intelligence scales for both adults and children (WAIS & WISC). The scales are in two parts VERBAL AND PERFORMANCE, giving a clear picture of the person's IQ; by identifying their strength and weaknesses in specific areas .The information can be used in planning individualized instruction programs.