One reason why IQ tests predict scholastic performance might be that they cover similar ground and were constructed for this purpose. Children who miss school often show deficits in IQ older children in the same class who have access to an extra year of education often score significantly higher. Since problem solving and reasoning are taught within education systems, longer and better education often results in improved IQ as well as scholastic performance. Researchers have often identified a strong relationship between IQ test performance and educational achievement scores from even an early age can predict academic achievement and scholastic performance in later years. And some researchers and theorists argued they could be used “fairly” and “objectively” to assess a person’s true underlying intellectual capabilities. These types of tests were regarded by many as “culturally fair” – that is, they didn’t discriminate against people who had poor education or lower levels of reading and language ability. For those who couldn’t read or write, the tests involved using a series of non-verbal reasoning questions to assess differences in intelligence. The US military used Army Alpha and Beta tests, for instance, to measure the intelligence of candidates, some of whom were illiterate. There have also been other types of intelligence tests that measure only non-verbal abilities. Scores on the tests have been shown to predict a wide range of scholastic, academic and organisational variables. You can read more about that aspect of intelligence testing here. One controversy around these tests involved the eugenics movement, but that’s beyond the scope of this introductory article. The idea of assessing adult intelligence using written tests was developed in the 1930s. They represent a significant achievement in psychological testing and measure a wide range of cognitive processes – vocabulary, knowledge, arithmetic, immediate and long-term memory, spatial processing and reasoning – with considerable precision. Modern-day Wechsler and Stanford-Binet tests have undergone considerable scientific developments over the last century. And in the 1930s, another American psychologist, David Wechsler (1896-1981), further expanded the idea of assessing adult intelligence using written tests. Terman updated the test in many ways, most significantly by making a version that could be used for adults. Lewis Madison Terman (1877-1956), a cognitive psychology professor at Standford University, redeveloped the Binet test for use in the United States. This entailed a formula for mental age that could be assessed by a test, such as the one devised by Binet, divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100. The German psychologist William Stern (1871-1938) introduced the idea of intelligence quotient, or IQ. His test was based on the assumption that intelligence developed with age but one’s relative standing among peers remained largely stable. Binet designed a series of questions aimed at distinguishing children who may have learning disabilities or need special help, which he thought children of different ages could answer correctly. It wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that Frenchman Alfred Binet (1857-1911) developed the first test resembling a modern intelligence test. But he did create testable hypotheses about intelligence that later researchers used. Given the technology of the day, he wasn’t particularly successful at measuring biological parameters. Regarded as one of the fathers of modern-day intelligence research, Galton pioneered psychometric and statistical methods. He tried to measure physical characteristics of noblemen and created a laboratory to measure their reaction time and other physical and sensory qualities. In the late 1800s, Englishman Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) became one of the first people to study intelligence. The core disagreement between researchers and theorists about intelligence is around whether it’s genetic or largely influenced by the environment whether it’s nature or nurture. In that time there have been numerous schools of thought about how to measure intelligence. The scientific study of human intelligence dates back well over 100 years.
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