Study of Intelligence Testing

¶ … IQ Testing

(Literature Review of comparison of 5th edition of the Binet Scale to the WAIS III)

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Wechsler Intelligence Scales III

A vital part of psychology is the assessment of intelligence. Creation of socioeconomic background, various cultures, age and gender are part of today's testing. In this study, we compare the Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition (SB5) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WAIS-III) in terms of intelligence assessment tools (Silverman et al., 2010).

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Version five is the latest version of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (SB5). There are five cognitive factors in SB5 - fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, knowledge or crystallized ability, working memory in both the verbal and the nonverbal domains and quantitative ability, (Roid & Barram, 2004) and is based on a hierarchical cognitive model taken from Carroll's (1993) research.

The roots of the SB5 stems from the first intelligence test -- the Binet-Simon scale, that was propounded in the early 1900's. in the third edition of SB, there was the use of deviation IQ in the pace of ratio IQ. The fourth edition contained quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, short-term memory and abstract/visual reasoning (Silverman et al., 2010).

SB5 is a reliable tool and is well established. Excellent reliability is illustrated by the overall IQ score and the five Factor Index scores for internal consistency. While scores for the five Factor Index range from 0.90 to 0.92, the scores for the IQ range from 0.95 to 0.98 for reliability. SB5 was validated against evidence from many comparisons with other intelligence assessment instruments like WISC-III, Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Cognitive Abilities and Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.

There is a range of applications for SB5 in both children as well as adults. This tool was used by Taylor, Dearing, & McCartney (2004) for studying the development of intelligence in children based on economic resources of parents. Diagnosis of learning disabilities can be determined and predicted using SB5 based on two driving forces. The President's commission on Excellent in Special Education (2002) and the Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997) are the two driving forces. Both the drivers demand intervention and special attention for learning with disabled children.

The applications for SB5 for adults vary greatly from aging to illness and from legal proceedings to injury. However, it is best suited for adults with learning disabilities and ADHD. Psychologist often uses SB5 for the determination of the validity of individuals seeking to deny the responsibility for their actions in the pretext of insanity or diminished capacity in courtrooms.

According to Cohen & Swerdlik, (2005), an important topic of discussion is cultural considerations in intelligence assessments (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2005). SB5 has faced extensive fairness reviews from the religious as well as ethnic perspectives. The fairness of SB% is also illustrated by the use of the Mantel-Haenszel statistical procedure (Li, 2015).

Researchers Roid & Barram (2004) claims that the primary strength of the SB5 intelligence assessment tool is the fact that both the 5 verbal cognitive and non-verbal cognitive factors are equally covered. However, the confusion of IQ scores is the primary weakness of SB5. While the SB5 IQ ranges from 40 to 225, the conventional IQ scale has a range of between range 10 and 160 and the confusion is compounded for those who are not themselves familiar with the Form L-M format.

Wechsler Intelligence Scales III

Researchers and experts claim that the Wechsler Intelligence Scales is amongst the most popular tools for intelligence assessment that exists (Georgas & James Georgas., 2003). The first Wechsler Intelligence Scales was created by David Wechsler in 1939, some years after the Stanford-Binet Scales. The popularity is proven by the numerous applications ranging children to adults and from Japan to the United States (Kaufman & Lichtenberger, 1999). One of the crucial lessons that Wechsler David Wechsler, the founder of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales learnt was the failure to consider nonverbal abilities was the reason for common misdiagnosis. The unfair assessment was done due to over-reliance on verbal abilities. Based on this, he created the tool that considered the "aggregate of specific abilities that are qualitatively different" (Georgas & James Georgas., 2003).

The WAIS-III includes addition of a multi-score subtest profile to the three IQs, in place of a single IQ.

WAIS-III is for adults and has a 4-factor index. Working memory and verbal comprehension comprises the verbal abilities while processing speed and perceptual organization make up the verbal comprehension (Kaufman & Lichtenberger, 1999). 2,450 subjects who represented the 1995 United States Census composes the WAIS-III standardization. The determined stratification in WAIS-II is gender, ethnicity, age and educational levels as is with SB5. 100 to 200 subjects each comprised the 13 age groups. Norms of ages in the range of 16 to 89 were provided in the standardization (Lichtenberger & Kaufman, 2012).

WAIS-III's reliability is illustrated in three-level reliability analyses. Average reliabilities for the overall IQs were found to be all above 0.90 in the first level. Index scores made up the second level. While the Verbal Comprehension Index at 0.94 was the highest reliability score, the Processing Speed Index at 0.85 represented the lowest reliability score. Subjects made up the last level.

Validity study data for WAISIII is largely superior to the older versions according to Kaufman & Lichtenberger (1999). Here the only questionable validity is the factory analyses that are provided. The intercorrelation of subtest scaled scores illustrates the validity of WISC-III tool. The range for median correlations is varied and ranges from 0.99 in the case of verbal comprehension index to 0.93 in the case of Processing Speed Index (Georgas, 2003).