Intelligence Testing. The First of the Two Essay

intelligence testing.

The first of the two articles read in this article analysis on intelligence testing is called "Role of test motivation in intelligence testing," and was authored by Angela Lee Duckworth et al. This article links motivation as one of three highly important variables that is treated in intelligence testing. Significantly, the article references David Wechsler and his theory of intelligence a number of times in the text. A pair of studies were performed within this article, the first of which was a "random-effects meta-analysis of random-assignment laboratory experiments comparing IQ scores under incentivized and standard testing conditions" (Duckworth et al., 2011, 2). In the second, a number of boys were followed from their teenage years to adulthood to see what role motivation played in their academic and non-academic results (including grades as well as career achievements and criminal behavior) (Duckworth et al., 2001, 2). Both studies found that motivation was a significant factor in the intelligence testing process and outcomes. The intelligence theory that most applies to this particular article can be attributed to Wechsler, who considered intelligence to be "the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environment (Wechsler, 1944, p. 3)." This definition is crucial because it allows for a component of the human will within the regard for intelligence -- which is illustrated in Duckworth's article as motivation. Wechsler's theory of intelligence and the many cognitive examinations he designed to attempt to measure it encompassed the fact that "intelligence is not all that intelligence tests test" (Duckworth et al., 2011, 3). Duckworth's article contends that intelligence tests also measure motivation as well as aptitude.

In many ways, the second article selected for analysis represents the antithesis of the premise and finding posited in "Role of test motivation in intelligence testing." The former article, which is entitled "The general intelligence factor" and is authored by Linda S. Gottfredson, expounds upon many of the founding principles of g, which is, of course, the general factor responsible for intelligence. This theory of intelligence was widely popularized by Charles Spearman shortly after the onset of the 20th century, and contends that regardless of what specific type of intelligence test is utilized, those with higher aptitudes for intelligence tend to score better while those with lower aptitudes for intelligence tend to score poorly. Gottfredson's article offers a number of different examples of evidence from the fields of biology, genetics, as well as modern day practical applications related to industry and commerce that indicate that there is an "overlap," or "intercorrelation" "that all such tests measure some global element of intellectual ability as well as specific cognitive skills" (Gottfredson, 1998, paragraph 5). Highlights of this article include the statistical extraction of g via a technique referred to as factor analysis, which essentially procures how many dimensions are necessary for the explanation of the correlations among diverse forms of intelligence measurements (Gottfredson, 1998, paragraph 6). What the article concludes, however, is that there is an immutable aspect of intelligence that is present within people at the time that they are born (although it is of course developed throughout their lives) that is quantifiable and confirmed by intelligence tests -- independent of exam types or external factors such as motivation.

Culture has long been acknowledged as a part of intelligence and intelligence testing. Interestingly enough, Gottfredson's article utilizes this fact as further reinforcement for the ubiquity and truth of the general intelligence factor, which she claims is existent regardless of culture and is widely independent of the….....