Intelligence Assessment (General)

Introduction

The assessment of intelligence via the conventional IQ test has tremendous potential for great use and great abuse. IQ tests can be used to categorize people into oblivion and misinterpreted to support a wide variety of racist and sexist ideologies. But they can also be used to examine and treat children once simply called ‘stupid’. This entry will briefly touch on the history of intelligence assessment and then focus on the Wechsler Scales, the most-used tests of cognitive development, the Stanford-Binet IV, the descendant of the first major test of cognitive development, and then describe more recent tests of cognitive development, such as the Kaufman tests, the Woodcock-Johnson, the Differential Ability Scales, and the Cognitive Assessment System. Although theory played little or no role in ...