Intelligence Testing

The field of intelligence testing has had a long and controversial History. ToDay, intelligence tests are used throughout the world to make important decisions for individuals in education, medicine, vocation, the military, employment, and Many other areas needing to answer questions concerning a person's aptitude and ability. Many different definitions of intelligence exist in the scientific literature; therefore, Many different techniques and methods have been developed to assess intelligence for various purposes. For example, certain intelligence tests must be given individually in a one-on-one setting, administered and interpreted by a trained professional, while other types of intelligence tests can be given to a group of individuals and provide a screening of cognitive abilities. However, with no cohesive, all-encompassing definition or theory of intelligence, no single test of intelligence can give a full understanding of an individual's cognitive functioning.

Most traditional intelligence tests give a single score of global functioning. However, a low score [Page 727]on an intelligence test may not be an appropriate indicator of intelligence or ability but may instead be affected by other factors such as education quality and opportunities, socioeconomic status, health, and level of acculturation. The trend in the psychological and testing community is moving toward assessing patterns or profiles of various cognitive abilities rather than attempting to interpret an overall general score of intelligence. Most current assessment instruments published toDay help determine that an individual has adequate functioning in a specific environment such as work, school, or social settings.

Thus, a pattern of certain cognitive abilities of an individual may indicate higher intelligences in some societies or cultures than the same pattern in an individual from other societies or cultures. As a global community, there are Many intellectual abilities we share, such as verbal comprehension, speed of cognitive processing, and memory, and different cultures place different values on each of these abilities.

The ability of intelligence tests to make life-altering decisions regarding individuals is questionable in terms of diversity and culture. For example, representations of intelligence scores differ among various ethnicities. In the United States, Asian Americans tend score above average, African Americans tend to score below average, and white Americans tend to score on the average with most major intelligence test published. The reasoning behind such differences is debatable, with cultural bias of the actual intelligence tests being the main topic of discussion. However, with better representation among the major ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and education levels during the development of these intelligence tests, these differences among scores are becoming less pronounced.

Attempts have been made to create culture-free tests to reduce the error associated with these differences among individuals. Because there are countless cultures and subcultures in the world, it seems impossible to completely avoid any cultural bias in standardized intelligence testing. Human beings exist in a world where culture and diversity evolve as a result of new social structures. As an example, language is a major part of any culture. Some word usage may be prominent in one area of a country, but it may be unheard or have a different meaning in another part of the country. Therefore, to simply translate an intelligence test word for word into the native language of the test taker, the test would lose its ability to adequately assess the individual in a consistent and reliable manner. Even the most culturally sound standardized intelligence test given toDay will not be culturally sound in 10 years because culture and social structures are constantly changing.

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