Abstract
Intelligence tests and other aptitude tests are designed to measure cognitive skills, abilities, and knowledge that are accumulated as the result of overall life experiences including those at school, home, work, and all other settings. As a result, general intelligence tests are not linked to a specific academic curriculum or knowledge domain and so are much broader in scope than achievement tests. General intelligence tests assess abilities such as problem-solving, abstract reasoning, and the ability to acquire knowledge. This chapter highlights some of the important and interesting historical milestones for intelligence testing, major applications of intelligence tests in school and clinical settings, and commonly used intelligence and aptitude tests. Practical guidelines are also presented for selecting aptitude tests and understanding the elements of the formal psychological report which is used to communicate assessment findings.
Conventional intelligence tests and even the entire concept of intelligence testing are perennially the focus of considerable controversy and strong emotion.
—Reynolds and Kaufman (1990)
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Notes
- 1.
John Horn (no g) and John Carroll (g exists) where in sharp disagreement regarding the validity of the construct of g. Horn felt it was a statistical artifact of the positive manifold of correlation matrices while Carroll believed it did represent some form of essential mental energy. This author had the privilege to participate in small private meetings (during the development of the WJ III and SB5 intelligence test batteries) with both Horn and Carroll and can attest to many “spirited” exchanges regarding the “g or not to g” disagreement between these two giants in the field of human intelligence.
- 2.
Other broad domains that are relatively new to the CHC model, or which have not been deemed relevant to practical intelligence batteries, include decision and reaction speed (Gt), general (domain-specific) knowledge (Gkn), tactile abilities (Gh), kinesthetic abilities (Gk), olfactory abilities (Go), psychomotor abilities (Gp), and psychomotor speed (Gps). See McGrew (2009).
- 3.
Space does not allow for a list (with definitions) of the 70+ narrow abilities that are subsumed under the broad CHC domains. See McGrew (2005) for the names and definitions of the various narrow CHC abilities.
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Recommended Reading
Cronbach, L. J. (1975). Five decades of public controversy over mental testing. American Psychologist, 36, 1–14. An interesting and readable chronicle of the controversy surrounding mental testing during much of the twentieth century.
Fletcher-Janzen, E., & Reynolds, C. R. (Eds.). (2009). Neuroscientific and clinical perspectives on the RTI initiative in learning disabilities diagnosis and intervention. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. This text provides a review of the use of RTI in the identification of learning disabilities.
Kamphaus, R. W. (2001). Clinical assessment of child and adolescent intelligence. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. This text provides an excellent discussion of the assessment of intelligence and related issues.
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Reynolds, C.R., Altmann, R.A., Allen, D.N. (2021). Assessment of Intelligence. In: Mastering Modern Psychological Testing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59455-8_9
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