The IQ test. Each human's IQ varies accordingly, based on his or her own knowledge, experience, and skill base, but do we really know what intelligence is or how it is calculated? Chapter 9 seeks out to define and expand the subject of intelligence, and more specifically, IQ testing. Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Lynn, Laura Namy, and Nancy Woolf note that intelligence is a simple concept, being described as "what intelligence tests measure" (Lilienfeld, et al, 2010). The definition can be defined more acutely as a sensory capacity, abstract thinking, and fluid and crystallized intelligence, among others.
How one's intelligence is measured depends on the "type" of intelligence being tested, which brings us to the matter of multiple intelligences, that is, "entirely different domains of intellectual skill". Imagine you've got a knack for public speaking but are petrified by the thought of solving an advanced equation; this simply means that your linguistic skills are more tightly tuned than your logico-mathematical intelligence. The book notes that these different mind frames (coined by Howard Gardner) has sparked inspiration for teachers to reconfigure their teacher plans to accommodate the diverse model of intelligence in each and every classroom.
In order to test how "smart" an individual is, a systematic approach must be used-- enter: IQ testing. Binet and Simon created the first version of the IQ test in 1916; it consisted of vocabulary, memory situations, naming objects, commands, and repeating phrases (Lilienfeld, et al, 2010). At any age group, a person scoring 100 is average, 80, below average, and 120, above average. Today, the IQ test is in its 5th revision from its birth in 1916 and is a highly influential assessment of intelligence. Relevant for college students are the SAT and ACTs which "are designed to test overall competence specific domain or predict academic success." So with that in mind, are you living up to your ACT score--or possibly, passing your expectations?
-Emily Palecek
