The subject of intelligence is a very controversial area of psychology, resulting in heated debate over the factors and reasons for the range of different levels of intelligence. Even the way in which people are tested is discussed and argued as being either a good way to measure the ability of individuals, or a biased way, favouring those of different social backgrounds. So to start this discussion off we must look at a controversial topic and explore both sides of the issue, and the question that we will begin with is: Why does the definition and measurement of intelligence create problems?
The idea that we can measure the intelligence of an individual through the process of an exam was commonly regarded to have been first introduced by two psychologists in 1904, Binet and Simon, who were commissioned to create the tests in order to help to identify those children who may need extra support from the school system because of a lower intelligence quotient (I. Q. ). By 1905 the first test was created and ready for completion by a small sample of students. The tests were then revised over a few years and much larger samples were selected to participate in the standardization process (SP).
The SP was initially designed to measure the intelligence of children up to the age of 16, however when news of the test reached America, psychologists at Stanford University began to revise and adapt the questions in the test so that by 1960, they could not only test American students, but also test subjects who were up to 18 years old. The tests were furthered even more in the 70’s and 80’s, and continue to be adapted, and now the I. Q. test can be used to test the so called intelligence of individuals who range from 2years old to 23 years and 11months old, which coincidentally is my age at the time of writing this.
Because of the involvement of Stanford University in the development of these tests, the test is now commonly known as the Stanford-Binet test. However there are a lot of issues of debate that surround these, as well as any other types of intelligence/aptitude tests, taking their validity, reliability and neutrality into question. In the past, IQ tests have been seen as a way to distinguish who might be the ‘right man for the job’ by employers, however it has been proven that they can only really help to find employees for a certain job if that job entails a lot of academic work, and that of which is learnt in school.
A study conducted on the validity of IQ test scores (Ghiselli, 1966), showed that there was mild correlation between test scores and job ability/success among stockbrokers (as it requires better academic ability), whereas there was little to no correlation for those applying to the police force (which requires less academic ability). The IQ tests, therefore, remain better indicators of how academic an individual is, which is basically what they were initially designed for anyway.