Intellectual engagement (IE) refers to enjoyment of intellectual activities and is proposed as causal for knowledge acquisition. The role of IE for cognitive development was examined utilizing 2-year longitudinal data from 112 ninth graders (average baseline age: 14.7 years). Higher baseline IE predicted higher baseline crystallized ability but…

This article outlines shortcomings of currently used university admissions tests and discusses ways in which they could potentially be improved, summarizing two projects designed to enhance college and university admissions. The projects were inspired by the augmented theory of successful intelligence, according to which successful intelligence…

Author focused on differences between whites and negroes in the United States and more generally on racial variation in man. (Author/RK)

Analysis of correlations between Verbal and Full Scale IQ scores for 231 high-IQ psychiatric outpatients indicated that Verbal IQ appears partially valid as a WAIS short form for this higher IQ group. Results are interpreted in terms of Resnick and Entin's short form validity criteria. (Editor/SJL)

Examined 128 children for contributions of biomedical risk conditions, SES, and HOME scores to prediction of intelligence, and association of extreme scores on HOME and SES to intelligence-test performance. Found home environment was the most important predictor of intelligence at all ages, with SES showing a smaller effect beginning at age 5.…

Zajonc and Bargh's (EJ 241 537) application of the confluence model to six national data sets is critiqued. Extreme differences in intelligence levels are predicted between nations, including substantial retardation for some populations. Moreover, the parameter values used do not allow mental growth functions which are consistent with previous…

Three measures of field dependence were used to determine whether: (1) Mexican American students are more field dependent than Anglo Americans; (2) intercorrelations between the tests are significant and comparable for both cultures; and (3) field dependence significantly affects academic performance. These assumptions were generally not…

While some forms of test bias (for example, bias in selection and prediction) appear amenable to definitional consensus, a definition of cultural bias will remain problematic so long as it is confused with the nature/nurture issue. (Author/BW)

Discusses the most widely used individual intelligence tests: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Form L-M). Covers what the tests measure; psychometric or technical properties of the tests; and how test results are used. (JOW)

Reviews findings on the predictive validity of psychometric tests of intelligence. Concludes that conventional tests of intelligence can be useful but only if they are interpreted very carefully, taking into account the factors that can affect them, and in conjunction with other measures. (Author)

Regression lines for the prediction of Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) scores by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and WISC Revised (WISC-R) intelligence quotients were compared across race, by the Potoff technique. Subjects were 36 black and 30 white children who were referred for psychological evaluation because of learning or…

This study examines cultural bias in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Results indicated no evidence of specific factors peculiar to Blacks v Whites, and rank order of item difficulties was similar in both groups. Race differences were due to differences in mental maturity rather than to test bias. (Author/RD)

The scientific concept of intelligence has been heavily influenced by the technology of measurement. The variables which can be measured have been made the operational definition of intelligence. This approach differs from a deductive approach, in which a theory of cognition in general is used to derive the sorts of measurements that must be taken…

Since their beginning, intelligence tests have favored the higher social classes. Despite federal mandates to the contrary, bias in assessment is likely to remain a problem. Claims of test bias can be categorized as popular (naive); clinical (intuitive); statistical (predictive); and psychometric (construct and content). A literature review has…

A study of the intellectual talents involved in learning a foreign language compared the composite predicted score of high school students on the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery with selected factor scores on the Structure of Intellect-Learning Abilities Test to determine whether any of the factors correlate highly with foreign language…