7.4 Types of Intelligence Test
Type of Intelligence Tests :- Generally speaking, intelligence tests are divided into the following three types or categories :
1. Individual Intelligence Tests :- As the name itself suggests, these tests are applied to individual one at a time. The greatest virtue of this kind of test is that its conclusions are reliable because the psychologist gets an opportunity to take a close look at the qualities of the subject.
2. Group Intelligence Tests :- The American government used the services of psychologists to construct the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests to evaluate the intelligence of soldiers. These two tests were designed for literate and illiterate individuals respectively. At the same time, the AGCT and the NGCT tests were also constructed. Besides, the California Mental Maturity Tests and the Terman MacKinner Mental Ability Tests were also construced.
3. Performance Tests :- All the tests evolved upto the year 1911 involved the use of language, and hence they could not apply to deaf, mutes or children belonging to foreign countries and ignorant of the language in which the testwas being administered. In view of this shortcoming, Healy evolved a performance tests in 1911, which becomes famous by the name of the Binet Simon Scale. Freeman has throw light on the nature of performance tests in the following words: “A performance scale is one in which language is used only for instructions or not at all, when directions are given in pantomine.”
1. Individual Intelligence Tests :- As the name itself suggests, these tests are applied to individual one at a time. The greatest virtue of this kind of test is that its conclusions are reliable because the psychologist gets an opportunity to take a close look at the qualities of the subject.
2. Group Intelligence Tests :- The American government used the services of psychologists to construct the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests to evaluate the intelligence of soldiers. These two tests were designed for literate and illiterate individuals respectively. At the same time, the AGCT and the NGCT tests were also constructed. Besides, the California Mental Maturity Tests and the Terman MacKinner Mental Ability Tests were also construced.
3. Performance Tests :- All the tests evolved upto the year 1911 involved the use of language, and hence they could not apply to deaf, mutes or children belonging to foreign countries and ignorant of the language in which the testwas being administered. In view of this shortcoming, Healy evolved a performance tests in 1911, which becomes famous by the name of the Binet Simon Scale. Freeman has throw light on the nature of performance tests in the following words: “A performance scale is one in which language is used only for instructions or not at all, when directions are given in pantomine.”
As the name itself indicates, in a test of this kind, the subjects is required to do something with some given concrete objects and through analysis of the result obtained, the psychologist studies the subject’s intelligence and ability. These tests are used in conjunction with general intelligence tests. The figure given here provides an example of an Assembling Performance Tests in which the subject is required to put together some disjointed pieces to form a whole.
