Intelligence Test: Treatment, Effect & Risks

An intelligence test is understood to be a scientific instrument used to determine the intelligence quotient of a test person. In the following, the term intelligence test is defined in more detail and its field of application and application procedures are described in terms of function, effect and goals. Furthermore, risks, side effects, dangers and special features of intelligence tests are discussed.

What is intelligence testing?

The term intelligence test refers to a psychological procedure that is used to determine the intelligence of a person. The term intelligence test means a psychological procedure that serves to determine the intelligence of a person. This is done by means of various problems and tasks that must be solved. Based on the result, the person is then ranked in comparison with all other participants. Since there are different theories about what intelligence is, there are also different intelligence tests. What most of them have in common, however, is that the result is represented by the intelligence quotient, or IQ for short. In Germany, people with an IQ of 130 or more are considered highly gifted. When evaluating an intelligence test, it is important to note which theory the test is based on. According to this, such a test deals either with a general intelligence, or with different components. The general intelligence is determined by the number-connection test of Erwin Roth or the matrix test of John C. Raven. According to a theory of the British-American psychologist R. B. Cattell, intelligence can be divided into fluid intelligence and knowledge. Problem-solving ability and learned knowledge are contrasted. Depending on the degree of expression in the test person, the result is important for clinical, or developmental psychology.

Function, effect, and goals

The field of application of intelligence tests ranges from personnel selection and career counseling to the recommendation of a possible school career and medical diagnostics. It is possible to determine aptitude for certain professions in advance through intelligence testing. A reduction in intelligence, mental disorder or dementia can also be detected. Accordingly, there are different tests for different age groups. The best-known test for children aged two and a half to twelve and a half is the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children, or K-ABC for short. However, the successor version KABC II has been available in Germany since the end of 2014, as intelligence tests need to be regularly reviewed and, if necessary, recalibrated due to the changing average intelligence measured. The new version is aimed at children and adolescents from three to eighteen years of age and, in addition to educational and occupational aptitude and rehabilitation diagnostics, is also used for developmental diagnostics in early childhood and neuropsychological diagnostics. The KABC II is based on the theory of crystalline and fluid intelligence. It consists of sixteen subcategories from which selections are made according to the age of the test subject. There is also a language-free test for people with severe hearing or speech impairments, as well as those with limited language skills. Since 1997, there has also been the Kaufmann test for measuring intelligence for adolescents and adults. This is based on the same theory, but has only eight subcategories. Another language-free intelligence test is the already mentioned matrix test according to John C. Raven. This is based on the theory of general intelligence and consists of patterns that must be recognized and continued. Also very common is the Hamburg-Wechsler intelligence test for adults, which is also available in a version for children and adolescents. It consists of ten subtests that can be divided into four different scales. They are divided into language comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. There are several different tests that deal with different components of intelligence, i.e. do not assume a general intelligence. The best known are the Berlin Intelligence Structure Test, the Intelligence Structure Test and the Wilde Intelligence Test in its second version. All three deal, among other things, with the test subjects’ language, arithmetic and memory skills.Intelligence tests are time-limited and must be taken under the supervision of a certified psychologist. This is especially important when such a test is conducted as part of an assessment center, otherwise the result may be challenged.

Risks, side effects and dangers

It should be noted that there can be no universally valid intelligence test due to the different theories of intelligence, but also due to cultural and linguistic differences. Although all results are given with IQ, they are not directly comparable. Since different aspects are tested, not all measured values are equivalent. Furthermore, due to standardization and calibration, the tests themselves are also not comparable with each other. This makes it even more difficult to compare IQ scores across countries or cultures. Often the willingness to participate in such a test procedure is extremely low in societies where there is no realistic reference to it. In the case of language-based variants, people with low language skills often perform poorly. Although there are also non-linguistic tests, such as the matrix test mentioned above or the Culture Fair Test CFT, success with these is also strongly culture-dependent. However, it is not only the linguistic or cultural background that is important for successful completion of an intelligence test. Children from the upper social classes achieve better results on such tests than children from the working or lower classes. Whether this is because the test items are unfair to such children is currently being debated. The so-called Minnesota Mechanical Assembly Test, on the other hand, does not measure in a traditional way, but refers to mechanical skills. Here, children from the lower class perform somewhat better than their peers from the middle or upper class. Furthermore, while the test results are accurate, they are not completely accurate. There are always minor measurement errors to be factored in.