Named after James Flynn, who was among the first to describe this trend, the Flynn effect refers to the observation that each generation has a significantly higher IQ than the last. Interestingly, the periodic recalibrations have led to an interesting observation known as the Flynn effect. These tests are used widely in schools and communities throughout the United States, and they are periodically normed and standardized as a means of recalibration. Today, there are three intelligence tests credited to Wechsler, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-fourth edition (WAIS-IV), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-IV (WPPSI-IV) (Wechsler, 2012). Although its name was later changed to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and has been revised several times, the aims of the test remain virtually unchanged since its inception (Boake, 2002). This combination of subtests became one of the most extensively used intelligence tests in the history of psychology. He named the test the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale (Wechsler, 1981). These subtests tapped into a variety of verbal and nonverbal skills, because Wechsler believed that intelligence encompassed “the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment” (Wechsler, 1958, p. Wechsler combined several subtests from other intelligence tests used between 1880 and World War I. In 1939, David Wechsler, a psychologist who spent part of his career working with World War I veterans, developed a new IQ test in the United States. Children being tested were asked which face, of each pair, was prettier. (b) This page is from a 1908 version of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale. French psychologist Alfred Binet helped to develop intelligence testing. Remarkably, an updated version of this test is still widely used today. This new version of the test was called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Terman, 1916). Norming and standardizing the test ensures that new scores are reliable. Norms are not expectations of what a given group should know but a demonstration of what that group does know. The resulting data provide norms, or referential scores, by which to interpret future scores. Norming involves giving a test to a large population so data can be collected comparing groups, such as age groups. Standardization means that the manner of administration, scoring, and interpretation of results is consistent. As a result, the test was normed and standardized, which means that the test was administered consistently to a large enough representative sample of the population that the range of scores resulted in a bell curve (bell curves will be discussed later). Louis Terman, a Stanford professor, modified Binet’s work by standardizing the administration of the test and tested thousands of different-aged children to establish an average score for each age. American researchers soon realized the value of such testing. Binet was asked by the French government to develop an intelligence test to use on children to determine which ones might have difficulty in school it included many verbally based tasks. Reliable intelligence testing (you may recall from earlier chapters that reliability refers to a test’s ability to produce consistent results) began in earnest during the early 1900s with a researcher named Alfred Binet ( Figure). Although he was not a psychologist, his contributions to the concepts of intelligence testing are still felt today (Gordon, 1995). In the late 1800s, Sir Francis Galton developed the first broad test of intelligence (Flanagan & Kaufman, 2004). The IQ test has been synonymous with intelligence for over a century. How then, can intelligence be measured? And when we measure intelligence, how do we ensure that we capture what we’re really trying to measure (in other words, that IQ tests function as valid measures of intelligence)? In the following paragraphs, we will explore the how intelligence tests were developed and the history of their use. It seems that the human understanding of intelligence is somewhat limited when we focus on traditional or academic-type intelligence.

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