Alternative Ways to Measure IQ

The concept of IQ originates in research conducted by the armed services and educators. Military officials needed a way to quickly assess a person's intelligence to place them properly. During World War I, a team of psychologists headed by Robert Yerkes developed individual IQ testing for army personnel. On the academic front, in 1916 Alfred Binet in France created one of the earliest IQ tests. Binet, an educational planner in the French school system, believed his test placed children in the correct class based on intellectual aptitude. As such, he conducted research and field studies to test his hypothesis, leading to his test eventually becoming the commonly used Stanford-Binet IQ test. For the past 30 years or so, the Wechsler series of IQ tests have become the gold standard in IQ testing, as these tests measure verbal and nonverbal IQ, as well as processing speed and working memory. However, given that the Wechsler scales rely somewhat heavily on motor speed and dexterity, as well as verbal ability, other measures of IQ are available.

Raven's Progressive Matrices

• One aspect of both the Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales is that they both rely on verbal skills and verbal responses to create a full-scale IQ. In the late 1930s, psychologist John Raven developed an IQ test based solely on visual inductive reasoning. It is called Raven's Progressive Matrices and consists of 60 items divided into five sets. The stimuli are patterns or pictures that have a piece missing, and the subject is asked to choose the missing piece from among multiple given choices. The fact that the Raven's is nonverbal and culturally sensitive given the ambiguity of the stimuli, it is a popular choice in looking for alternative ways to test IQ.

The Quick Test of Intelligence

• The Quick Test of Intelligence was developed in 1962 by husband and wife researchers Robert and Carol Ammons. In this test, the subject is shown a slide with four different scenes. The are given a word and asked to point to the picture that be matches the word. In this way, the test is a passive-receptive vocabulary test that requires verbal reasoning, but requires no verbal response. The test is not timed, which makes it helpful when processing and motor speed are damaged. The Quick Test provides a full-scale IQ and mental age.

Projective Testing

• Though projective tests are often categorized as psychological, some of them hold a component that helps measure IQ. The Rorschach Inkblot Test, which was first published in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach, is a test that asks subjects to give their impressions of 10 different inkblot slides. The scoring system is complex, and examines the ways in which the contours of the blot are used in conjunction with content of response. Many decades have research have suggested that people with lower IQ scores will have fewer responses (less than 10) and that the responses they do have will likely be stereotypical. The Rorschach is not timed and can be given repeatedly, which makes it a nice option when IQ is suspected to be below average.

IQ Testing

• IQ tests are quite complex and have good normative data. Remember that while computer games that promise to test an IQ can be good estimates, a valid IQ test is an interactive process and should be administered by a licensed clinical psychologist.