Psychology, Department of
Date of this Version
January 1952
Abstract
Recently there has been increasing interest in the use of intra-individual test discrepancies as a measure of functioning efficiency. One of the major problems in establishing scatter patterns has been that of finding a suitable internal reference point. The three reference points most commonly employed are the mean or IQ, the vocabulary score, and the altitude or maximum score. Psychologists who believe that the G factor is an ability argue for the use of the IQ as a reference point while those who believe that it is a capacity use altitude as a reference point. In regarding intelligence as a capacity or potentiality rather than an ability, vocabulary and altitude proponents consider that test scores falling significantly below the potentiality indicate mental inefficiency or personality disorganization.
Comments
Published in Journal of Clinical Psychology 8:l (January 1952), pp. 82-85.