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Do the Stanford-Binet Iq’S of Superior Boys and Girls Tend to Decrease or Increase with Age?

1933; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00220671.1933.10880362

1940-0675

Psyche Cattell,

Cognitive Abilities and Testing

One of the important questions for those who administer intelligence tests and use the results in school, clinic, or institution is the question regarding the relative constancy of the intelligence quotients. Early investigations indicated that, on the average, there is a fair degree of consistency, but that some large changes do occur. Later studies have brought out the fact that there is probably a relationship between intelli gence level and IQ constancy. The present paper is concerned with the changes which take place with age in the IQ of children of superior intelligence. In the third volume of Genetic Studies of Genius, Professor Terman and his colleagues report the results of retesting eighty-four children who had an initial Stanford-Binet IQ of 140 or higher. The authors found that during the six years between the two tests these children, as a group, lost in IQ. The loss of the boys was only three points, which may not have been significant, but the loss of the girls was thirteen points. This book came into the hands of the writer shortly after the completion of a study in which the results indicated a tendency for the superior child to increase in IQ as he advances in age. Owing to the contradictory conclusions of the two studies, it appeared worthwhile to make a further analysis of the Harvard Growth Study data, especially of the small group of cases with IQ 's of 120 or higher. Only the records of the children who had been given at least two Stanford-Binet tests with a time interval of five or more years between the first and the last were considered, unless otherwise stated. The cases were classified by sex and then into 10-point IQ groups according to the average of the several corrected Stanford-Binet IQV and the medians of the differences between the first and last test calculated for each group. In order to avoid the complicating factor of practice no test was con sidered unless more than a year had elapsed between it and the preceding test.