full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stefan C. Dombrowski: The dark history of IQ tests


Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 1905, psychologists arfled Binet and Théodore somin designed a test for children who were struggling in school in France. Designed to determine which children required individualized attention, their method formed the basis of the IQ test.

bennngiig in the late 19th century, researchers hypothesized that cognitive aliieitbs like verbal reasoning, working memory, and visual-spatial skills reflected an underlying general intelligence, or g factor. Simon and Binet designed a battery of tests to mueasre each of these abilities and combine the results into a single score. Questions were adjusted for each age group, and a child’s score reflceted how they performed relative to others their age. Dividing someone’s score by their age and multiplying the result by 100 yielded the itelnnlgecie quotient, or IQ. Today, a score of 100 rtpneseers the average of a sample pptlaoouin, with 68% of the population scoring within 15 pintos of 100.

Open Cloze


In 1905, psychologists ______ Binet and Théodore _____ designed a test for children who were struggling in school in France. Designed to determine which children required individualized attention, their method formed the basis of the IQ test.

_________ in the late 19th century, researchers hypothesized that cognitive _________ like verbal reasoning, working memory, and visual-spatial skills reflected an underlying general intelligence, or g factor. Simon and Binet designed a battery of tests to _______ each of these abilities and combine the results into a single score. Questions were adjusted for each age group, and a child’s score _________ how they performed relative to others their age. Dividing someone’s score by their age and multiplying the result by 100 yielded the ____________ quotient, or IQ. Today, a score of 100 __________ the average of a sample __________, with 68% of the population scoring within 15 ______ of 100.

Solution


  1. alfred
  2. measure
  3. represents
  4. beginning
  5. abilities
  6. reflected
  7. population
  8. intelligence
  9. points
  10. simon

Original Text


In 1905, psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon designed a test for children who were struggling in school in France. Designed to determine which children required individualized attention, their method formed the basis of the IQ test.

Beginning in the late 19th century, researchers hypothesized that cognitive abilities like verbal reasoning, working memory, and visual-spatial skills reflected an underlying general intelligence, or g factor. Simon and Binet designed a battery of tests to measure each of these abilities and combine the results into a single score. Questions were adjusted for each age group, and a child’s score reflected how they performed relative to others their age. Dividing someone’s score by their age and multiplying the result by 100 yielded the intelligence quotient, or IQ. Today, a score of 100 represents the average of a sample population, with 68% of the population scoring within 15 points of 100.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
iq tests 5
iq test 3
united states 3
general intelligence 2
psychiatric conditions 2



Important Words


  1. abilities
  2. adjusted
  3. age
  4. alfred
  5. attention
  6. average
  7. basis
  8. battery
  9. beginning
  10. binet
  11. century
  12. children
  13. cognitive
  14. combine
  15. designed
  16. determine
  17. dividing
  18. factor
  19. formed
  20. france
  21. general
  22. group
  23. hypothesized
  24. individualized
  25. intelligence
  26. iq
  27. late
  28. measure
  29. memory
  30. method
  31. multiplying
  32. performed
  33. points
  34. population
  35. psychologists
  36. questions
  37. quotient
  38. reasoning
  39. reflected
  40. relative
  41. represents
  42. required
  43. researchers
  44. result
  45. results
  46. sample
  47. school
  48. score
  49. scoring
  50. simon
  51. single
  52. skills
  53. struggling
  54. test
  55. tests
  56. théodore
  57. today
  58. underlying
  59. verbal
  60. working
  61. yielded