 An individual receives a specific amount of

The Wechsler Intelligence Scales credit for each item passed.

WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE TESTS  The point scale allowed Wechsler to devise a
 Since David Wechsler’s earliest attempts to test that permitted an analysis of the
measure intelligence in the early 1900s, the individual’s ability in a variety of content
tests that bear his name have risen to areas (judgment, vocabulary, and range of
prominence among clinical psychologists. general knowledge.
The Wechsler Scales The Performance Scale Concept
 Earlier versions of the Stanford-Binet had  Wechsler included an entire scale that
several disadvantages that led David provided a measure of nonverbal
Wechsler in 1939 to develop the Wechsler- intelligence: a performance scale.
Bellevue Intelligence Scale. This was a test  This is an addition to measuring intelligence
designed for adults – one that would offer in adults and yielding separate scores.
items whose content was more appropriate  Performance scale consisted of tasks that
for and more motivating to adults than the require a subject to do something (e.g. copy
school-oriented Binet. symbols or point to a missing detail) rather
 Wechsler defined intelligence as the capacity than merely answer questions.
to act purposefully and to adapt to the  The performance scale attempts to
environment. In his words, intelligence is overcome biases caused by language,
“the aggregate or global capacity of the culture, and education.
individual to act purposefully, to think  It does not only measure intelligence but
rationally and to deal effectively with his also provide the clinician with a rich
environment” opportunity to observe behavior in a
 He believed that intelligence comprised standard setting.
specific elements that one could individually The Wechsler Tests
define and measure; however, these 1. Wechsler-Bellevue I
elements were interrelated – that is, not 2. Wechsler-Belleveu II
entirely independent. That is why he used 3. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – 4th
the terms global and aggregate. edition (WAIS-IV)
 Wechsler objected to the single score offered 4. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
by the 1937 Binet scale. Children –5th edition (WISC V)
 He capitalized on the inappropriateness of 5. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale
the 1937 Binet scale as a measure of the of Intelligence – 3rd edition (WPPSI-III)
intelligence of adults. Wechsler-Bellevue I
o items lacked validity  Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, needed an
o speed, timed tasks = not instrument for evaluating the intellectual
appropriate for adults. capacity of its multilingual, multinational,
o mental age norms does not apply and multicultural clients.
for adults  Dissatisfied with existing intelligence tests,
 He criticized the Binet scale because it did Wechsler began to experiment.
not consider that intellectual performance  Weschler – Bellevue I published in 1939.
could deteriorate as a person grew older. This new test borrowed from existing tests
 Two of the most critical differences were in format though not in content.
1. Wechsler's use of the point scale  It was a point scale, not an age scale
concept rather than an age scale used in  The items were classified by subtests rather
the early Binet tests. than by age.
2. Wechsler's inclusion of a nonverbal  The test was organized into six verbal
performance scale subtests and five performance subtests, and
The Point Scale Concept all the items in each test were arranged in
 Point scale vs Age-scale format order of increasing difficulty.
o Age-scale format –group items by  Problems:
age level. 1. The standardization sample was rather
 In a point scale, credits or points are restricted: normative sample consisted of a
assigned to each item. nonrepresentative sample of 1081 whites
from the eastern United States (primarily
New York residents)
 2. Some subtests lacked sufficient inter-item
reliability.
3. Some of the subtests were made up of items
that were too easy.
4. The scoring criteria for certain items were
too ambiguous.
 W-B II was created in 1942 but was never
thoroughly standardized.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Schematic overview of WAIS-IV Index Scores
 16 years after the publication of the W-B, a (table 10.2)
new Wechsler scale for adults was
published.
 It was organized into verbal and
performance scales. Scoring yielded a
Verbal IQ, a Performance IQ, and Full Scale
IQ.
 This became the standard against which Schematic overview of WAIS-IV Index Scores
other adult tests were compared. (table 10.2)
 WAIS-R published in 1981
o new norms, updated materials
o test administration manual
mandated the alternate
administration of verbal and
performance tests
 The most recent edition to the family of Subtests
Wechsler Adult scales. - published in 2008 The Vocabulary Subtest
 The original Wechsler scale included two  The ability to define words is not only one
separate scales. The verbal scale provided a of the best single measures of intelligence
measure of verbal intelligence and the but also the most stable.
performance scale a measure of nonverbal  The vocabulary subtest provides a relatively
intelligence. stable estimate of general verbal
 The most recent editions of the Wechsler intelligence, one can use it to evaluate
scales, the WAIS-IV, the WISC-V, and the baseline or premorbid intelligence (i.e. what
WPPSI- IV, now have four major scales a person’s intellectual capacity probably was
instead of the original two. prior to an emotional illness, brain injury, or
trauma).
Four Indexes (An Index is created where two or The Similarities Subtest
more subtests are related to a basic underlying skill.  The similarities subtest consists of paired
Verbal Comprehension Index – verbal concept items of increasing difficulty.
formation and verbal reasoning  “In what way are bread and water alike?”
Perceptual Reasoning Index – fluid reasoning,  This subtest measures the subject’s ability to
spatial processing, and visual-motor integration see the similarity between apparently
Working Memory Index – capacity to store, dissimilar objects or things.
transform, and recall incoming info and data in short-  The character person’s thought processes
term memory can be seen in many cases
Processing Speed Index – ability to process simple The Arithmetic Subtest
or rote information rapidly and accurately.  This contains approximately 15 relatively
simple problems in increasing order of
difficulty.
 The ninth most difficult item is as easy as
this: “A person with $28.00 spends $.50.
How much does he have left?”
Generally, concentration, motivation, and memory
are the main factors underlying performance.
Core Wechsler Subtests (table 10.1) The Digit Span Subtest
  This requires the subject to repeat digits, The Block Design Subtest
given at the rate of one per second, forward,  Have long been included in nonverbal
and backward. measures of intelligence.
 In terms of intellective factors, the digit span  Nine Variously colored blocks, booklet with
subtest measures short-term auditory pictures of the blocks arranged according to
memory and is one of the core subtests in a specific geometric design or configuration.
the working memory index.  The subject must arrange the blocks to
The Information subtests reproduce increasingly difficult designs.
 This is linked to alertness to the  This requires the subject to reason, analyze
environment and alertness to cultural spatial relationships, and integrate visual and
opportunities. motor functions.
The Comprehension Subtest  The input information (i.e. pictures of
 This has three types of questions. designs) is visual, but the response (output)
o 1. “What should you do if you find is motor. The subtest provides an excellent
an injured person lying in the measure of nonverbal concept formation,
street?” – what should be done in a abstract thinking, and neurocognitive
given situation impairment.
o 2. “Why do we bury the dead?” –  This is one of the core measures of the
provision of a logical explanation perceptual reasoning index scale in the
for some rule or phenomena 3. “A WAIV-IV.
journey of 1000 miles begins with The Matrix Reasoning
the first step” – define proverbs  The subject is presented with nonverbal,
 Generally, the comprehension subtest figural stimuli. The task is to identify a
measures judgment in everyday practical pattern or relationship between the stimuli.
situations, or common sense. Emotional  This is also a core subtest in the perceptual
difficulties frequently reveal themselves on reasoning index scale in an effort to enhance
this subtest and lower the person’s score. the assessment of fluid intelligence, which
The Letter-Number Sequencing Subtest involves our ability to reason.
 This is supplementary on the working  It measures fluid intelligence, information-
memory index; it is not required to obtain an processing and abstract- reasoning skills.
index score, but it may be used as a The Symbol Search
supplement for additional information about  This is a relatively new subtest. It was
the person’s intellectual functioning. optional in WAIS-III, but now is a core
 It is made up of items in which the measure in the processing speed index scale.
individual is asked to reorder lists of It was added in recognition of the role of
numbers and letters. For example, speed of information processing in
Z,3,B,1,2,A would be reordered as intelligence.
1,2,3,A,B,Z. This subtest is related to  The subject is shown two target geometric
working memory and attention. figures. The task is then to search from
The Digital Symbol-Coding Subtest among a set of five additional search figures
 Formerly called digit symbol requires the and determine whether the target appears in
subject to copy symbols. the search group.
 In the standard WAIS-IV response form, the Index Scores
numbers 1 through 9 are each paired with a  The Verbal Comprehension index – is a
symbol. measure of crystallized intelligence.
 120 seconds to copy as many symbols as  The Perceptual Reasoning index consisting
possible. of visual puzzles, block design, and matrix
 It measures such factors as ability to learn an reasoning is believed to be a measure of
unfamiliar task, visual-motor dexterity, fluid intelligence.
degree of persistence, and speed of  Other factors that influence one’s
performance. performance on this group of tests are
 Naturally, the subject must have adequate attentiveness to details and visual-motor
visual acuity and appropriate motor integration.
capabilities to complete this subtest  The working memory refers to the
successfully. information that we actively hold in our
 minds, in contrast to our stored knowledge, temporal reliability of the four index scores
or long-term memory and full-scale IQ.
 The notion of working memory is perhaps  When the split-half method is used for all
one of the most important innovations on the subtests, the typical average coefficients
modern WAIS. across age levels are .98 for the FSIQ, .96
 "If you have $10.00 and you have given for the verbal comprehension index VIQ, .
$4.50 to your brother and spent 75 cents on 95 for the perceptual reasoning index, .94
candy, how much do you have left?" for the working memory index, and .90 for
 To answer this question, you must mentally the processing speed index.
hold $10.00 in your head, subtract $4.50,  The Test- retest coefficients reported in the
and then hold that result while you subtract manual are only slightly lower.
75 cents. It is your working memory that Validity
allows you to do this.  The validity of the WAIS-IV rests heavily on
 Processing speed index – attempts to its correlation with earlier versions of the
measure how quickly your mind works. test. However, the Wechsler tests are
 For example, while one person may require considered among the most valid in the
20 seconds to solve the given problem, world today for measuring IQ.
another may require only 5 seconds. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- 4th
FSIQ Edition (WISC-IV)
 Full Scale IQ – is obtained by summing the  This was first published in 1949.
age-corrected scaled scores of all four index o The standardization sample
composites. contained only White children, and
 A deviation IQ with a mean of 100 and a some of the test items were viewed
standard deviation of 15 is obtained. as perpetuating gender and cultural
 The FSIQ represents a measure of general stereotypes.
intelligence. o Part of the manual were so unclear
 The WAIS-IV follows a hierarchical model that it led to ambiguities in the
with general intelligence (FSIQ) at the top. administration and scoring of the
test.
 WISC – R was published in 1974
o included non-Whites in the
standardization samples, and test
material pictures were more
balanced culturally.
o the test’s language was modernized
and “child-ized”; for example, the
word cigars in an arithmetic item
was replaced with candy bars.
o there were also innovations in the
administration and scoring of the
test. For example Verbal and
PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES Performance tests were
Standardization: administered in alternating fashion.
 The WAIS-IV standardization sample  WAIS – III published in 1991.
consisted of a stratified sample of 2200 o This revision was undertaken to
adults divided into 13 age groups from 16:00 update and improve test items as
through 90:11 as well as 13 specialty groups. well as the norms. For example,
 The sample was stratified according to easier items were added to the
gender, race, education and geographic Arithmetic scale to assess counting
region based on 2005 census data. ability.

Reliability  WISC-IV published in 2003

 The impressive reliability coefficients for
the WAIS-IV attest to the internal and
 o It represents the culmination of a  This advantage contributed greatly to the
five-year research program success of the WPPSI, especially in an era
involving several research stages when standardized tests were under attack
from conceptual development for inadequate minority representation in
through final assembly and standardization samples.
evaluation.  A revision of the WPPSI, the WPPSI-R was
 The WISC-V published in 1989. This was designed to
 First published in 1949, revised in assess the intelligence of children from ages
1974, 1991, and 2003, and most 3 years through 7 years 3 months.
recently revised in 2014.  WPPSI- III published in 2002.
 The WISC-V measures intelligence o This extended the age range of
from ages 6 through 16 years, 11 children who could be tested with
months. this
 The WISC-V can be administered o instrument downward to 2 years
and scored by two coordinated and 6 months.
iPads, one for the examiner and one o Five subtests (Arithmetic, animal
for the subject being tested. pegs, geometric design, mazes and
 The administration is faster and sentences) were dropped.
more efficient. The scores can be o Seven new subtest were added:
forwarded for interpretation and Matrix Reasoning, Picture
even report generation to a Web- concepts, word reasoning, coding,
based platform called Q-global symbol search, receptive
scoring and reporting. vocabulary, and picture naming.
 WPPSI-IV
 The Test is heavily based on speed of a response o Covers the age ranges from 2:6
based on the findings that faster responding is through 7:7.
associated with higher ability for most tasks. o This is more flexible than its
 Descriptive classifications, such as very superior predecessors and gives the test user
and borderline, have been replaced with more the option of using more or less
neutral sounding terms such as extremely high subtests depending on how
and very low. complete an evaluation is needed
 Five factors: Verbal comprehension, visual- and how young the child is.
spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning (ability to Younger children required less
abstract), working memory, and processing testing.
speed. o This is well constructed, has
 An important feature of the WISC- V: inclusion excellent reliabilities, and is well
of special group studies. grounded in modern theory.
 In an effort to provide insights into the impact Interpretive Features of the Wechsler Tests
of various cognitive deficits on academic  The WAIS-IV provides a rich source of data
performance, various groups were targeted and that often furnishes significant cues for
carefully studied. These included various diagnosing various conditions.
specific learning disabilities, ADHD, traumatic  The comparison of index scores and analysis
brain injury, and autism spectrum disorders. of the pattern of subtest scores may be
The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of helpful, for example in evaluating brain
Intelligence- IV (WPPSI-IV) damage and disordered states.
 Wechsler decided that a new scale should be  Index Comparisons
developed and standardized especially for o In providing measures of nonverbal
children under age 6.
intelligence in conjunction with a
 Pronounced as “whipsy”
nonverbal IQ measure, the
 Its publication in 1967 extended the age
Wechsler offers an extremely useful
range of the Wechsler series of intelligence
opportunity not offered by the early
tests downward to age 4.
Binet scales.
 The WPPSI was the first major intelligence
o First, the nonverbal measures aid in
test that “adequately sampled the total
the interpretation of the verbal
population of the US, including racial
minorities”
 measures (now called the verbal  Familiarize the materials, the
comprehension subtest). instructions/questions, considerations,
o Ex: VIQ = 60; PIQ = 60 = cultural differences.
Intellectually retarded.  Rules on start point, reverse and discontinue,
 The separate subtest scores of the WAIS-IV timing, demonstration and teaching items
 and other Wechsler tests offer an opportunity  Be careful of cues, prompts, feedback
for pattern analysis.
 Pattern Analysis – one evaluates relatively Standard Subtest Administration Order
large differences between subtests scaled 1. Block Design
scores. In such analysis, one evaluates 2. Similarities
relatively large differences between subtest 3. Digit Span
scaled scores. 4. Matrix Reasoning
 Wechsler reasoned that different types of 5. Vocabulary
emotional problems might have differential 6. Arithmetic
effects on the subtests and cause unique 7. Symbol Search
score patterns. 8. Visual Puzzles
 For example, people with conversion 9. Information
disorders often use denial and repression - 10. Coding
that is, they put things out of awareness as a 11. Letter-Number Sequencing 12. Figure Weights
defense mechanism. Therefore, they should 13. Comprehension
show lapses in their long-term store of 14. Cancellation
knowledge, which might produce a 15. Picture Completion
relatively low score on the information
subtest. Schizophrenia involves poor
concentration and impaired judgment, which
might turn up as relatively low scores on
arithmetic and comprehension.
 Wechsler provided a host of patterns
tentatively proposed as diagnostically
significant.
 Many investigators empirically studied the
potential validity of pattern analysis. Results
were inconclusive and contradictory.
Cognitive and Nonverbal Factors on the WISC-IV
Compared to the Stanford-Binet 5

Administration

Administration
 Need to practice