Intelligence Testing and Implicit Racism Essay Sample

The clinical assessment is the first step on the road of the patient and clinician being able to effectively communicate and treat a psychological disorder. The clinical assessment attempts to evaluate the many lifestyle factors that can be presented in an individual that can present with the symptoms of a psychological disorder. In the clinical assessment, reliability and validity are two major concepts that determine the accuracy of the means of assessing the patient. According to Barlow, Durand, Hoffman (2018) reliability is the degree to which a measurement is consistent, and validity is whether something measures what it is designed to measure. These two concepts are especially important in psychological testing. Psychological testing is used “to determine the cognitive, emotional, or behavioral responses that may be associated with a specific disorder…” (Barlow, Durand, Hoffman, 2018, p. 84). There are many different forms of psychological testing, and reliability and validity are crucial factors to psychological testing to ensure that the same test can be given to different people with the same disorder, and the assessment of those individuals will all lead to the same diagnosis. However, in some cases of psychological testing, such as intelligence testing, some lifestyle factors are omitted that can lead to an improper assessment of an individual. 

Intelligence testing was developed for the sole purpose to predict who would do well in school (Barlow, Durand, Hoffman, 2018). The test was developed to assess an individual’s level of comprehension to tasks of attention, perception, memory, reasoning, and verbal comprehension, and is given a result of an IQ score, that establishes an individual’s performance level and how it deviates from the norm. However, it is crucial to recognize that the IQ score an individual has does not directly correlate to their level of intelligence, as it is only a level of measurement to project how well someone will perform academically. There are other lifestyle components that correlate to a level of intelligence that could be overlooked in the creation of this assessment tool, having negative disparities on diverse groups.

Socioeconomic status, health status, cultural background, and language status are all aspects that are overlooked in the administration of this tool of assessment. In the norming process of many intelligence tests, which is a tool in the process to build reliability and validity, the test was administered to many white individuals who have a native language of English. Therefore, a test that was curated for white, English-speaking individuals was also given to diverse populations, who did not do well as the population that was included in the norming process. According to Ford (2004), “the language on these tests is more familiar to White, middle-class students” (p. 6). The research done in this article directly correlates to the norming bias, and how that influences diverse populations. In an effort of today’s society, there are measures in place to create a fair norming bias, where the norming group is composed of a population that is equivalent to the population the test will be administered in. For example, if 25% of the population in a given area is composed of Black individuals, 25% of the norming group will be composed of Black individuals. This is a step in the right direction, however there are still many other complications that can arise from this issue that need to be addressed. 

From my own perspective, I believe that intelligence is composed not only of characteristics found in the IQ tests, as well as factors such as race and native language. I think that intelligence testing can be a useful tool to assess an individual, only if it is in collaboration with other means of assessment to formulate a diagnosis. Each individual in today’s society has a diverse background of family influences, cultural influences, and factors such as their family dynamic, sexual orientation, physical health, and generational trauma that can all affect the way that one could score on an intelligence test. There are also factors such as emotional maturity, memory, perception, and creativity, as well as other factors, that can all relate to intelligence that are not assessed in an intelligence test. Therefore, I believe that the best form of assessment would be a reliable and valid intelligence test that does not have implicit racist effects due to an unfair norming bias, in collaboration with a comprehensive clinical interview where such factors left out of an intelligence test can be discussed. It is nearly impossible for an intelligence test to be created that can be curated to the needs of every individual, so a clinical interview in collaboration with an intelligence test is a proper mode of assessment that I would probably use if I was seeing a patient. I think regardless an intelligence test can be beneficial to use, however, I would put an emphasis on the clinical interview where I can comprehensively discuss topics not found in the intelligence test that may be important to assess the psychological disorder in a patient. Although psychological tests are useful in certain situations, I believe that a proper assessment of a patient requires more than just a simple intelligence test, as there are lifestyle factors that contribute to someone’s psychological status that have been proven to be omitted in such tests.

Reference List

Barlow, D. H., Durand, V. M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2018). Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis. In Abnormal psychology: An Integrative Approach. essay, Cengage Learning.

Ford, D. Y. (2004). Intelligence Testing and Cultural Diversity: Concerns, Cautions, and Considerations. THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON THE GIFTED AND TALENTED.