Gregory Ochoa Research Paper
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
MOANA RICHARDSON
PSYCHOLOGY /450
FEBUARY 30, 2012
WILLIAM JULY Ph.D.
Many of the early intelligence tests were culturally biased, favoring people who were from urban rather than rural environments, middle-class rather than lower-class, and White rather than African American (Miller-Jones, 1989). For example, a question on an early test asked what should be done if you find a 3-year old child in the street. The correct answer was “call the police.” But children form inner-city families who perceive the police as adversaries are unlikely to choose this answer. Similarly, children form rural areas might not choose this answer if there is no police force nearby. Such questions clearly do not …show more content…
When Gregory was a high school student, he and his classmates took an IQ test. When Gregory looked at the test questions, he understood only a few words, since he did not speak English very well and spoke Spanish at home. Several weeks later Gregory was placed in a special class for mentally retarded students. Many of the students in the class, it turns out, had last names such as Ramirez and Gonzales. Gregory lost interest in school, dropped out, and eventually joined the Navy. In the Navy, Gregory took high school courses and earned enough credits to attend college later. He graduated …show more content…
Most tests tend to reflect what the dominant culture thinks is important (Sax, 1977). If tests have time limits, that will bias the test against groups not concerned with time. If languages differ, the same words might have different meanings for different language groups. Even pictures can produce bias because some cultures have less experience with
drawings and photographs (Anastasi & Urbina, 1996). Even within the same culture, different groups could have different attitudes, values, and motivation, and this could affect their performance on intelligence tests. Items that ask why buildings should be made of brick are biased against children who have little or no experience with brick houses. Questions about railroads, furnaces, seasons of the year, distance between cities, and so on can be biased against groups who have less experiences than others with these
MOANA RICHARDSON
PSYCHOLOGY /450
FEBUARY 30, 2012
WILLIAM JULY Ph.D.
Many of the early intelligence tests were culturally biased, favoring people who were from urban rather than rural environments, middle-class rather than lower-class, and White rather than African American (Miller-Jones, 1989). For example, a question on an early test asked what should be done if you find a 3-year old child in the street. The correct answer was “call the police.” But children form inner-city families who perceive the police as adversaries are unlikely to choose this answer. Similarly, children form rural areas might not choose this answer if there is no police force nearby. Such questions clearly do not …show more content…
When Gregory was a high school student, he and his classmates took an IQ test. When Gregory looked at the test questions, he understood only a few words, since he did not speak English very well and spoke Spanish at home. Several weeks later Gregory was placed in a special class for mentally retarded students. Many of the students in the class, it turns out, had last names such as Ramirez and Gonzales. Gregory lost interest in school, dropped out, and eventually joined the Navy. In the Navy, Gregory took high school courses and earned enough credits to attend college later. He graduated …show more content…
Most tests tend to reflect what the dominant culture thinks is important (Sax, 1977). If tests have time limits, that will bias the test against groups not concerned with time. If languages differ, the same words might have different meanings for different language groups. Even pictures can produce bias because some cultures have less experience with
drawings and photographs (Anastasi & Urbina, 1996). Even within the same culture, different groups could have different attitudes, values, and motivation, and this could affect their performance on intelligence tests. Items that ask why buildings should be made of brick are biased against children who have little or no experience with brick houses. Questions about railroads, furnaces, seasons of the year, distance between cities, and so on can be biased against groups who have less experiences than others with these