The assessment of conceptual development through the dimensions of meaning

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1974

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Abstract

Current definitions and interpretations of the concept intelligence and its measurement are described and analyzed. Three major limitations to the generalizability of results obtained on intelligence tests are shown: 1. Lack of theoretical foundation. 2. Imperfect criteria. 3. Bias due to environmental variales. A new approach to intellectual assessment is therefore proposed, after establishing theoretically the interrelationship between linguistic development and cognitive development: The assessment of cognitive development through analysis of linguistic meaning: Subjects' verbal responses to simple verbal stimuli have been analyzed and scored along a concrete, particular-abstract, general continuum, the latter assumed to be indicating a higher level of cognitive development. A group of black students was compared to a group of white students. The white students scored significantly higher on a widely used intelligence test. No significant difference, however, was found in the linguistic development task, thus raising a question as to the validity of current measures of intelligence which classify members of minority groups as cognitively inferior.

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Keywords

Intelligence tests

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