THE REDUCTION OF SOCIOECONOMIC BIAS IN INTELLIGENCE TESTING

Abstract

S ummary . This study was designed to investigate the extent of socioeconomic bias in selected intelligence tests, with a view to identifying and constructing instruments which might better estimate the intellectual potential of pupils from deprived cultural and educational backgrounds. For such pupils the conventional intelligence test is unsuitable as a predictor of later educational progress if adaptive treatment reduces the effects of their educational handicaps. Nine promising culture‐reduced tests and subtests were administered to a representative Edmonton sample of 271 twelve and thirteen‐year‐old children, and the results analysed in relation to measures of socio‐economic status, verbal intelligence, achievement and school marks. City‐wide testing surveys conducted during the previous four years provided data on the same children, making longitudinal comparisons possible. The results supported the hypothesis that it is possible to measure a broad component of intellectual ability with significantly less cultural bias than is found in the conventional intelligence test. Raven's Progressive Matrices proved the most useful test in the battery since it showed high g loading, consistent and minimal relation with socioeconomic status, no evidence of cultural bias by items, and moderate correlations with school marks. The Cattell test of g and the Lorge‐Thorndike Figure Analogies subtest showed similar promise, since they met most of the criteria of the study in shorter testing time.

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