Abstract
The issues of bias in psychological testing have been a source of intense and recurring social controversy throughout the history of mental measurement. In the United States, discussions pertaining to test bias are frequently accompanied by emotionally laden polemics decrying the use of mental tests with any minority group member, because ethnic minorities have not been exposed to the cultural and environmental circumstances and values of the white middle class. Intertwined within the general issue of bias in tests has been the more specific question of whether intelligence tests should be used for educational purposes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alley, G., and Foster, C. (1978). Nondiscriminatory testing of minority and exceptional children. Focus on Exceptional Children, 9, 1–14.
Anastasi, A. (1982). Psychological testing ( 5th ed. ). New York: Macmillan.
Angoff, W. H. (1976). Group membership as a predictor variable: A comment on McNemar. American Psychologist, 31, 612.
Angoff, W. H., and Ford, S. R. (1973). Item-race interaction on a test of scholastic aptitude. Journal of Educational Measurement, 10, 95–106.
Bass, A. R. (1976). The “equal risk” model: A comment on McNemar. American Psychologist, 31, 611–612.
Bernal, E. M. (1975). A response to “Educational uses of tests with disadvantaged students.” American Psychologist, 30, 93–95.
Birch, H. G., and Gussow, J. D. (1970). Disadvantaged children: Health, nutrition, and school failure. New York: Grune and Stratton.
Blaha, J., Wallbrown, F., and Wherry, R. J. (1975). The hierarchical factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Psychological Reports, 35, 771–778.
Bossard, M., Reynolds, C. R., and Gutkin, T. B. (1980). A regression analysis of test bias on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 9, 52–54.
Burt, C. (1921). Mental and scholastic tests. London: King. Cardall, C., and Coffman, W. E. (1964). A method of comparing the performance of different groups on the items in a test (RB-64–61). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Cattell, R. B. (1979). Are culture fair intelligence tests possible and necessary? Journal of Research and Development in Education, 12, 3–13.
Chambers, J. S., Barron, F., and Sprecher, J. W. (1980). Identifying gifted Mexican-American students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 24, 123–128.
Chinn, P. C. (1979). The exceptional minority child: Issues and some answers. Exceptional Children, 46, 532–536.
Cleary, T. A. (1968). Test bias: Prediction of grades of negro and white students in integrated universities. Journal of Educational Measurement, 5, 118–124.
Cleary, T. A., Humphreys, L. G., Kendrick, S. A., and Wesman, A. (1975). Educational uses of tests with disadvantaged students. American Psychologist, 30, 15–41.
Cole, N. S., and Moss, P. (1989). Bias in test use. In R. Linn (Ed.), Educational measurement ( 3rd ed. ). New York: Macmillan.
Council for Exceptional Children. (1978). Minorities position policy statements. Exceptional Children, 45, 57–64.
Cronbach, L. J. (1976). Equity in selection-where psychometrics and political philosophy meet. Journal of Educational Measurement, 13, 31–42.
Darlington, R. B. (1978). Cultural test bias: Comments on Hunter and Schmidt. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 673–674.
Dean, R. S. (1977). Reliability of the WISC-R with Mexican-American children. Journal of School Psychology, 15, 267–268.
Dean, R. S. (1979). WISC-R factor structure for Anglo and Hispanic children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York.
DeFries, J. C., Vandenberg, S. G., McCleam, G. E., Kuse, A. R., Wilson, J. R., Ashton, G. C., and Johnson, R. C. (1974). Near identity of cognitive structure in two ethnic groups. Science, 183, 338–339.
Ebel, R. L. (1979). Intelligence: A skeptical view. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 12, 14–21.
Eells, K., Davis, A., Havighurst, R. J., Herrick, V. E., and Tyler, R. W. (1951). Intelligence and cultural differences: A study of cultural learning and problem-solving. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Einhorn, H. J., and Bass, A. R. (1971). Methodological considerations relevant to discrimination in employment testing. Psychological Bulletin, 75, 261–269.
Fine, B. (1975). The stranglehold of the IQ. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Flaugher, R. L. (1978). The many definitions of test bias. American Psychologist, 33, 671–679.
Flaugher, R. L., and Schrader, W. B. (1978). Eliminating differentially difficult items as an approach to test bias (RB-78–4). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Frame, R. ( 1979, September). Diagnoses related to school achievement, client’s race, and socioeconomic status. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York.
Freeman, F. N. (1923). A referendum of psychologists. Century Illustrated Magazine, 107, 237–245.
Gordon, R. A. (1984). Digits backward and the Mercer-Kamin law: An empirical response to Mercer’s treatment of internal validity of IQ tests. In C. R. Reynolds and R. T. Brown (Eds.), Perspectives on bias in mental testing. New York: Plenum.
Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton. Gross, A. L., and Su, W. (1975). Defining a “fair” or “unbiased” selection model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 345–351.
Guterman, S. S. (1979). IQ tests in research on social stratification: The cross-class validity of the test as measures on scholastic aptitude. Sociology of Education, 52, 163–173.
Gutkin, T. B., and Reynolds, C. R. (1980). Factorial similarity of the WISC-R for Anglos and Chicanos referred for psychological services. Journal of School Psychology, 18, 34–39.
Gutkin, T. B., and Reynolds, C. R. (1981). Factorial similarity of the WISC-R for white and black children from the standardization sample. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 227–231.
Hammill, D. (1991). Detroit tests of learning aptitude ( 3rd ed. ). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Harman, H. (1976). Modern factor analysis ( 2nd ed. ). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Harrington, G. M. (1975). Intelligence tests may favor the majority groups in a population. Nature, 258, 708–709.
Harrington, G. M. ( 1976, September). Minority test bias as a psychometric artifact: The experimental evidence. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Hartlage, L. C., Lucas, T., and Godwin, A. (1976). Culturally biased and culturally fair tests correlated with school performance in culturally disadvantaged children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32, 325–327.
Hilliard, A. G. (1979). Standardization and cultural bias as impediments to the scientific study and validation of “intelligence.” Journal of Research and Development in Education, 12, 47–58.
Humphreys, L. G. (1973). Statistical definitions of test validity for minority groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 58, 1–4.
Hunter, J. E., and Schmidt, F. L. (1976). Critical analysis of the statistical and ethical implications of various definitions of test bias. Psychological Bulletin, 83, 1053–1071.
Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., and Hunter, R. (1979). Differential validity of employment tests by race: A comprehensive review and analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 721–735.
Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., and Rauschenberger, J. (1984). Methodological, statistical, and ethical issues in the study of bias in psychological tests. In C. R. Reynolds and R. T. Brown (Eds.), Perspectives on bias in mental testing. New York: Plenum.
Jackson, G. D. (1975). Another psychological view from the Association of Black Psychologists. American Psychologist, 30, 88–93.
Jensen, A. R. (1974). How biased are cultural loaded tests? Genetic Psychology Monographs, 90, 185–224.
Jensen, A. R. (1976). Test bias and construct validity. Phi Delta Kappan, 58, 340–346.
Jensen, A. R. (1977). An examination of culture bias in the Wonderlic Personnel test. Intelligence, 1, 51–64.
Jensen, A. R. (1980). Bias in mental testing. New York: Free Press.
Jensen, A. R. (1985). The nature of the black-white difference on various tests: Spearman’s hypothesis. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8, 193–263.
Jensen, A. R., and Figueroa, R. (1975). Forward and backward digit span interaction with race and IQ. Journal of Education Psychology, 67, 882–893.
Joreskof, K. (1971). Simultaneous factor analysis in several populations. Psychometrika, 30, 409–426.
Kaiser, S. (1986). Ability patterns of black and white adults on the WAIS-R independent of general intelligence and as a function of socioeconomic status. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A and M University.
Kamphaus, R. W., and Reynolds, C. R. (1987). Clinical and research applications of the K-ABC. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Kaufman, A. S. (1973). Comparison of the performance of matched groups of black children and white children on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 41, 186–191. Kaufman, A. S. (1979). Intelligent testing with the WISC-R. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
Kaufman, A. S., and DiCiuo, R. (1975). Separate factor analyses of the McCarthy Scales for groups of black and white children. Journal of School Psychology, 13, 10–18.
Kaufman, A. S., and Hollenbeck, G. P. (1974). Comparative structure of the WPPSI for black and whites. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 30, 316–319.
Kaufman, A. S., and Kaufman, N. L. (1973). Black-white differences on the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. Journal of School Psychology, 11, 196–206.
Kaufman, A. S., and Kaufman, N. L. (1983). Kaufman assessment battery for children. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Lambert, N. M. ( 1979, October). Adaptive behavior assessment and its implications for educational programming. Paper presented to the Fourth Annual Midwestern Conference on Psychology in the Schools, Boys Town, NE.
Larry P. et al. v Wilson Riles et al.,C 71 2270 (United States District Court for the Northern District of California, October 1979, slip opinion).
Lewontin, R. C. (1970). Race and intelligence. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 26, 2–8.
Linn, R. L. (1976). In search of fair selection procedures. Journal of Educational Measurement, 13, 53–58.
Linn, R. L., and Werts, C. E. (1971). Considerations for studies of test bias. Journal of Educational Measurement, 8, 1–4.
Lippmann, W. (1923a). A judgment of the tests. New Republic, 34, 322–323.
Lippmann, W. (1923b). Mr. Burt and the intelligence tests. New Republic, 34, 263–264.
Loehlin, J. C., Lindzey, G., and Spuhler, J. N. (1975). Race differences in intelligence. San Francisco: Freeman.
Matuszek, P., and Oakland, T. (1979). Factors influencing teachers’ and psychologists’ recommendations regarding special class placement. Journal of School Psychology, 17, 116–125.
McCarthy, D. (1972). McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
McGurk, E V. J. (1951). Comparison of the performance of negro and white high school seniors on cultural and noncultural psychological test questions. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.
McNemar, Q. (1975). On so-called test bias. American Psychologist, 30, 848–851.
Mercer, J. R. ( 1976, August). Cultural diversity, mental retardation, and assessment: The case for nonlabeling. Paper presented to the Fourth International Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Retardation, Washington, DC.
Merz, W. R. (1970). A factor analysis of the Goodenough-Harris drawing test across four ethnic groups. Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan. University Microfilms #70–19.
Mille, F. (1979). Cultural bias in the WISC. Intelligence, 3, 149–164.
Moran, M. (1990). The problem of cultural bias in personality assessment. In C. R. Reynolds and R. W. Kamphaus (Eds.), Handbook of psychological and educational assessment of children (Vol. 2, pp. 491–523 ). New York: Guilford.
Nichols, R. C. (1978). Policy implications of the IQ controversy. In L. S. Schulman (Ed.), Review of research in education (Vol. 6 ). Itasca, IL: Peacock.
Novick, M. R., and Petersen, N. S. (1976). Towards equalizing educational and employment opportunity. Journal of Educational Measurement, 13, 77–88.
Oakland, T., and Feigenbaum, D. (1979). Multiple sources of test bias on the Bender-Gestalt and the WISC-R. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 968–974.
O’Conner, E. J., Wexley, K. N., and Alexander, R. A. (1975). Single group validity: Fact or fallacy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 352–355.
Parents in Action on Special Education et al. v. Hannon et al., No. 74 C 3586 (United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, July 1980, slip opinion).
Petersen, N. S, and Novick, M. R. (1976). An evaluation of some models for culture fair selection. Journal of Educational Measurement, 13, 3–29.
Pintner, R. (1931). Intelligence testing. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Potthoff, R. F. (1966). Statistical aspects of the problem of biases in psychological tests (Institute of statistics Mimco Series No. 479 ). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, Department of Statistics.
Ramsey, R. T. (1979). The testing manual: A guide to test administration and use. Pittsburgh: Author.
Reschly, D. J. (1978). Concepts of bias in assessment and WISCR research with minorities. In H. Vance and F. Wallbrown (Eds.), WISC-R: Research and interpretation. Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists.
Reschly, D. J. (1980). School psychologists and assessment in the future. Professional Psychology, 11, 841–848.
Reschly, D. J., and Reschly, J. E. (1979). Validity of the WISC-R factor scores in predicting achievement and attention for four sociocultural groups. Journal of School Psychology, 17, 355–361.
Reschly, D. J., and Sabers, D. (1979). Analysis of test bias with the regression definition. Journal of Educational Measurement, 16, 1–9.
Reynolds, C. R. (1978). Differential validity of several preschool assessment instruments for blacks, whites, males, and females. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia.
Reynolds, C. R. (1979). Should we screen preschoolers? Contemporary Educational Psychology, 4, 175–181.
Reynolds, C. R. (1980a). Differential construct validity of intelligence as popularly measured: Correlation of age and raw scores on the WISC-R for blacks, whites, males, and females. Intelligence: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 4, 371–379.
Reynolds, C. R. (1980b). An examination for test bias in a preschool battery across race and sex. Journal of Educational Measurement, 17, 137–146.
Reynolds, C. R. (1980c). In support of “Bias in Mental Testing” and scientific inquiry. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 352.
Reynolds, C. R. (1982a). Construct and predictive bias. In R. A. Berk (Ed.), Handbook of methods for detecting test bias. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Reynolds, C. R. (1982b). The problem of bias in psychological assessment. In C. R. Reynolds and T. B. Gutkin (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology. New York: Wiley.
Reynolds, C. R., and Bigler, E. D. (1994). Test of memory and learning. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Reynolds, C. R., and Brown, R. T. (1984). Bias in mental testing: An introduction to the issues. In C. R. Reynolds and R. T. Brown (Eds.), Perspectives on bias in mental testing (pp. 1–39 ). New York: Plenum.
Reynolds, C. R., and Gutkin, T. B. (1980a). A regression analysis of test bias on the WISC-R for Anglos and Chicanos referred for psychological services. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 48, 868–879.
Reynolds, C. R., and Gutkin, T. B. ( 1980b, September). WISC-R performance of blacks and whites matched on four demographic variables. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal.
Reynolds, C. R., and Gutkin, T. B. (1981). A multivariate comparison of the intellectual performance of blacks and whites matched on four demographic variables. Personality and Individual Differences, 2, 175–180.
Reynolds, C. R., Gutkin, T. B., Dappen, L., and Wright, D. (1979). Differential validity of the WISC-R for boys and for girls referred to psychological services. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 48, 868–879.
Reynolds, C. R., and Harding, R. E. (1983): Outcome in two large sample studies of factorial similarity under six methods of comparison. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 43, 723–728.
Reynolds, C. R., and Hartlage, L. C. (1979). Comparison of WISC and WISC-R regression lines for academic prediction with black and white referred children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 589–591.
Reynolds, C. R., and Jensen, A. R. ( 1983, September). Patterns of intellectual performance among blacks and whites matched on “g ”. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal.
Reynolds, C. R., and Kaiser, S. (1990). Test bias in psychological assessment. In T. B. Gutkin and C. R. Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology ( 2nd ed., pp. 487–525 ). New York: Wiley.
Reynolds, C. R., and Kamphaus, R. W. (1993). Behavior Assessment System for Children. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Reynolds, C. R., and Paget, K. (1981). Factor analysis of the revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale for blacks, whites, males, and females with a national normative sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 349–352.
Reynolds, C. R., Willson, V. L., and Chatman, S. P. (1984). Item bias on the 1981 revision of the Peabody Vocabulary Test using a new technique for detecting bias. Journal of Psycho-educational Assessment, 2, 219–227.
Reynolds, C. R., Willson, V. L., and Chatman, S. P. (1985). Regression analyses of bias on the K-ABC. Journal of School Psychology, 23, 195–204.
Sandoval, J. (1979). The WISC-R and internal evidence of test bias with minority group children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 919–927.
Sandoval, J., and Mille, M. ( 1979, September). Accuracy judgments of WISC-R item difficulty for minority groups. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York.
Sawyer, R. L., Cole, N. S., and Cole, J. W. (1976). Utilities and the issue of fairness in a decision theoretic model for selection. Journal of Educational Measurement, 13, 59–76.
Scheuneman, J. D. (1987). An experimental, exploratory study of causes of bias in test items. Journal of Educational Measurement, 29, 97–118.
Schmidt, F. L., and Hunter, J. E. (1974). Racial and ethnic bias in psychological tests: Divergent implications of two definitions of test bias. American Psychologist, 29, 1–8.
Schoenfeld, W. N. (1974). Notes on a bit of psychological nonsense: “Race differences in intelligence.” Psychological Record, 24, 17–32.
Scholwinski, E. (1985). Ability patterns of black and white adults as determined by the subscales of the WAIS-R. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A and M University.
Semler, I., and Iscoe, I. (1966). Structure of intelligence in Negro and white children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57, 326–336.
Sewell, T. E. (1979). Intelligence and learning tasks as predictors of achievement for black and white first grade children. Journal of School Psychology, 17, 325–332.
Shepard, L. S. (1982). Definitions of bias. In R. A. Berk (Ed.), Handbook of methods for detecting test bias. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Shuey, A. M. (1966). The testing of Negro intelligence ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Social Science Press.
Silverstein, A. R. (1973). Factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children for three ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Psychology, 65, 408–410.
Sternberg, R. J. (1980). Intelligence and test bias: Art and science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 353–354.
Thomdike, R. L. (1971). Concepts of culture-fairness. Journal of Educational Measurement, 8, 63–70.
Tittle, C. K. (1982). Use of judgmental methods in item bias studies. In R. A. Berk (Ed.), Handbook of methods for detecting test bias. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tomlinson, J. R., Acker, N., Canter, A., and Lindborg, S. (1977). Minority status, sex, and school psychological services. Psychology in the Schools, 14, 456–460.
Torrance, E. P. (1980). Psychology of gifted children and youth. In W. M. Cruickshank (Ed.), Psychology of exceptional children and youth. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Tyler, L. E. (1965). The psychology of human differences. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Vance, H. B., Huelsman, C. B., and Wherry, R. J. (1976). The hierarchical factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children as it relates to disadvantaged black and white children. Journal of General Psychology, 95, 287–293.
Vance, H. B., and Wallbrown, F. H. (1978). The structure of intelligence for black children: A hierarchical approach. Psychological Record, 28, 31–39.
Veale, J. R., and Foreman, D. I. (1983). Assessing cultural bias using foil response data: Cultural variation. Journal of Educational Measurement, 20, 249–258.
Waits, C., and Richmond, B. O. (1978). Special education-who needs it? Exceptional Children, 44, 279–280.
Wallbrown, F. H., Blaha, J., and Wherry, R. J. (1973). The hierarchical factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 44, 47–65.
Wechsler, D. (1974). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
Wechsler, D. (1975). Intelligence defined and undefined: A rela- tivistic appraisal. American Psychologist, 30, 135–139.
Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
Wherry, R. J., and Wherry, R. J., Jr. (1969). WNEWH program. In R. J. Wherry (Ed.), Psychology department computer program (pp.). Columbus: Ohio State University.
Willerman, L. (1979). The psychology of individual and group differences. San Francisco: Freeman.
Williams, R. L. (1970). Danger: Testing and dehumanizing black children. Clinical Child Psychology Newsletter, 9, 5–6.
Williams, R. L. (1974). From dehumanization to black intellectual genocide: A rejoinder. In G. J. Williams and S. Gordon (Eds.), Clinical child psychology: Current practices and future perspectives. New York: Behavioral Publications.
Wright, B. J., and Isenstein, V. R. (1977). Psychological tests and minorities (DHEW Publication No. ADM 78–482 ). Rockville, MD: National Institute for Mental Health.
Zeidner, M. (1990). Does test anxiety bias scholastic aptitude test performance by gender and sociocultural group? Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 145–160.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reynolds, C.R. (1995). Test Bias and the Assessment of Intelligence and Personality. In: Saklofske, D.H., Zeidner, M. (eds) International Handbook of Personality and Intelligence. Perspectives on Individual Differences. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5571-8_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5571-8_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3239-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-5571-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive