Explaining School Achievement: Incremental Validity of Specific Cognitive Abilities Beyond the g-Factor

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: The Integration of Cognition and Assessment: Improving Assessment Development and Score Interpretations and Utilization

Abstract

The incremental validity of specific cognitive abilities beyond general intelligence has been investigated in studies using hierarchical multiple regression analyses (HMR). In the present study, it was investigated whether the incremental validity of specific cognitive abilities on school grades varied as a function of the general ability level, using HMR with the standardization sample of the Berlin structure-of-intelligence test (BIS-HB). While specific cognitive abilities had little incremental validity in the low- and mid-IQ-group, they provided significant benefit for the prediction of school grades in the high-IQ-group. The results indicate that the interpretation of IQ-tests may benefit from a differential weighting of different test information, depending on general ability of the tested individual.

Authors

• Moritz Lion Breit, University of Trier

• Franzis Preckel, University of Trier