Discrimination and exclusion through IQ-test measurements

Intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), are common diagnostic tools used in the process of diagnosing learning and behavior disabilities. Decisions concerning treatment are made based on the results of these tests and they are frequently used in educational and vocational contexts for important decisions that impact persons’ academic or professional lives. This refers not only to IQ tests, but also to other types of high-stakes testing with standardized (psychometric) tests, that are increasingly used worldwide to inform educational admissions and placement. These decisions may be based upon test scores, with little consideration for, for instance, emotional variables that might impact negatively a child´s ability to perform up to his or her potential on standardized tests. Research has however shown that important errors may occur despite the application of validation processes and adherence to quality criteria for psychometric tests. Not only may intelligence tests be biased in relation to social background and cultural and ethnic diversity, bias also occurs in relation with personality traits and motivational and emotional factors. This means that neurodiversity and individual personality diversity in the form of person related confounding variables may also be aspects to be considered. Psychometric procedures seem not to be able to solution this problem.At the same time this evidence seems not to be pervasively acknowledged in psychological practice and research and there have seemingly been no actions taken from the side of psychological research, policy, or psychology education, to address this problem.In my presentation I will give a review of empirical research that draws attention to bias in intelligence testing with the WISC. The review focuses on two types of bias: bias occurring related to diversity in personality traits and emotional and motivational factors that interact with test characteristics, and bias related to the influence of the assessor. Assessor or scorer error may have an unsystematic component, but may also be influenced by a more systematic component, such as a halo effect and race and sex stereotypes. Therefore, I conclude and postulate that current measurements with IQ tests and the way the results are used in practice are inherently discriminatory and excluding as they disadvantage people with certain motivational and emotional traits, and don´t take into account these types of personality diversity.