Jan te Nijenhuis

Does Cultural Background Influence the Intellectual Performance of Children from Immigrant Groups

Summary: This paper addresses both the construct validity and the criterion-related validity of the “Revisie Amsterdamse Kinder Intelligentie Test” (RAKIT), which is a cognitive ability test developed for primary school children. The present study compared immigrant primary school children (N = 559) and Dutch children (N = 604). The mean scores of Surinamese/Netherlands Antillean, Moroccan, and Turkish children differed from each other and were lower than those of the Dutch children. Comparison of the test dimensions showed that group differences with respect to the construct validity were small. We found some item bias, but the combined effects on the sum score were not large. The estimate of general intelligence (g) as computed with the RAKIT showed strong predictive validity for most school subjects and standardized achievement tests. Although some criteria revealed significant prediction bias, the effects were very small. Most of the analyses we performed on differences in test scores and differences ...

Practice and Coaching on IQ Tests: Quite a Lot of g

In the present research two studies are used to investigate the relation between g loading of tests and practice (test-retest) and coaching (active teaching) effects. The data on practice do not support the hypothesis that the higher a test’s g loading, the less susceptible it is to preparation, but the data on coaching support the hypothesis. There is evidence that practice and coaching reduce the g-loadedness of a collection of tests. The implications of these results for predictive validity, practical usability of the tests, the relevance of traditional intelligence taxonomies, and for future research are discussed.

General Factors of Personality in Six Datasets and a Criterion-Related Validity Study at the Netherlands Armed Forces

Several papers showed that a general factor occupies the top of the hierarchical structure of personality, the so-called General Factor of Personality (GFP). The first question is whether the GFP behaves similar to the general factor of mental ability (g), in that GFP scores from different personality questionnaires correlate highly. The second question is whether the GFP is related to real-life outcomes. In six large datasets (total N=21,754) collected in the Netherlands armed forces, the GFPs extracted from six personality questionnaires generally showed high degrees of correlation suggesting they measure the same construct. Moreover, GFP was related to drop-out from military training. This evidence strengthens the view that the GFP is a substantive construct with practical relevance.

Differential Prediction of Immigrant Versus Majority Group Training Performance Using Cognitive Ability and Personality Measures

There are very few studies of the differential prediction of work and training performance for immigrant groups in the Netherlands. Scores on the General Aptitude Test Battery, an intelligence test, and the Amsterdamse Biografische Vragenlijst (ABV), a frequently used Dutch personality test, and training data for 78 immigrant and 78 Dutch trainee truck drivers were collected. Lautenschlager and Mendozas (1986) method of step-down hierarchical regression analysis was used to check for bias in the prediction of training results. Some predictor-criterion combinations showed differential prediction, especially with less cognitive and less objective criteria. The results with respect to the intelligence test appear to be in line with the findings of the US literature.There are very few studies of the differential prediction of work and training performance for immigrant groups in the Netherlands. Scores on the General Aptitude Test Battery, an intelligence test, and the Amsterdamse Biografische Vragenlijst (ABV), a frequently used Dutch personality test, and training data for 78 immigrant and 78 Dutch trainee truck drivers were collected. Lautenschlager and Mendoza’s (1986) method of step-down hierarchical regression analysis was used to check for bias in the prediction of training results. Some predictor-criterion combinations showed differential prediction, especially with less cognitive and less objective criteria. The results with respect to the intelligence test appear to be in line with the findings of the US literature.

The correlation of g with attentional and perceptual-motor ability tests

The correlation between tests of psychometric g and tests of attentional and perceptual-motor abilities was studied. These tests are generally seen as representing three different taxonomies. Test scores of 584 applicants for jobs at Dutch Railways and bus companies were used. The correlation between the g score of the cognitive test and the various parts of the attention-psychomotor battery ranged from 0.14 to 0.56 with 0.39 as an average. Structural-equations modeling using EQS resulted in a general cognitive factor and four second-order factors: Fluid/Crystallized Intelligence, Broad Visual Perception, general Attentional Speed and general Perceptual-Motor Ability, accounting for, respectively, 54, 15, 11, 4, and 16% of the variance. This study has shown that there is substantial overlap between these three taxonomies. The great majority of the attentional and perceptual-motor tests show substantial overlap with psychometric g. However, there is still enough unique variance connected to these tests to result in a weak Attentional Speed and a strong Perceptual-Motor Ability factor. It is most probable that inclusion of the factor scores of broad lower-order factors into a prediction formula using g results in small incremental criterion-related validity for General Attentional Speed and larger gains for General Perceptual-Motor Ability.

The Use of a Test for Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Rigidity for Dutch Immigrant Job‐applicants

Peut-on extrapoler les dimensions Nevrotisme, Extraversion et Rigidite aux groupes d’immigres aux Pays-Bas ? Et est-il pertinent d’utiliser les scores de l’IRT dans l’evaluation des candidats a un emploie relevant de ces populations (L’IRT est le test de Rigidite de l’Institut de Psychologie clinique et industrielle de l’Universite d’Utrecht aux Pays-Bas) ? On a exploite les donnees issues de tests d’autochtones (N= 796) et d’immigrants de la premiere generation (N= 1,302) postulant en vue de postes ouvriers dans les Chemins de Fer neerlandais. Il est apparu que les echelles mesuraient les memes concepts dans les differents groupes et que la majorite des items avaient la meme signification. La typologie peut par suite etre transposee aux populations migrantes et le questionnaire peut etre valablement utilise pour effectuer des comparaisons dans des groupes culturellement homogenes de migrants candidats a un emploi nes a l’etranger et dont le neerlandais n’est pas la langue maternelle. Des travaux complementaires sont indispenables pour s’assurer qu-un meme positionnement sur les echelles de personnalite pour des individus issus de differents groupes determine bien un meme comportement professionnel. The questions addressed are whether a taxonomy with the basic dimensions Neuroticism and Extraversion and the dimension Rigidity can be generalised to immigrant groups in the Netherlands, and whether scores on the IRT (ICIP [Institute for Clinical and Industrial Psychology, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands] Rigidity Test) can be used for assessment of job applicants within these groups. Use was made of test data on first-generation immigrants (N= 1,302) and majority group members (N= 796) applying for blue-collar jobs at Dutch Railways. The scales appear to measure the same constructs in the various groups and the majority of the items do not show differential item functioning. Therefore the taxonomy can be generalised to immigrant populations and the questionnaire can be put to good use for comparisons within culturally homogeneous groups of non-native born, non-native language immigrant job applicants. More research is needed to determine whether the same position on the personality scales for persons from different groups leads to the same job-related social behavior.

The General Factor of Personality (GFP) Relates to Other Ratings of Character and Integrity: Two validity studies in personnel selection and training of the Dutch armed forces

In two studies, we tested whether scores on the general factor of personality (GFP) are associated with other ratings of character and integrity. In Study 1, a total of 3,670 applicants for a military job filled out personality surveys and went through a selection interview. GFPs extracted from two different personality surveys showed meaningful relationships with the job suitability judgments based on the interviews. In Study 2, supervisors rated the integrity of participants (N = 167) who followed a 4‐month military training at the Royal Dutch Military Police. GFPs extracted from three different surveys were correlated with integrity. The findings imply that the GFP is associated with behavioral outcomes, and that the GFP is potentially relevant for personnel selection and appraisal.

The Victorians were still faster than us. Commentary: Factors influencing the latency of simple reaction time

Woods et al. (2015) claim that secular Simple Reaction Time (SRT) slowing (Woodley et al., 2013), disappears once modern studies are corrected for software and hardware lag, and once Galtons data are corrected for fastest-response selection. Here, this is challenged with a reanalysis of the secular slowing of SRT in the UK amongst large (N > 500), population-representative age-matched (≊18–30 years) studies. Starting with Galtons sample, this is assigned the simulated value estimated by Dodonova and Dodonov (2013, who like Woods et al. were critical of secular SRT slowing, owing to measurement issues) on the basis that he collected the fastest of three trials (207.5 ms). The two sexes in Galtons study are combined (as in Woods et al.), raising the weighted sample mean to 208.5 ms. Next is the Wilkinson and Allison (1989) study, which attempted to replicate Galtons study one century later, collecting SRTs as part of an exhibit in the London Science Museum. An electronic chronoscope recorded SRTs on magnetic tape, and sampled over eight trials with micro-processor-determined variable foreperiods. The mean SRT value for the 1189 participants aged between 20 and 29 is 245 ms. The presence of long and variable foreperiods necessitates a penalty of 10 ms (Dodonova and Dodonov, 2013). Another 10 ms should be deducted based on key-pressing time (Dodonova and Dodonov, 2013), reducing the mean to 225 ms. The studies of Deary and Der (2005) and Der and Deary (2006) are also included. The first utilized the highly representative Scottish Twenty-07 cohort. Dodonova and Dodonov (2013) identified a 53 ms lag stemming from liquid crystal stimulus onset delay. This is subtracted from the weighted average of the two sexes (300.8 ms), along with another 10 ms for key-pressing time. The resultant mean is 237.8 ms. Dodonova and Dodonov (2013) cleaned the male data in the Der and Deary (2006) study, collected from the representative UK Health and Lifestyle Survey, by removing cases for which SRT standard deviations exceeded those for choice RT. This reduced the N from 834 to 661, and also reduced the mean from 300 to 284 ms. The estimate was also penalized for LCD onset delay and key-pressing time, reducing the mean to 221 ms. When the SRT value for the female sample is penalized equivalently the resulting value is 239 ms. In order to simulate the female N for the purposes of taking a weighted average of both sexes, the actual female N is reduced in proportion to the male N (79.3% = 881), yielding a weighted mean of 230.9 ms for a combined sample-size of 1472. Table ​Table11 presents the data used in the analysis. Table 1 SRT means, sample sizes and sampling years for four large, age-matched UK samples. Consistent with Dodonova and Dodonov (2013), N-weighted regression is employed, as the only data on sample variability is sample size. Figure ​Figure11 illustrates the secular trend in British SRT spanning 100 years. Figure 1 Secular SRT slowing across four large, representative studies from the UK spanning a century. Bubble-size is proportional to sample size. Combined N = 6622. The secular slowing between UK studies is statistically significant (β = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.969–0.971, N = 6622), at +22.8 ms a century. Additional evidence for generational SRT slowing comes from Verhaeghen (2014), who suggested that the ratio of longitudinal to cross-sectional age-related slowing might indicate generational changes in processing speed. Verhaeghen reports ratios for two SRT studies (0.91 and 1.15), implying both secular losses and gains. For the study of Deary and Der (2005), the SRT ratios are “censored because they were excessively large” (p. 256). In this study, the ratio of the cross-sectional slowing trend (taking the weighted average of all paired between-cohort differences rescaled in terms of change per decade for males and females), to the weighted average decadal longitudinal slowing trend for both the males and females is 0.73, for an N of 1926 (cf. Woodley et al., 2014, for a detailed reanalysis of this dataset utilizing curve-fitting). The weighted average of the three SRT “Verhaeghen ratios” is 0.9 (N = 4078)—tentatively consistent with generational declines (i.e., a ratio of < 1). In conclusion, Woods et al. (2015) have undoubtedly made an important contribution to the debate concerning the role of software and hardware lag in the inflation of contemporary estimates of SRT, however, the evidence for generational SRT slowing remains quite compelling.

Why Do Northeast Asians Win So Few Nobel Prizes?1

Most scientific discoveries have originated from Europe, and Europeans have won 20 times more Nobel Prizes than have Northeast Asians. We argue that this is explained not by IQ, but by interracial ...

SPEARMAN’S HYPOTHESIS TESTED COMPARING SAUDI ARABIAN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH VARIOUS OTHER GROUPS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS ON THE ITEMS OF THE STANDARD PROGRESSIVE MATRICES

Spearmans hypothesis tested at the level of items states that differences between ethnic groups on the items of an IQ test are a function of the g loadings of these items, such that there are small differences between ethnic groups on items with low g loadings and large differences between ethnic groups on items with high g loadings; this has been confirmed in a limited number of studies. In this paper, Spearmans hypothesis was tested, comparing a group of Saudi children and adolescents (N=3209) with other groups of children and adolescents from Denmark, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, South Africa, Estonia, Ukraine, Ireland, Russia and Chile (total N=9333). The analyses were carried out on twelve comparisons between the Saudi Arabian children and the other children. Spearmans hypothesis was confirmed less strongly than in other large-scale studies with a mean weighted r value of 0.44. The relevance of these findings for the discussion on the causes of group differences is discussed.