Culture Fair Intelligence Test

Understanding the Test

For many years, people of different cultures have been measured the wrong way as far as IQ is concerned. Now, the culture fair intelligence test is available for individuals to take. Many employers also use this test now to measure applicants’ IQ in a far way. But what exactly is CFIT?

The culture fair intelligence tests are the solution to the argument that it is not fair to measure intelligence of people from different continents using the same test. This was developed in the 1920s by Raymond Cattell. These tests do not have a lot of verbal instructions. Instead, you have questionnaires shown through the forms of puzzles and images that a test-taker has to analyze. Also called the CFIT, this is based on the theory that there are two forms of general intelligence: the fluid and crystallized intelligence.

Fluid intelligence refers to your ability to use logic ad reasoning to solve a problem. This, according to psychologists, is a form of inborn or natural intelligence, albeit each person has a different level or degree from the rest. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, is a measurement of knowledge and intelligence that is learned or acquired in life. These are the things we learned in the classrooms or through informal education.

The Necessity of CFIT

In the early 20th century, many people who immigrated to English speaking countries such as the US or Europe were deemed to be of lower intellectual capacity than the English speaking individuals in the said territories. It was therefore concluded that if you are not of a Caucasian origin, you are of lesser intellect. Psychologists were able to prove that this was wrong. This is precisely because different cultures have different learning methods and when these individuals were measured using standard Caucasian tests, they usually failed because the tests they took were of different format such a multiple choice. Add to that the fact that they do not speak English.

As a solution, a test was designed to address this issue on IQ measurement for people with varying cultural origins. This is where the culture fair intelligence test was developed. This is also used to standardize the IQ test for those who have never undergone any IQ test before.

The Validity of CFIT

The validity of the culture fair intelligence test was put in question before. Today, there are two main validity concepts used for CFIT. One is called the Direct Concept and the other one is called Convergent Validity.

The Direct Concept Validity is also called construct validity. This refers to the degree of correlation between a scale of tests and the concept that is being measured. In terms of CFIT, the tests or scales have high correlation with fluid intelligence because the tests are formulated and designed to measure fluid intelligence. How it is validated is through the use of factor analysis, a statistical tool that is used to measure whether what a tests claims is accurate.

The Convergent Validity, on the other hand, is the measurement of the degree of correlation with other tests of the same nature. If culture fair intelligence test was designed to measure IQ, how does it relate to other IQ tests as far as accuracy is concerned? If CFIT said that a person has a high IQ, will other IQ tests show the same result? To make a long story short, the culture fair intelligence test was examined and it showed that it has a high correlation or relevance to other IQ tests.

CFIT and Your Career

The culture fair intelligence test is used to indicate learning problems. You as an adult are expected to take the CFIT-III. Versions I and II are for children and teenagers. The results of the test will let your employer know if you have potential problems in your fluid or crystallized intelligence. Many companies use the culture fair intelligence test to make informed decisions. This is an IQ test of choice because it does not give preference to race or gender and this is especially applicable employers that practice equal opportunity employment.

Scoring high on both scales of the culture fair intelligence test is an indication that you have high learning abilities. This essentially tells your employer that you have a great potential and that you have the capability to understand the company’s processes and expectations of you of the job. When you score low on this test, the employers will have hesitation hiring you, especially if your fluid intelligence belongs to the lower scale. A poor logical reasoning is an indication that you may have challenges solving problems later on without direct supervision.