A test that is supposed to measure INTELLIGENCE. Its purpose is to discriminate between people who score high and people who score low (i.e. high and low IQ) for the purpose of assigning them to various educational, occupational and social categories. High scores are supposed to denote high intelligence and low scores the opposite, but in the absence of an agreed definition of intelligence, the OPERATIONAL DEFINITION becomes circular people score high on intelligence tests because they are highly intelligent because highly intelligent people score high on intelligence tests. There is also a great deal of evidence that intelligence tests tend to be biased in favour of white, urban, middle-class people in their selection of test items.
