November 27, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Some of the world’s leading scholars in the field of individual differences in intelligence and the assessment of mental abilities will gather Dec. 4 for an invitational conference sponsored by Vanderbilt University’s John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and Peabody College of Education and Human Development.
Direct participation in the conference, which is titled “Futures of Intellectual Assessment and Psychometrics,” is by invitation only; however, observers are welcome. The sessions will be held in the Wyatt Center on the Peabody campus from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The conference’s purpose is "to assess the current state of the art of assessing intelligence, and, thereby, to provide a launching pad for future development in this area that has been historically at the very center of scientific and applied psychology," said H. Carl Haywood, professor of psychology, emeritus, and former director of the Kennedy Center. He is co-directing the conference with David Lubinski, professor of psychology. Both Haywood and Lubinski are members of the Kennedy Center’s scientific team.
Eleven participants will present brief formal papers, each followed by a period of discussion led by a notable scholar. Presenters include Douglas K. Detterman, Case Western Reserve University; Ian J. Deary, University of Edinburgh; Linda S. Gottfried, University of Delaware; Phillip L. Ackerman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Earl B. Hunt, University of Washington; H. Carl Haywood, Vanderbilt University; Theodore D. Wachs, Purdue University; Richard W. Woodcock, Vanderbilt University; Isaac Bejar, Educational Testing Service; Susan Embretson, University of Kansas; and Mark Wilson, University of California, Berkeley.
In addition to Lubinksi, others who will lead the discussions include Thomas J. Bouchard Jr., University of Minnesota; John B. Carroll, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Douglas Fuchs, Vanderbilt University; Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt University; Arthur R. Jensen, University of California, Berkeley; Julian C. Stanley, Johns Hopkins University; Robert J. Sternberg, Yale University; and Niels G. Waller, Vanderbilt University.
According to Haywood and Lubinski, the discussions are expected to produce as much controversy and insight for the future as are the formal papers, since the discussants, like the presenters, are national leaders in the field of intellectual assessment.
Topics of the formal papers include “IQ, Psychometrics, and Basic Cognitive Processes: Past and Future” (Detterman); “Origins and Impacts of Intelligence Differences: Psychometrics Meets Epidemiology” (Deary); “Life, Death, and Intelligence” (Gottfredson); “Trait Complexes and Adult Intellectual Development” (Ackerman); “Assessment Interleaved with Instruction: A Quality Control Approach” (Hunt); “New Models of Ability Are Required: New Methods of Assessment Follow” (Haywood); “The Nature of Environment-Intelligence Links: Implications for Intellectual Assessment” (Wachs); “Recent Advances in Theories and Assessment of Intelligence” (Woodcock); “Tests as Psychological Experiments: A Perspective with Practical and Theoretical Implications” (Bejar); “Measuring Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence” (Embretson); and “Psychometrics: Villain or Hero?” (Wilson). For a complete schedule, see www.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy/conference.
During the three days immediately following the psychometrics conference, the International Society for Intelligence Research will hold its annual meeting on the Peabody campus. Many scholars will participate in both conferences.
Peabody College and the Kennedy Center have long played leading roles in the field of psychometrics. Peabody recently appointed Gale Roid, a national expert in test development, to hold the Dunn Family Chair in Educational and Psychological Assessment. The chair was endowed by Lloyd and Leota Dunn, who co-authored groundbreaking educational tests in the 1950s and 60s. Lloyd Dunn is a former Peabody faculty member and Kennedy Center investigator.
A special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, guest-edited by Haywood, will be devoted to the topic “Contemporary Issues in Psychological and Educational Assessment.”
For more information about Vanderbilt, please visit the News Service homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/News.
Contact: Jan Rosemergy, 615-322-8240, jan.rosemergy@vanderbilt.edu