I've yet to get to the stack of articles I've put aside on malingering and IQ testing in Atkin's cases, so I am not able to answer the following question that someone posed to me today. So...I'm asking readers if they have any information re: research that addresses the following question of a colleague. Please post your response in the "comment" section. Or, if it is long, send me a personal back channel email (iap@earthlink.net) nd I'll post as a guest blog response. Thank you.
Question: If someone is being tried in a capital case, is it likely for them to do worse, intentionally or unintentionally, on the WAIS-III or other IQ tests than if not experiencing that stress or facing the prospect of death if they do too well? Are there any studies comparing the results of the WAIS-III or other IQ tests given to people before they were arrested and afterwards? In short, are there any studies regarding how the stress (or incentives) of facing the death penalty might depress their scores?
Technorati Tags: psychology, forensic psychology, educational psychology, criminal psychology, IQ tests, malingering, SCOTUS, Atkins cases, psychometrics, IQ scores, clinical psychology, intelligence, mental retardation, MR, developmental disabilities
