Lecerf, Thierry <br/><br/>
The influence of culture and socioeconomic status on cognitive performance 

 -  2014.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 53 
<br/><br/> The standardization of test administration is the first main characteristic of Psychometric Tests of Intelligences (PTIs). The second main characteristic of PTIs is that any individual's performance is compared to the distribution of scores obtained by the individuals of the standardization sample. Finally, PTIs allow for the generation of hypotheses about individuals’ cognitive functioning. Despite the important use of PTIs, they are regularly criticized. In particular, critics suggest that PTIs are heavily biased in favor of middle-class Europeans and Americans. This controversy over test bias is related to the fact that sociocultural differences exist in mean test scores. Because they are suspected of being socioculturally biased, three main procedures are applied to PTIs for dealing with validity issues stemming from cultural and linguistic differences: (1) modified or adapted testing; (2) nonverbal testing; and (3) native-language testing. Although each procedure has some advantages and disadvantages, we cannot recommend using them. Instead, we recommend that practitioners use the C-LIM classification and procedure proposed by Flanagan et al. This interpretive matrix allows us to assess the influence of cultural and linguistic demand on cognitive performances. Because it is impossible to remove the influence of these two components, the best strategy is to estimate their impact on cognitive performance.