Wonderlic test

Created in 1936 by E. F. Wonderlic, the Wonderlic Personnel Test was the first short-form cognitive abilities test. It was developed to measure general cognitive ability in the areas of math, vocabulary, and reasoning. and Oscar Mayer in the 1940s, the Wonderlic Personnel Test has been used by both the United States Armed Forces and the National Football League. During World War II, the Navy began using the Wonderlic Personnel Test to select candidates for pilot training and navigation. From 1940–1960 the test was supplied for free as the data was valuable to E. F. Wonderlic. In the 1970s Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowboys, was the first to use the Wonderlic Personnel Test to predict player performance. The Wonderlic test is continually updated with repeated evaluations of questions. Also, beginning in the 1970s, Wonderlic began to develop other forms of the Wonderlic Personnel, some of which include: Wonderlic Perceptual Ability Tests, Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam, or the Wonderlic Contemporary Cognitive Ability Test. ==Versions==

The Wonderlic company released the Wonderlic Personnel Test in the 1990s, measuring an individual's problem solving and learning capability. The Wonderlic Personnel Test has two different forms: the Wonderlic Personnel Test--Quicktest (30 questions in 8 minutes) and the Wonderlic Personnel Test (50 questions, 12 minutes). The Wonderlic Personnel Test – Quicktest differs from the Wonderlic Personnel Test in that it is not proctored. The Wonderlic Personnel Test is a much more comprehensive test. The Wonderlic SLE is the scholastic version of the Wonderlic Personnel Test and is commonly administered to nursing school and medical program applicants. ==Sample questions==

Similar to other standardized tests, the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test presents its questions in an open response. • A watch lost 1 minute and 12 seconds in 36 days. How many seconds did it lose per day? ==Application to industrial-organizational psychology==

The Wonderlic test, as a vocational and intelligence test, falls under the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. As a personnel test the Wonderlic is used to gauge an applicant's job potential, educational potential, and training potential. However, a study conducted by psychologists Kazmier and Browne (1959) shows that neither of these forms can be regarded as directly equivalent. The Wonderlic test has been peer reviewed by the American Psychological Association and has been deemed worthy of field applications to the industrial use of personnel testing. Other sources can be found on the database APA PsycNET. ==Reliability==

In 1956, Weaver and Boneau reported in the Journal of Applied Psychology that two of the five forms, A and B, that were published at the time were harder than the others which caused scores on those forms to be significantly lower than scores obtained on forms C–F. Concerning these observed differences, Weaver and Boneau state: "This accords with the history of the development of the test. Forms D, E, and F are made up of items selected from the Otis Higher, while A and B were developed later and include types of items not found in the Otis." Furthermore, Kazmier found Form B to be the most difficult of the five forms and, thus, recommended that it "not be regarded as directly equivalent to any of the forms." To put it simply, one's memory of some of the answers does not significantly affect one's score on the Wonderlic. According to a 1989 article in Psychological Reports, the Wonderlic scored a r=.87 on the reliability scale compared along with the Pearson test score of r=.21. ==Validity==

In an article written in Psychological Reports, T. Matthews and Kerry Lassiter report that the Wonderlic test "was most strongly associated with overall intellectual functioning," which is what it is purported to measure. ==Legal matters==

Jordan v. New London In May 1997, Robert Jordan filed a lawsuit against the city of New London, Connecticut, alleging violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States and Connecticut constitutions, in a case that was referred to by several media outlets as "Too Smart To Be A Cop", based on the city's application of scores generated by the Wonderlic test. Jordan was born and raised in New London, and had previous experience in law enforcement, working as a part-time officer in near-by Groton Long Point, and as a seasonal officer for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. In fall 1996, Jordan requested an interview with Keith Harrigan, New London's Assistant City Manager in charge of personnel. Harrigan informed Jordan that he was ineligible because he scored too high on the written portion of the Wonderlic test intended to evaluate cognitive ability. New London had decided to consider only applicants who scored between 20 and 27 on the written examination. Jordan scored a 33 on the exam, the equivalent of having an IQ of 125. Jordan filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, where his case was dismissed by Judge Peter C. Dorsey, who noted: "The guarantee of equal protection under the Fifth Amendment is not a source of substantive rights or liberties, but rather a right to be free from invidious discrimination in statutory classifications and other governmental activity. It is well settled that where a statutory classification does not itself impinge on a right or liberty protected by the Constitution, the validity of the classification must be sustained unless the classification rests on grounds wholly irrelevant to the achievement of [any legitimate government] objective....[Jordan] may have been disqualified unwisely but he was not denied equal protection." The dismissal was upheld on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Griggs v. Duke Power Co. ==Central tendency of Wonderlic scores==

Serving as a quantitative measure for employers, scores are collected by the employers and the applicant's score may be compared to a professional standard, as is the case with security guards or, simply, compared to the scores of other applicants who happen to be applying for the same or similar positions at that time. Each profession has its own unique average; therefore, different professions require different standards. Average score in the NFL by position The Wonderlic test is used in the NFL Scouting Combine. Paul Brown introduced the test to the league in the late 1960s. According to Paul Zimmerman's ''The New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football,'' the average score of an NFL player by position was: • Offensive tackle – 26 • Center – 25 • Quarterback – 24 • Guard – 23 • Tight end – 22 • Safety – 19 • Linebacker – 19 • Cornerback – 18 • Wide receiver – 17 • Fullback – 17 • Halfback – 16 An average football player usually scores around 20 points. Predictor of success in the NFL John P. Lopez of Sports Illustrated proposed a 26–27–60 rule to predict a quarterback's success in the NFL (at least a 26 on the Wonderlic, at least 27 college starts, and at least 60% pass completion) and listed several examples of successes and failures based on the rule. A 2005 study by McDonald Mirabile found that there is no significant correlation between a quarterback's Wonderlic score and a quarterback's passer rating, and no significant correlation between a quarterback's Wonderlic score and a quarterback's salary. Similarly, a 2009 study by Brian D. Lyons, Brian J. Hoffman, and John W. Michel found that Wonderlic scores failed to positively and significantly predict future NFL performance, draft position, or the number of games started for any position. The Lyons study also found that the relationship between Wonderlic test scores and future NFL performance was negative for a few positions, indicating the higher a player scores on the Wonderlic test, the worse the player will perform in the NFL. For tight ends and defensive backs, it was found that lower scores indicated increased achievements. According to Pat McInally, who was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL draft, George Young told him that his perfect score caused him to be selected later than he would have otherwise. NFL reporter Matt Verderame reported that New England Patriots offensive lineman Joe Thuney avoided answering Wonderlic questions so he would not score too high. McInally speculated that "coaches and front-office guys don't like extremes one way or the other, but particularly not on the high side. I think they think guys who are intelligent will challenge authority too much". Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com agreed with McInally: Job performance in the NFL also includes deviance. A 2016 study found that the Wonderlic significantly predicted future arrests, referred to as criminal off-duty deviance, with players testing below the league average being almost twice as likely to get arrested in the future as players who scored above the league average. ==In popular culture==

A simplified and condensed version of the Wonderlic test appeared in older editions of the Madden NFL video game series. ==See also==