What do norms in intelligence testing help in establishing?

Norms in intelligence testing serve to create a standard for comparing individual performance within a specific population. When a test is administered to a large, representative sample of individuals, the resulting data establishes norms that indicate how a typical person performs on the test. These norms are vital in allowing psychologists and educators to interpret an individual’s score relative to others in the same demographic or age group. This comparison enables practitioners to identify whether a person’s cognitive abilities are above, below, or at the expected level, thus providing critical insights into their intellectual functioning.

The other options pertain to different aspects of intelligence testing. Reliability, for instance, refers to the consistency of the test results over time or across different conditions, rather than performance comparison. The emotional state of test-takers and their cultural background can influence test results but are not the primary focus of what norms help establish in this context. Norms specifically provide a framework for evaluating and understanding individual scores compared to a familiar standard within the tested population.