The effect of familiarity with the examiner on WISC-r verbal,performance, and full scale scores

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was administered to 72 elementary school children (36 first graders and 36 fifth graders). Three methods of pretest rapport establishment were compared for each of two age groups. Treatment Group 1 received less than 5 minutes of pretest rapport establishment immediately preceding testing. Treatment Group 2 received 15 minutes of rapport establishment immediately preceding testing. Treatment Group 3 received 5 minutes of rapport establishment on two of the five school days prior to testing and 5 minutes immediately preceding testing. It was found that time spent in establishment of familiarity with the examiner as determined by the three treatment conditions had no significant effect on WISC-R Verbal, Performance, or Full Scale scores for this sample. Also, no significant difference was found between 6-year-old and 10-year-old students under the various treatment conditions. Finally, no significant differences on WISC-R Verbal, Performance, or Full Scale scores were found as a result of the interaction of age and familiarity conditions.