The South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has entered into a licencing agreement with the Psychological Corporation to norm the third revision of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-Ill) for use with South African adults. The WAIS-III was co-normed in the United States with the Wechsler Memory Scale - 3rd Revision (WMS-III). Both scales were published in 1997, and both depart in important method, content, and factor analytic respects from their predecessors, the WAIS-R and the WMS-R. This paper reviews the innovations in these scales in the light of the special needs of the developing countries on the one hand, and the resistance of many psychologists in the developing countries to intelligence testing on the other; considers data that reflect on the construct validity of the Wechsler tests in a developing country context; puts forward a methodology that will contribute to the construct validation of the WAlS-III and the WMS-III; and argues that although the HSRC does not plan to standardise the WMS-III for South Africa, co-norming should be undertaken.
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