A Century Of Ability Testing

E-Book Overview

The purpose of this book is not to present a detailed account of the Stanford-Binet, or any other intelligence test. Instead, at the request of the Riverside Publishing company, I set out to trace some of the historical forces that shaped the development of the measurement of intelligence, in particular as it has been defined by the Stanford-Binet. For the last 25 years, which roughly spans my career in psychology, psychological testing has been under more or less continual attack, often for events that took place in quite a different time and climate. Because members of my family have been involved in the measurement of human abilities and other characteristics almost from the beginning of the enterprise, they have been part of the conflict. The research that went into this little book has at times taken the form of a personal voyage of discovery into my past. I found out many things about E. L. Thorndike, my grandfather, that I had not known, and on occasion I tried to bring an element of familial perspective into the narrative. But more than anything, this book tries to understand and explain the course of development of the measurement of intelligence within the changing context of the times. Many of the prominent figures of the early phases of the testing movement in the united States have been portrayed by some recent writers as heartless fiends whose only goal in life was to persecute the less fortunate. It would be hard to distort their motives more. These were men and occasionally women who went about their business with the best of scientific intentions in an era when many people expected science to solve all the world's problems within the next few years. They were not completely successful, but that was not for lack of effort. And, as the record of psychometrics in educational, industrial, and military affairs will attest, tests have been successfully used to reduce bias and improve efficiency in meaningful ways. That bias and prejudice may still exist and may enter into the use of tests is more a function of the society as a whole than it is of the testing movement.

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E-Book Content

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E-Book Information

• Year: 1,990

• Pages: 180

• Pages In File: 180

• Language: English

• Topic: 198

• Identifier: 0-8292-5156-1

• Dpi: 600

• Org File Size: 20,119,161

• Extension: pdf

• Tags: psychology, psychometrics, intelligence, testing, factor analysis, Stanford-Binet IQ test, Spearman, E. L. Thorndike, Lewis Terman, Wechsler-Bellevue

• Toc: - Preface 1: Beginnings of Mental Testing - A Universal Endeavor -- "Mental Test" -- Converging Trends of Thought - The Work of Alfred Binet -- Early Work of Alfred Binet -- Binet's Work in Context -- Publication of the Binet-Simon Scales -- Binet's Concept of Intelligence -- Assumptions Behind Intelligence Measurement 2. Early Efforts in the United States and England -