AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE (I Q 90 TO 110). It is often said that the schools are made for the average child, but that "the average child does not exist." He does exist, and in very large numbers. About 60 per cent of all school children test between 90 and 110 I Q, and about 40 per cent between 95 and 105. That these children are average is attested by their school records as well as by their I Q's. Our records show that, of more than 200 children below 14 years of age and with I Q between 95 and 105, not one was making much more nor much less than average school progress. Four were two years retarded, but in each case this was due to late start, illness, or irregular attendance. Children who test close to 90, however, often fail to get along satisfactorily, while those testing near 110 are occasionally able to win an extra promotion.

The children of this average group are seldom school problems, as far as ability to learn is concerned. Nor are they as likely to cause trouble in discipline as the dull and border-line cases. It is therefore hardly necessary to give illustrative cases here.

The high school, however, does not fit their grade of intelligence as well as the elementary and grammar schools. High schools probably enroll a disproportionate number of pupils in the I Q range above 100. That is, the average intelligence among high-school pupils is above the average for the population in general. It is probably not far from 110. College students are, of course, a still more selected group, perhaps coming chiefly from the range above 115. The child whose school marks are barely average in the elementary grades, when measured against children in general, will ordinarily earn something less than average marks in high school, and perhaps excessively poor marks in college.

SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (I Q 110 TO 120). Children of this group ordinarily make higher marks and are capable of making somewhat more rapid progress than the strictly average child. Perhaps most of them could complete the eight grades in seven years as easily as the average child does in eight years. They are not usually the best scholars, but on a scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, and failure they will usually rank as good, though of course the degree of application is a factor. It is rare, however, to find a child of this level who is positively indolent in his school work or who dislikes school. In high school they are likely to win about the average mark.

Intelligence of 110 to 120 I Q is approximately five times as common among children of superior social status as among children of inferior social status; the proportion among the former being about 24 per cent of all, and among the latter only 5 per cent of all. The group is made up largely of children of the fairly successful mercantile or professional classes.

The total number of children between 110 and 120 is almost exactly the same as the number between 80 and 90; namely, about 15 per cent. The distance between these two groups (say between 85 and 115) is as great as the distance between average intelligence and border-line deficiency, and it would be absurd to suppose that they could be taught to best advantage in the same classes. As a matter of fact, pupils between 110 and 120 are usually held back to the rate of progress which the average child can make. They are little encouraged to do their best.

VERY SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (I Q 120 TO 140). Children of this group are better than somewhat above average. They are unusually superior. Not more than 3 out of 100 go as high as 125 I Q, and only about 1 out of 100 as high as 130. In the schools of a city of average population only about 1 child in 250 or 300 tests as high as 140 I Q.

In a series of 476 unselected children there was not a single one reaching 120 whose social class was described as "below average."[29] Of the children of superior social status, about 10 per cent reached 120 or better. The 120-140 group is made up almost entirely of children whose parents belong to the professional or very successful business classes. The child of a skilled laborer belongs here occasionally, the child of a common laborer very rarely indeed. At least this is true in the smaller cities of California among populations made up of native-born Americans. In all probability it would not have been true in the earlier history of the country when ordinary labor was more often than now performed by men of average intelligence, and it would probably not hold true now among certain immigrant populations of good stock, but limited social and educational advantages.

[29] In other investigations, however, we have found even brighter children from very inferior homes. See p. 117 for an example.

What can children of this grade of ability do in school? The question cannot be answered as satisfactorily as one could wish, for the simple reason that such children are rarely permitted to do what they can. What they do accomplish is as follows: Of 54 children (of the 1000 unselected cases) falling in this group, 121/2 per cent were advanced in the grades two years, approximately 54 per cent were advanced one year, 28 per cent were in the grade where they belonged by chronological age, and three children, or 51/2 per cent, were actually retarded one year. But wherever located, such children rarely get anything but the highest marks, and the evidence goes to show that most of them could easily be prepared for high school by the age of 12 years. Serious injury is done them by schools which believe in "putting on the brakes."

The following are illustrations of children testing between 130 and 145. Not all are taken from the 1000 unselected tests. The writer has discovered several children of this grade as a result of lectures before teachers' institutes. It is his custom, in such lectures, to ask the teachers to bring in for a demonstration test the "brightest child in the city" (or county, etc.). The I Q resulting from such a test is usually between 130 and 140, occasionally a little higher.

Examples of very superior intelligence

Margaret P. Age 8-10; mental age 11-1; I Q 130. Father only a skilled laborer (house painter), but a man of unusual intelligence and character for his social class. Home care above average. M. P. has attended school a little less than three years and is completing fourth grade. Marks all "excellent." Health perfect. Social and moral traits of the very best. Is obedient, conscientious, and unusually reliable for her age. Quiet and confident bearing, but no touch of vanity.

M. P. is known to be related on her father's side to John Wesley, and her maternal grandfather was a highly skilled mechanic and the inventor of an important train-coupling device used on all railroads.

Although she is not yet 9 years old and is completing the fourth grade, she is still about a grade below where she belongs by mental age. She could no doubt easily be made ready for high school by the age of 12.

J. R. Girl, age 12-9; mental age 16 (average adult); I Q approximately 130. Daughter of a university professor. In first year of high school. From first grade up her marks have been nearly all of the A rank. For first semester of high school four of six grades were A, the others B. A wonderfully charming, delightful girl in every respect. Play life perfectly normal.

J. R.'s parents have moved about a great deal and she has attended eight different schools. She is two years above grade in school, but of this gain only one-half grade was made in school; the other grade and a half she gained in a little over a year by staying out of school and working a little each day under the instruction of her mother. But for this she would doubtless now be in the seventh grade instead of in high school. As it is she is at least a grade below where she belongs by mental age. Something better than an average college record may be safely predicted for J. R.

E. B. Girl, age 7-9; mental age 10-2; I Q 130. E. B. was selected by the teachers of a small California city as the brightest school child in that city (school population about 500). Her parents are said to be unusually intelligent. E. B. is in the third grade, a year advanced, but her mental level shows that she belongs in the fourth. The test was made as a demonstration test in the presence of about 150 teachers, all of whom were charmed by her delightful personality and keen responses. No trace of vanity or queerness of any kind. Health excellent. E. B. ought to be ready for high school at 12; she will really have the intelligence to do high-school work by 11.



L. B. Girl, age 8-6; mental age 11-6; I Q 135. Tested nearly three years earlier, age 5-11; mental age 7-6; I Q 127. Daughter of a university professor. At age of 8-6 was doing very superior work in the fifth grade. Later, at age of 10-6, is in the seventh grade with all her marks excellent. Has two sisters who test almost as high, both completing the eighth grade at barely 12 years of age. L. B. looks rather delicate, and though a little nervous is ordinarily strong. We have known her since her early childhood. Like both her sisters, she is a favorite with young and old, as nearly perfection as the most charming little girl could be.

R. S. Boy, age 6-5; mental age 9-6; I Q 148. When tested at age 5-2 he had a mental age of 7-6, I Q 142. Father a university professor. R. S. entered school at exactly 6 years of age, and at the present writing is 71/2 years old and is entering the third grade. Leads his class in school and takes delight in the work. Is normal in play life and social traits and is dependable and thoughtful beyond his years. Should enter high school not later than 12; could probably be made ready a year earlier, but as he is somewhat nervous this might not be wise.

T. F. Boy, age 10-6; mental age 14; I Q 133. At 13-6 tested at "superior adult," and had vocabulary of 13,000 (also "superior adult"). Son of a college professor. Did not go to school till age of 9 years and was not taught to read till 81/2. At this writing he is 151/2 years old and is a senior in high school. He will complete the high-school course in three and one-half years with A to B marks, mostly A. Gets his hardest mathematics lessons in five to ten minutes. Science is his play. When he discovered Hodge's Nature Study and Life at age of 11 years he literally slept with the book till he almost knew it by heart. Since age 12 he has given much time to magazines on mechanics and electricity. At 13 he installed a wireless apparatus without other aid than his electrical magazines. He has, for a boy of his age, a rather remarkable understanding of the principles underlying electrical applications. He is known by his playmates as "the boy with a hobby." Stamp collections, butterfly and moth collections (over 70 different varieties), seashore collections, and wireless apparatus all show that the appellation is fully merited. He chooses his hobbies and "rides" them entirely on his own initiative.

J. S. Boy, age 8-2; mental age 11-4; I Q 138. Father was a lawyer, parents now dead. Is in high fourth grade. Leads his class. Attractive, healthy, normal-appearing lad. Full of good humor. Is loving and obedient, strongly attached to his foster mother (an aunt). Composes verses and fables for pastime. Here are a couple of verses composed before his eighth birthday. They are reproduced without change of spelling or punctuation:—

Christmas

Hurrah for Christmas And all it's joy's That come that day For girls and boy's.

Flowers

Flowers in the garden. That is all you see Who likes them best? That's the honey bee.

J. S. ought to be in the fifth grade, instead of the fourth. He will easily be able to enter college by the age of 15 if he is allowed to make the progress which would be normal to a child of his intelligence. But it is too much to expect that the school will permit this.

F. McA. Boy, age 10-3; mental age 14-6; I Q 142. Father a school principal. F. is leading his class of 24 pupils in the high seventh grade. Has received so many extra promotions only because his father insisted that the teachers allow him to try the next grade. The dire consequences which they predicted have never followed. F. is perfectly healthy and one of the most attractive lads the writer has ever seen. He has the normal play instincts, but when not at play he has the dignified bearing of a young prince, although without vanity. His vocabulary is 9000 (14 years), and his ability is remarkably even in all directions. F. should easily enter college by the age of 15.



E. M. Boy, age 6-11; mental age 10; I Q 145. Learned to read at age of 5 without instruction and shortly afterward had learned from geography maps the capitals of all the States of the Union. Started to school at 71/2. Entered the first grade at 9 A.M. and had been promoted to the fourth grade by 3 P.M. of the same day! Has now attended school a half-year and is in the fifth grade, age 7 years, 8 months. Father is on the faculty of a university.

E. M. is as superior in personal and moral traits as in intelligence. Responsible, sturdy, playful, full of humor, loving, obedient. Health is excellent. Has had no home instruction in school work. His progress has been perfectly natural.



The above list of "very superior" children includes only a few of those we have tested who belong to this grade of intelligence. Every child in the list is so interesting that it is hard to omit any. We have found all such children (with one or two exceptions not included here) so superior to average children in all sorts of mental and moral traits that one is at a loss to understand how the popular superstitions about the "queerness" of bright children could have originated or survived. Nearly every child we have found with I Q above 140 is the kind one feels, before the test is over, one would like to adopt. If the crime of kidnaping could ever be forgiven it would be in the case of a child like one of these.

GENIUS AND "NEAR" GENIUS. Intelligence tests have not been in use long enough to enable us to define genius definitely in terms of I Q. The following two cases are offered as among the highest test records of which the writer has personal knowledge. It is doubtful whether more than one child in 10,000 goes as high as either. One case has been reported, however, in which the I Q was not far from 200. Such a record, if reliable, is certainly phenomenal.

E. F. Russian boy, age 8-5; mental age 13; I Q approximately 155. Mother is a university student apparently of very superior intelligence. E. F. has a sister almost as remarkable as himself. E. F. is in the sixth grade and at the head of his class. Although about four grades advanced beyond his chronological age he is still one grade retarded! He could easily carry seventh-grade work. In all probability E. F. could be made ready for college by the age of 12 years without injury to body or mind. His mother has taken the only sensible course; she has encouraged him without subjecting him to overstimulation.

E. F. was selected for the test as probably one of the brightest children in a city of a third of a million population. He may not be the brightest in that city, but he is one of the three or four most intelligent the writer has found after a good deal of searching. He is probably equaled by not more than one in several thousand unselected children. How impatiently one waits to see the fruit of such a budding genius!

B. F. Son of a minister, age 7-8; mental age 12-4; I Q 160. Vocabulary 7000 (12 years). This test was not made by the writer, but by one of his graduate students. The record included the verbatim responses, so that it was easy to verify the scoring. There can be no doubt as to the substantial accuracy of the test. This I Q of 160 is the highest one in the Stanford University records. B. F. has excellent health, normal play interests, and is a favorite among his playfellows. Parents had not thought of him as especially remarkable. He is only in the third grade, and is therefore about three grades below his mental age.



It is especially noteworthy that not one of the children we have described with I Q above 130 has ever had any unusual amount or kind of home instruction. In most cases the parents were not aware of their very great superiority. Nor can we give the credit to the school or its methods. The school has in most cases been a deterrent to their progress, rather than a help. These children have been taught in classes with average and inferior children, like those described in the first part of this chapter. Their high I Q is only an index of their extraordinary cerebral endowment. This endowment is for life. There is not the remotest probability that any of these children will deteriorate to the average level of intelligence with the onset of maturity. Such an event would be no less a miracle (barring insanity) than the development of an imbecile into a successful lawyer or physician.

IS THE I Q OFTEN MISLEADING? Do the cases described in this chapter give a reliable picture as to what one may expect of the various I Q levels? Does the I Q furnish anything like a reliable index of an individual's general educational possibilities and of his social worth? Are there not "feeble-minded geniuses," and are there not children of exceptionally high I Q who are nevertheless fools?

We have no hesitation in saying that there is not one case in fifty in which there is any serious contradiction between the I Q and the child's performances in and out of school. We cannot deny the existence of "feeble-minded geniuses," but after a good deal of search we have not found one. Occasionally, of course, one finds a feeble-minded person who is an expert penman, who draws skillfully, who plays a musical instrument tolerably well, or who handles number combinations with unusual rapidity; but these are not geniuses; they are not authors, artists, musicians, or mathematicians.

As for exceptionally intelligent children who appear feeble-minded, we have found but one case, a boy of 10 years with an I Q of about 125. This boy, whom we have tested several times and whose development we have followed for five years, was once diagnosed by a physician as feeble-minded. His behavior among other persons than his familiar associates is such as to give this impression. Nothing less than an entire chapter would be adequate for a description of this case, which is in reality one of disturbed emotional and social development with superior intelligence.

It should be emphasized, however, that what we have said about the significance of various I Q's holds only for the I Q's secured by the use of the Stanford revision. As we have shown elsewhere (p. 62 ff.) the I Q yielded by other versions of the Binet tests are often so inaccurate as to be misleading.

We have not found a single child who tested between 70 and 80 I Q by the Stanford revision who was able to do satisfactory school work in the grade where he belonged by chronological age. Such children are usually from two to three grades retarded by the age of 12 years. On the other hand, the child with an I Q of 120 or above is almost never found below the grade for his chronological age, and occasionally he is one or two grades above. Wherever located, his school work is so superior as to suggest strongly the desirability of extra promotions. Those who test between 96 and 105 are almost never more than one grade above or below where they belong by chronological age, and even the small displacement of one year is usually determined by illness, age of beginning school, etc.



CHAPTER VII

RELIABILITY OF THE BINET-SIMON METHOD

GENERAL VALUE OF THE METHOD. In a former chapter we have noted certain imperfections of the scale devised by Binet and Simon; namely, that many of the tests were not correctly located, that the choice of tests was in a few cases unsatisfactory, that the directions for giving and scoring the tests were sometimes too indefinite, and that the upper and lower ranges of the scale especially stood in need of extensions and corrections. All of these faults have been quite generally admitted. The method itself, however, after being put to the test by psychologists of all countries and of all faiths, by the skeptical as well as the friendly, has amply demonstrated its value. The agreement on this point is as complete as it is regarding the scale's imperfections.

The following quotations from prominent psychologists who have studied the method will serve to show how it is regarded by those most entitled to an opinion:—

There can be no question about the fact that the Binet-Simon tests do not make half as frequent or half as great errors in the mental ages (of feeble-minded children) as are included in gradings based on careful, prolonged general observation by experienced observers.[30]

[30] Dr. F. Kuhlmann: "The Binet-Simon Tests of Intelligence in Grading Feeble-Minded Children," in Journal of Psycho-Asthenics (1912), p. 189.

All of the different authors who have made these researches (with Binet's method) are in a general way unanimous in recognizing that the principle of the scale is extremely fortunate, and all believe that it offers the basis of a most useful method for the examination of intelligence.[31]

[31] Dr. Otto Bobertag: "L'echelle metrique de l'intelligence," in L'Annee Psychologique (1912), p. 272.

It serves as a relatively simple and speedy method of securing, by means accessible to every one, a true insight into the average level of ability of a child between 3 and 15 years of age.[32]

[32] Dr. Ernest Meumann: Experimentelle Paedagogik (1913), vol. II, p. 277.

That, despite the differences in race and language, despite the divergences in school organization and in methods of instruction, there should be so decided agreement in the reactions of the children—is, in my opinion, the best vindication of the principle of the tests that one could imagine, because this agreement demonstrates that the tests do actually reach and discover the general developmental conditions of intelligence (so far as these are operative in public-school children of the present cultural epoch), and not mere fragments of knowledge and attainments acquired by chance.[33]

[33] Dr. W. Stern: The Psychological Methods of Testing Intelligence. Translated by Whipple (1913), p. 49.

It is without doubt the most satisfactory and accurate method of determining a child's intelligence that we have, and so far superior to everything else which has been proposed that as yet there is nothing else to be considered.[34]

[34] Dr. H. H. Goddard: "The Binet Measuring Scale of Intelligence; What it is and How it is to be Used," in The Training School Bulletin (1912).

The value of the method lies both in the swiftness and the accuracy with which it works. One who knows how to apply the tests correctly and who is experienced in the psychological interpretation of responses can in forty minutes arrive at a more accurate judgment as to a subject's intelligence than would be possible without the tests after months or even years of close observation. The reasons for this have already been set forth.[35] The difference is something like that between measuring a person's height with a yardstick and estimating it by guess. That this is not an unfair statement of the case is well shown by the following candid confession by a psychologist who tested 200 juvenile delinquents brought before Judge Lindsey's court:—

[35] See this volume, p. 24 ff.

As a matter of interest I estimated the mental ages of 150 of my subjects before testing them. In 54 of the estimates the error was not more than one year in either direction; 70 of the subjects were estimated too high, the average error being 2 years and 7 months; 26 of the subjects were estimated too low, the average error being 2 years and 2 months. These figures would seem to imply that an estimate with nothing to support it is wholly unreliable, more especially as many of the estimates were four or five years wide of the mark.[36]

[36] C. S. Bluemel: "Binet Tests on 200 Delinquents," in The Training School Bulletin (1915), p. 192. (Italics inserted.)

Criticisms of the Binet method have also been frequently voiced, but chiefly by persons who have had little experience with it or by those whose scientific training hardly justifies an opinion. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that eminence in law, medicine, education, or any other profession does not of itself enable any one to pass judgment on the validity of a psychological method.

DEPENDENCE OF THE SCALE'S RELIABILITY ON THE TRAINING OF THE EXAMINER. On this point two radically different opinions have been urged. On the one hand, some have insisted that the results of a test made by other than a thoroughly trained psychologist are absolutely worthless. At the opposite extreme are a few who seem to think that any teacher or physician can secure perfectly valid results after a few hours' acquaintance with the tests.

The dispute is one which cannot be settled by the assertion of opinion, and, unfortunately, thoroughgoing investigations have not yet been made as to the frequency and extent of errors made by untrained or partially trained examiners. The only study of this kind which has so far been reported is the following:—[37]

[37] Samuel C. Kohs: "The Binet Test and the Training of Teachers," in The Training School Bulletin (1914), pp. 113-17.

Dr. Kohs gives the results of tests made by 58 inexperienced teachers who were taking a summer course in the Training School at Vineland. The class met three times a week for instruction in the use of the Binet scale. During the first week the students listened to three lectures by Dr. Goddard. The second week was given over to demonstration testing. Each student saw four children tested, and attended two discussion periods of an hour each. During the third, fourth, and fifth weeks each student tested one child per week, and observed the testing of two others. The student was allowed to carry the test through in his own way, but received criticism after it was finished. Twice a week Dr. Goddard spent an hour with the class, discussing experimental procedure. The subjects tested were feeble-minded children whose exact mental ages were already known, and for this reason it was possible to check up the accuracy of each student's work.

Kohs's table of results for the trial testing of the 174 children showed:—

(1) That 50 per cent of the work was as exact as any one in the laboratory could make it;

(2) That in an additional 38 per cent the results were within three fifths of a year of being exact;

(3) That nearly 90 per cent of the work of the summer students was sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes;

(4) That the records improved during the brief training so that during the third week only one test missed the real mental age by as much as a year.

Since hardly any of these students had had any previous experience with the Binet tests, Dr. Kohs seems to be entirely justified in his conclusion that it is possible, in the brief period of six weeks, to teach people to use the tests with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

What shall we say of the teacher or of the physician who has not even had this amount of instruction? The writer's experience forces him to agree with Binet and with Dr. Goddard, that any one with intelligence enough to be a teacher, and who is willing to devote conscientious study to the mastery of the technique, can use the scale accurately enough to get a better idea of a child's mental endowment than he could possibly get in any other way. It is necessary, however, for the untrained person to recognize his own lack of experience, and in no case would it be justifiable to base important action or scientific conclusions upon the results of the inexpert examiner. As Binet himself repeatedly insisted, the method is not absolutely mechanical, and cannot be made so by elaboration of instructions.

It is sometimes held that the examination and classification of backward children for special instruction should be carried out by the school physicians. The fact is, however, that there is nothing in the physician's training to give him any advantage over the ordinary teacher in the use of the Binet tests. Because of her more intimate knowledge of children and because of her superior tact and adaptability, the average teacher is perhaps better equipped than the average physician to give intelligence tests.

Finally, it should be emphasized that whatever the previous training or experience of the examiner may have been, his ability to adjust to the child's personality and his willingness to follow conscientiously the directions for giving the tests are important factors in his equipment.

INFLUENCE OF THE SUBJECT'S ATTITUDE. One continually meets such queries as, "How do you know the subject did his best?" "Possibly the child was nervous or frightened," or, "Perhaps incorrect answers were purposely given." All such objections may be disposed of by saying that the competent examiner can easily control the experiment in such a way that embarrassment is soon replaced by self-confidence, and in such a way that effort is kept at its maximum. As for mischievous deception, it would be a poor clinicist who could not recognize and deal with the little that is likely to arise.

Cautions regarding embarrassment, fatigue, fright, illness, etc. are given in Chapter IX. Most of the errors which have been reported along this line are such as can nearly always be avoided by ordinary prudence, coupled with a little power of observation.[38] We must not charge the mistakes of untrained and indiscreet examiners against the validity of the method itself.

[38] See, for example, the rather ludicrous "errors" of the Binet method reported in The Psychological Clinic for 1915, pp. 140 ff. and 167 ff.

It is possibly true that even if the examiner is tactful and prudent an unfavorable attitude on the part of the subject may occasionally affect the results of a test to some extent, but it ought not seriously to invalidate one examination out of five hundred. The greatest danger is in the case of a young subject who has been recently arrested and brought before a court. Even here a little common sense and scientific insight should enable one to guard against a mistaken diagnosis.

THE INFLUENCE OF COACHING. It might be supposed that after the intelligence scale had been used with a few pupils in a given school all of their fellows would soon be apprised of the nature of the tests, and so learn the correct responses. Experience shows, however, that there is little likelihood of such influence except in the case of a small minority of the tests. Experiments in the psychology of testimony have demonstrated that children's ability to report upon a complex set of experiences is astonishingly weak. In testing with the Stanford revision a child is ordinarily given from twenty-four to thirty different tests, many of which are made up of three or more items. Of the total forty to fifty items the child is ordinarily able to report but few, and these not always correctly.

Such tests as memory for sentences and digits, drawing the square and diamond, reproducing the designs from memory, comparing weights and lines, describing and interpreting pictures, aesthetic comparison, vocabulary, dissected sentences, fables, reading for memories, finding differences and similarities, arithmetical reasoning, and the form-board test, are hardly subject to report at all. While almost any of the other tests might, theoretically, be communicated, there is little danger that many of them will be. It is assumed, of course, that the examiner will take proper precautions to prevent any of his blanks or other materials from falling into the hands of those who are to be examined.

The following tests are the ones most subject to the influence of coaching: Ball and field, giving date, naming sixty words, finding rhymes, changing hands of clock, comprehension of physical relations, "induction test," and "ingenuity test."

In several instances we have interviewed children an hour or two after they had taken the examination, in order to find out how many of the tests they could recall. A boy of 4 years, after repeated questioning, could only say: "He showed me some pictures. He had a knife and a penny. He told me to shut the door." A girl of 3 years could recall nothing whatever that was intelligible.

An 8-year-old boy said: "He made me tie a knot. He asked me about a ship and an auto. He wanted me to count backwards. He made me say over some things, numbers and things."

A boy of 12 years said: "He told me to say all the words I could think of. He said some foolish things and asked what was foolish [he could not repeat a single absurdity]. I had to put some blocks together. I had to do some problems in arithmetic [he could not repeat a single problem]. He read some fables to me. [Asked about the fables he was able to recall only part of one, that of the fox and the crow.] He showed me the picture of a field and wanted to know how to find a ball."

It is evident from the above samples of report that the danger of coaching increases considerably with the age of the children concerned. With young subjects the danger is hardly present at all; with children of the upper-grammar grades, in the high school, and most of all in prisons and reformatories, it must be taken into account. Alternative tests may sometimes be used to advantage when there is evidence of coaching on any of the regular tests. It would be desirable to have two or three additional scales which could be used interchangeably with the Binet-Simon.

RELIABILITY OF REPEATED TESTS. Will the same tests give consistent results when used repeatedly with the same subject? In general we may say that they do. Something depends, however, on the age and intelligence of the subject and on the time interval between the examinations.

Goddard proves that feeble-minded individuals whose intelligence has reached its full development continue to test at exactly the same mental age by the Binet scale, year after year. In their case, familiarity with the tests does not in the least improve the responses. At each retesting the responses given at previous examinations are repeated with only the most trivial variations. Of 352 feeble-minded children tested at Vineland, three years in succession, 109 gave absolutely no variation, 232 showed a variation of not more than two fifths of a year, while 22 gained as much as one year in the three tests. The latter, presumably, were younger children whose intelligence was still developing.

Goddard has also tested 464 public-school children for three successive years. Approximately half of these showed normal progress or more in mental age, while most of the remainder showed somewhat less than normal progress.

Bobertag's retesting of 83 normal children after an interval of a year gave results entirely in harmony with those of Goddard. The reapplication of the tests showed absolutely no influence of familiarity, the correlation of the two tests being almost perfect (.95). Those who tested "at age" in the first test had advanced, on the average, exactly one year. Those who tested plus in the first test advanced in the twelve months about a year and a quarter, as we should expect those to do whose mental development is accelerated. Correspondingly, those who tested minus at the first test advanced only about three fourths of a year in mental age during the interval.[39]

[39] Otto Bobertag: "Ueber Intelligenz Pruefungen," in Zeitsch. f. Angew. Psychol. (1912), p. 521 ff.

Our own results with a mixed group of normal, superior, dull and feeble-minded children agree fully with the above findings. In this case the two tests were separated by an interval of two to four years, and the correlation between their results was practically perfect. The average difference between the I Q obtained in the second test and that obtained in the first was only 4 per cent, and the greatest difference found was only 8 per cent.[40]

[40] See The Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Scale for Measuring Intelligence. (Warwick and York, 1916.)

The repetition of the test at shorter intervals will perhaps affect the result somewhat more, but the influence is much less than one might expect. The writer has tested, at intervals of only a few days to a few weeks, 14 backward children of 12 to 18 years, and 8 normal children of 5 to 13 years. The backward children showed an average improvement in the second test of about two months in mental age, the normal children an average improvement of little more than three months. No child varied in the second test more than half a year from the mental age first secured. On the whole, normal children profit more from the experience of a previous test than do the backward and feeble-minded.

Berry tested 45 normal children and 50 defectives with the Binet 1908 and 1911 scales at brief intervals. The author does not state which scale was applied first, but the mental ages secured by the two scales were practically the same when allowance was made for the slightly greater difficulty of the 1911 series of tests.[41]

[41] Charles Scott Berry: "A Comparison of the Binet Tests of 1908 and 1911," in Journal of Educational Psychology (1912), pp. 444-51.

We may conclude, therefore, that while it would probably be desirable to have one or more additional scales for alternative use in testing the same children at very brief intervals, the same scale may be used for repeated tests at intervals of a year or more with little danger of serious inaccuracy. Moreover, results like those set forth above are important evidence as to the validity of the test method.

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. The criticism has often been made that the responses to many of the tests are so much subject to the influence of school and home environment as seriously to invalidate the scale as a whole. Some of the tests most often named in this connection are the following: Giving age and sex; naming common objects, colors, and coins; giving the value of stamps; giving date; naming the months of the year and the days of the week; distinguishing forenoon and afternoon; counting; making change; reading for memories; naming sixty words; giving definitions; finding rhymes; and constructing a sentence containing three given words.

It has in fact been found wherever comparisons have been made that children of superior social status yield a higher average mental age than children of the laboring classes. The results of Decroly and Degand and of Meumann, Stern, and Binet himself may be referred to in this connection. In the case of the Stanford investigation, also, it was found that when the unselected school children were grouped in three classes according to social status (superior, average, and inferior), the average I Q for the superior social group was 107, and that of the inferior social group 93. This is equivalent to a difference of one year in mental age with 7-year-olds, and to a difference of two years with 14-year-olds.

However, the common opinion that the child from a cultured home does better in tests solely by reason of his superior home advantages is an entirely gratuitous assumption. Practically all of the investigations which have been made of the influence of nature and nurture on mental performance agree in attributing far more to original endowment than to environments. Common observation would itself suggest that the social class to which the family belongs depends less on chance than on the parents' native qualities of intellect and character.

The results of five separate and distinct lines of inquiry based on the Stanford data agree in supporting the conclusion that the children of successful and cultured parents test higher than children from wretched and ignorant homes for the simple reason that their heredity is better. The results of this investigation are set forth in full elsewhere.[42]

[42] See The Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence. (Warwick and York, 1916)

It would, of course, be going too far to deny all possibility of environmental conditions affecting the result of an intelligence test. Certainly no one would expect that a child reared in a cage and denied all intercourse with other human beings could by any system of mental measurement test up to the level of normal children. There is, however, no reason to believe that ordinary differences in social environment (apart from heredity), differences such as those obtaining among unselected children attending approximately the same general type of school in a civilized community, affects to any great extent the validity of the scale.

A crucial experiment would be to take a large number of very young children of the lower classes and, after placing them in the most favorable environment obtainable, to compare their later mental development with that of children born into the best homes. No extensive study of this kind has been made, but the writer has tested twenty orphanage children who, for the most part, had come from very inferior homes. They had been in a well-conducted orphanage for from two to several years, and had enjoyed during that time the advantages of an excellent village school. Nevertheless, all but three tested below average, ranging from 75 to 90 I Q.

The impotence of school instruction to neutralize individual differences in native endowment will be evident to any one who follows the school career of backward children. The children who are seriously retarded in school are not normal, and cannot be made normal by any refinement of educational method. As a rule, the longer the inferior child attends school, the more evident his inferiority becomes. It would hardly be reasonable, therefore, to expect that a little incidental instruction in the home would weigh very heavily against these same native differences in endowment. Cases like the following show conclusively that it does not:—

X is the son of unusually intelligent and well-educated parents. The home is everything one would expect of people of scholarly pursuits and cultivated tastes. But X has always been irresponsible, troublesome, childish, and queer. He learned to walk at 2 years, to talk at 3, and has always been delicate and nervous. When brought for examination he was 8 years old. He had twice attempted school work, but could accomplish nothing and was withdrawn. His play-life was not normal, and other children, younger than himself, abused and tormented him. The Binet tests gave an I Q of approximately 75; that is, the retardation amounted to about two years. The child was examined again three years later. At that time, after attending school two years, he had recently completed the first grade. This time the I Q was 73. Strange to say, the mother is encouraged and hopeful because she sees that her boy is learning to read. She does not seem to realize that at his age he ought to be within three years of entering high school.

The forty-minute test had told more about the mental ability of this boy than the intelligent mother had been able to learn in eleven years of daily and hourly observation. For X is feeble-minded; he will never complete the grammar school; he will never be an efficient worker or a responsible citizen.

Let us change the picture. Z is a bright-eyed, dark-skinned girl of 9 years. She is dark-skinned because her father is a mixture of Indian and Spanish. The mother is of Irish descent. With her strangely mated parents and two brothers she lives in a dirty, cramped, and poorly furnished house in the country. The parents are illiterate, and the brothers are retarded and dull, though not feeble-minded.

It is Z's turn to be tested. I inquire the name. It is familiar, for I have already tested the two stupid brothers. I also know her ignorant parents and the miserable cabin in which she lives. The examination begins with the 8-year tests. The responses are quick and accurate. We proceed to the 9-year group. There is no failure, and there is but one minor error. Successes and failures alternate for a while until the latter prevail. Z has tested at 11 years. In spite of her wretched home, she is mentally advanced nearly 25 per cent. By the vocabulary test she is credited with a knowledge of nearly 6000 words, or nearly four times as many as X, the boy of cultured home and scholarly parents, had learned by the age of 8 years.

Five years have passed. When given the test, Z was in the fourth grade and, as we have already stated, 9 years of age. As a result of the test she was transferred to the fifth grade. Later she skipped again and at the age of 14 is a successful student in the second year of high school. To assay her intelligence and determine its quality was a task of forty-five minutes.

The above cases, each of which could be paralleled by many others which we have found, will serve to illustrate the fact that exceptionally superior endowment is discoverable by the tests, however unfavorable the home from which it comes, and that inferior endowment cannot be normalized by all the advantages of the most cultured home. Quoting again from Stern, "The tests actually reach and discover the general developmental conditions of intelligence, and not mere fragments of knowledge and attainments acquired by chance."



PART II

GUIDE FOR THE USE OF THE STANFORD REVISION AND EXTENSION



CHAPTER VIII

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

NECESSITY OF SECURING ATTENTION AND EFFORT. The child's intelligence is to be judged by his success in the performance of certain tasks. These tasks may appear to the examiner to be very easy, indeed; but we must bear in mind that they are often anything but easy for the child. Real effort and attention are necessary for his success, and occasionally even his best efforts fall short of the desired result. If the tests are to display the child's real intellectual ability it will be necessary, therefore, to avoid as nearly as possible every disturbing factor which would divide his attention or in any other way injure the quality of his responses. To insure this it will be necessary to consider somewhat in detail a number of factors which influence effort, such as degree of quiet, the nature of surroundings, presence or absence of others, means of gaining the child's confidence, the avoidance of embarrassment, fatigue, etc.

One should not expect, however, to secure an absolutely equal degree of attention from all subjects. The power to give sustained attention to a difficult task is characteristically weak in dull and feeble-minded children. What we should labor to secure is the maximum attention of which the child is capable, and if this is unsatisfactory without external cause, we are to regard the fact as symptomatic of inferior mental ability, not as an extenuating factor or an excuse for lack of success in the tests.

Attention, of course, cannot be normal if any acute physical or mental disturbance is present. Toothache, headache, earache, nausea, fever, cold, etc., all render the test inadvisable. The same is true of mental anxiety or fear, as in the case of the child who has just been arrested and brought before the court.

QUIET AND SECLUSION. The tests should be conducted in a quiet room, located where the noises of the street and other outside distractions cannot enter. A reasonably small room is better than a very large one, because it is more homelike. The furnishings of the room should be simple. A table and two chairs are sufficient. If the room contains a number of unfamiliar objects, such as psychological apparatus, pictures on the walls, etc., the attention of the child is likely to be drawn away from the tasks which he is given to do. The halls and corridors which it is sometimes necessary to use in testing school children are usually noisy, cold, or otherwise objectionable.

PRESENCE OF OTHERS. A still more disturbing influence is the presence of other persons. Generally speaking, if accurate results are to be secured it is not permissible to have any auditor, besides possibly an assistant to record the responses. Even the assistant, however quiet and unobtrusive, is sometimes a disturbing element. Though something of a convenience, the assistant is by no means necessary, after the examiner has thoroughly mastered the procedure of the tests and has acquired some skill in the use of abbreviations in recording the answers. If an assistant or any other person is present, he should be seated somewhat behind the child, not too close, and should take no notice of the child either when he enters the room or at any time during the examination.

At all events, the presence of parent, teacher, school principal, or governess is to be avoided. Contrary to what one might expect, these distract the child much more than a strange personality would do. Their critical attitude toward the child's performance is very likely to cause embarrassment. If the child is alone with the examiner, he is more at ease from the mere fact that he does not feel that there is a reputation to sustain. The praise so lavishly bestowed upon him by the friendly and sympathetic examiner lends to the same effect.

As Binet emphasizes, if the presence of others cannot be avoided, it is at least necessary to require of them absolute silence. Parents, and sometimes teachers, have an almost irrepressible tendency to interrupt the examination with excuses for the child's failures and with disturbing explanations which are likely to aid the child in comprehending the required task. Without the least intention of doing so, they sometimes practically tell the child how to respond. Parents, especially, cannot refrain from scolding the child or showing impatience when his answers do not come up to expectation. This, of course, endangers the child's success still further.

The psychologist is not surprised at such conduct. It would be foolish to expect average parents, even apart from their bias in the particular case at hand, to adopt the scientific attitude of the trained examiner. Since we cannot in a few moments at our disposal make them over into psychologists, our only recourse is to deal with them by exclusion.

This is not to say that it is impossible to test a child satisfactorily in the presence of others. If the examiner is experienced, and if the child is not timid, it is sometimes possible to make a successful test in the presence of quite a number of auditors, provided they remain silent, refrain from staring, and otherwise conduct themselves with discretion. But not even the veteran examiner can always be sure of the outcome in demonstration testing.

GETTING INTO "RAPPORT." The examiner's first task is to win the confidence of the child and overcome his timidity. Unless rapport has first been established, the results of the first tests given are likely to be misleading. The time and effort necessary for accomplishing this are variable factors, depending upon the personality of both the examiner and the subject. In a majority of cases from three to five minutes should be sufficient, but in a few cases somewhat more time is necessary.

The writer has found that when a strange child is brought to the clinic for examination, it is advantageous to go out of doors with him for a little walk around the university buildings. It is usually possible to return from such a stroll in a few minutes, with the child chattering away as though to an old friend. Another approach is to begin by showing the child some interesting object, such as a toy, or a form-board, or pictures not used in the test. The only danger in this method is that the child is likely to find the object so interesting that he may not be willing to abandon it for the tests, or that his mind will keep reverting to it during the examination.

Still another method is to give the child his seat as soon as he is ushered into the room, and, after a word of greeting, which must be spoken in a kindly tone but without gushiness, to open up a conversation about matters likely to be of interest. The weather, place of residence, pets, sports, games, toys, travels, current events, etc., are suitable topics if rightly employed. When the child has begun to express himself without timidity and it is clear that his confidence has been gained, one may proceed, as though in continuance of the conversation, to inquire the name, age, and school grade. The examiner notes these down in the appropriate blanks, rather unconcernedly, at the same time complimenting the child (unless it is clearly a case of serious retardation) on the fine progress he has made with his studies.

KEEPING THE CHILD ENCOURAGED. Nothing contributes more to a satisfactory rapport than praise of the child's efforts. Under no circumstances should the examiner permit himself to show displeasure at a response, however absurd it may be. In general, the poorer the response, the better satisfied one should appear to be with it. An error is always to be passed by without comment, unless it is painfully evident to the child himself, in which case the examiner will do well to make some excuse for it; e.g., "You are not quite old enough to answer questions like that one; but, never mind, you are doing beautifully," etc. Exclamations like "fine!" "splendid!" etc., should be used lavishly. Almost any innocent deception is permissible which keeps the child interested, confident, and at his best level of effort. The examination should begin with tests that are fairly easy, in order to give the child a little experience with success before the more difficult tests are reached.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TACT. It goes without saying that children's personalities are not so uniform and simple that we can adhere always to a single stereotyped procedure in working our way into their good graces. Suggestions like the above have their value, but, like rules of etiquette, they must be supported by the tact which comes of intuition and cannot be taught. The address which flatters and pleases one child may excite disgust in another. The examiner must scent the situation and adapt his method to it. One child is timid and embarrassed; another may think his mental powers are under suspicion and so react with sullen obstinacy; a third may be in an angry mood as a result of a recent playground quarrel. Situations like these are, of course, exceptional, but in any case it is necessary to create in the child a certain mood, or indefinable attitude of mind, before the test begins.

PERSONALITY OF THE EXAMINER. Doubtless there are persons so lacking in personal adaptability that success in this kind of work would be for them impossible. The wooden, mechanical, matter-of-fact and unresponsive personality is as much out of place in the psychological clinic as the traditional bull in the china shop. It would make an interesting study for some one to investigate, by exact methods, the influence on test results of the personality of different examiners who have been equally trained in the methods to be employed and who are equally conscientious in applying them according to rules.

On the whole, differences of this kind are probably not very great among experienced and reasonably competent examiners. Adaptability grows with experience and with increase of self-confidence. After a few score tests there should be no serious failure from inability to get into rapport with the child. Even in those rare cases where the child breaks down and cries from timidity, or perhaps refuses to answer out of embarrassment, the difficulty can be overcome by sufficient tact so that the examination may proceed as though nothing had happened.

If the examiner has the proper psychological and personal equipment, the testing of twenty or thirty children forms a fairly satisfactory apprenticeship. Without psychological training, no amount of experience will guarantee absolute accuracy of the results.

THE AVOIDANCE OF FATIGUE. Against the validity of intelligence tests it is often argued that the result of an examination depends a great deal on the time of day when it is made, whether in the morning hours when the mind is at its best, or in the afternoon when it is supposedly fatigued. Although no very extensive investigation has been made of this influence, there is no evidence that the ordinary fatigue incident to school work injures the child's performance appreciably. Our tests of 1000 children showed no inferiority of results secured from 1 to 4 P.M., as compared with tests made from 9 to 12 A.M.

An explanation for this is not hard to find. Although school work causes fatigue, in the sense that a part of the child's available supply of mental energy is used up, there is always a reserve of energy sufficient to carry the child through a thirty-to fifty-minute test. The fact that the required tasks are novel and interesting to a high degree insures that the reserve energy will really be brought into play. This principle, of course, has its natural limits. The examiner would avoid testing a child who was exhausted either from work or play, or a child who was noticeably sleepy.

DURATION OF THE EXAMINATION. About the only danger of fatigue lies in making the examination too long. Young children show symptoms of weariness much more quickly than older children, and it is therefore fortunate that not so much time is needed for testing them. The following allowances of time will usually be found sufficient:—

Children 3-5 years old 25-30 minutes " 6-8 " " 30-40 " " 9-12 " " 40-50 " " 13-15 " " 50-60 " Adults 60-90 "

This allowance ordinarily includes the time necessary for getting into rapport with the child, in addition to that actually consumed in the tests. But the examiner need not expect to hold fast to any schedule. Some subjects respond in a lively manner, others are exasperatingly slow. It is more often the mentally retarded child who answers slowly, but exceptions to this rule are not uncommon. One 8-year-old boy examined by the writer answered so hesitatingly that it required two sittings of nearly an hour each to complete the test. The result, however, showed a mental age of 111/2 years, or an I Q of 143.

It is permissible to hurry the child by an occasional "that's fine; now, quickly," etc., but in doing this caution must be exercised, or the child's mental process may be blocked. The appearance of nagging must be carefully avoided. If the test goes so slowly that it cannot be completed in the above limits of time, it is usually best to stop and complete the examination at another time. When this is not possible, it is advisable to take a ten-minute intermission and a little walk out of doors.

Time can be saved by having all the necessary materials close at hand and conveniently arranged. The coins should be kept in a separate purse, and the pictures, colors, stamps, and designs for drawing should be mounted on stiff cardboard which may be punched and kept in a notebook cover. The series of sentences, digits, comprehension questions, fables, etc., should either be mounted in similar fashion, or else printed in full on the record sheets used in the tests. The latter is more convenient.[43] All other materials should be kept where they will not have to be hunted for.

[43] Examiners will find it a great convenience to use the record booklet which has been specially devised for testing with the Stanford revision. It contains all the necessary printed material, including digits, sentences, absurdities, fables, the vocabulary list, the reading selection, the square and diamond for copying, etc., and in addition gives with each test the standard for scoring. It is so arranged as to afford ample room for a verbatim record of all the child's responses, and contains other features calculated to make testing easy and accurate. Regarding purchasing of supplies see p. 141.

Besides saving valuable time, a little methodical foresight of this kind adds to the success of the test. If the child is kept waiting, the test loses its interest and attention strays. See to it, if possible, that no lull occurs in the performance.

Inexperienced examiners sometimes waste time foolishly by stopping to instruct the child on his failures. This is doubly bad, for besides losing time it makes the child conscious of the imperfection of his responses and creates embarrassment. Adhere to the purpose of the test, which is to ascertain the child's intellectual level, not to instruct him.

DESIRABLE RANGE OF TESTING. There are two considerations here of equal importance. It is necessary to make the examination thorough, but in the pursuit of thoroughness we must be careful not to produce fatigue or ennui. Unless there is reason to suspect mental retardation, it is usually best to begin with the group of tests just below the child's age. However, if there is a failure in the tests of that group, it is necessary to go back and try all the tests of the previous group. In like manner the examination should be carried up the scale, until a test group has been found in which all the tests are failed.

It must be admitted, however, that because of time limitations and fatigue, it is not always practicable to adhere to this ideal of thoroughness. In testing normal children, little error will result if we go back no farther than the year which yielded only one failure, and if we stop with the year in which there was only one success. This is the lowest permissible limit of thoroughness. Defectives are more uneven mentally than normal children, and therefore scatter their successes and failures over a wider range. With such subjects it is absolutely imperative that the test be thorough.

In the case of defectives it is sometimes necessary to begin with random testing, until a rough idea is gained of the mental level. But the skilled observer soon becomes able to utilize symptoms in the child's conversation and conduct and to dispense with most of this preliminary exploration.

ORDER OF GIVING THE TESTS. The child's efforts in the tests are sometimes markedly influenced by the order in which they are given. If language tests or memory tests are given first, the child is likely to be embarrassed. More suitable to begin with are those which test knowledge or judgment about objective things, such as the pictures, weights, stamps, bow-knot, colors, coins, counting pennies, number of fingers, right and left, time orientation, ball and field, paper-folding, etc. Tests like naming sixty words, finding rhymes, giving differences or similarities, making sentences, repeating sentences, and drawing are especially unsuitable because they tend to provoke self-consciousness.

The tests as arranged in this revision are in the order which it is usually best to follow, but one should not hesitate to depart from the order given when it seems best in a given case to do so. It is necessary to be constantly alert so that when the child shows a tendency to balk at a given type of test, such as those of memory, language, numbers, drawing, "comprehension," etc., the work can be shifted to more agreeable tasks. When the child is at his ease again, it is usually possible to return to the troublesome tests with better success. In the case of 8-year-old D. C., who is a speech defective but otherwise above normal, it was quite impossible at the first sitting to give such tests as sentence-making, naming sixty words, reading, repeating sentences, giving definitions, etc.; at each test of this type the child's voice broke and he was ready to cry, due, no doubt, to sensitiveness regarding his speech defect. Others do everything willingly except the drawing and copying. The younger children sometimes refuse to repeat the sentences or digits. In all such cases it is best to pass on to something else. After a few minutes the rejected task may be done willingly.

COAXING TO BE AVOIDED. Although we should always encourage the child to believe that he can answer correctly, if he will only try, we must avoid the common practice of dragging out responses by too much urging and coaxing. The sympathies of the examiner tend to lead him into the habit of repeating and explaining the question if the child does not answer promptly. This is nearly always a mistake, for the question is one which should be understood. Besides, explanations and coaxing are too often equivalent to answering the question for the child. It is almost impossible to impress this danger sufficiently upon the untrained examiner. One who is not familiar with the psychology of suggestion may put the answer in the child's mouth without suspecting what he is doing.

ADHERING TO FORMULA. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that unless we follow a standardized procedure the tests lose their significance. The danger is chiefly that of unintentionally and unconsciously introducing variations which will affect the meaning of the test. One who has not had a thorough training in the methods of mental testing cannot appreciate how numerous are the opportunities for the unconscious transformation of a test. Many of these are pointed out in the description of the individual tests, but it would be folly to undertake to warn the experimenter against every possible error of this kind. Sometimes the omission or the addition of a single phrase in giving the test will alter materially the significance of the response. Only the trained psychologist can vary the formula without risk of invalidating the result, and even he must be on his guard. All sorts of misunderstandings regarding the correct placing of tests and regarding their accuracy or inaccuracy have come about through the failure of different investigators to follow the same procedure.

One who would use the tests for any serious purpose, therefore, must study the procedure for each and every test until he knows it thoroughly. After that a considerable amount of practice is necessary before one learns to avoid slips. During the early stages of practice it is necessary to refer to the printed instructions frequently in order to check up errors before they have become habitual.

The instructions hitherto available are at fault in not defining the procedure with sufficient definiteness, and it is the purpose of this volume to make good this deficiency as far as possible.

It is too much, however, to suppose that the instructions can be made "fool-proof." With whatever definiteness they may be set forth, situations are sure to arise which the examiner cannot be formally prepared for. There is no limit to the multitude of misunderstandings possible. After testing hundreds of children one still finds new examples of misapprehension. In a few such cases the instruction may be repeated, if there is reason to think the child's hearing was at fault or if some extraordinary distraction has occurred. But unless otherwise stated in the directions, the repetition of a question is ordinarily to be avoided. Supplementary explanations are hardly ever permissible.

In short, numberless situations may arise in the use of a test which may injure the validity of the response, events which cannot always be dealt with by preconceived rule. Accordingly, although we must urge unceasingly the importance of following the standard procedure, it is not to be supposed that formulas are an adequate substitute either for scientific judgment or for common sense.

SCORING. The exact method of scoring the individual tests is set forth in the following chapters. Reference to the record booklet for use in testing will show that the records are to be kept in detail. Each subdivision of a test should be scored separately, in order that the clinical picture may be as complete as possible. This helps in the final evaluation of the results. It makes much difference, for example, whether success in repeating six digits is earned by repeating all three correctly or only one; or whether the child's lack of success with the absurdities is due to failure on two, three, four, or all of them. Time should be recorded whenever called for in the record blanks.

RECORDING RESPONSES. Plus and minus signs alone are not usually sufficient. Whenever possible the entire response should be recorded. If the test results are to be used by any other person than the examiner, this is absolutely essential. Any other standard of completeness opens the door to carelessness and inaccuracy. In nearly all the tests, except that of naming sixty words, the examiner will find it possible by the liberal use of abbreviations to record practically the entire response verbatim. In doing so, however, one must be careful to avoid keeping the child waiting. Occasionally it is necessary to leave off recording altogether because of the embarrassment sometimes aroused in the child by seeing his answer written down. The writer has met the latter difficulty several times. When for any reason it is not feasible to record anything more than score marks, success may be indicated by the sign +, failure by -, and half credit by 1/2. An exceptionally good response may be indicated by + and an exceptionally poor response by —. If there is a slight doubt about a success or failure the sign? may be added to the + or -. In general, however, score the response either + or -, avoiding half credit as far as it is possible to do so.

If the entire response is not recorded it is necessary to record at least the score mark for each test when the test is given. It must be borne in mind that the scoring is not a purely mechanical affair. Instead, the judgment of the examiner must come into play with every record made. If the scoring is delayed, there is not only the danger of forgetting a response, but the judgment is likely to be influenced by the subject's responses to succeeding questions. Our special record booklet contains wide margins, so that extended notes and observations regarding the child's responses and behavior can be recorded as the test proceeds.

SCATTERING OF SUCCESSES. It is sometimes a source of concern to the untrained examiner that the successes and failures should be scattered over quite an extensive range of years. Why, it may be asked, should not a child who has 10-year intelligence answer correctly all the tests up to and including group X, and fail on all the tests beyond? There are two reasons why such is almost never the case. In the first place, the intelligence of an individual is ordinarily not even. There are many different kinds of intelligence, and in some of these the subject is better endowed than in others. A second reason lies in the fact that no test can be purely and simply a test of native intelligence. Given a certain degree of intelligence, accidents of experience and training bring it about that this intelligence will work more successfully with some kinds of material than with others. For both of these reasons there results a scattering of successes and failures over three or four years. The subject fails first in one or two tests of a group, then in two or three tests of the following group, the number of failures increasing until there are no successes at all. Success "tapers off" from 100 per cent to 0. Once in a great while a child fails on several of the tests of a given year and succeeds with a majority of those in the next higher year. This is only an extreme instance of uneven intelligence or of specialized experience, and does not necessarily reflect upon the reliability of the tests for children in general. The method of calculation given above strikes a kind of average and gives the general level of intelligence, which is essentially the thing we want to know.

SUPPLEMENTARY CONSIDERATIONS. It would be a mistake to suppose that any set of mental tests could be devised which would give us complete information about a child's native intelligence. There are no tests which are absolutely pure tests of intelligence. All are influenced to a greater or less degree also by training and by social environment. For this reason, all the ascertainable facts bearing on such influences should be added to the record of the mental examination, and should be given due weight in reaching a final conclusion as to the level of intelligence.

The following supplementary information should be gathered, when possible:—

1. Social status (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior).

2. The teacher's estimate of the child's intelligence (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior).

3. School opportunities, including years of attendance, regularity, retardation or acceleration, etc.

4. Quality of school work (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior).

5. Physical handicaps, if any (adenoids, diseased tonsils, partial deafness, imperfect vision, malnutrition, etc.).

In addition, the examiner will need to take account of the general attitude of the child during the examination. This is provided for in the record blanks under the heading "comments." The comments should describe as fully as possible the conduct and attitude of the child during the examination, with emphasis upon such disturbing factors as fear, timidity, unwillingness to answer, overconfidence, carelessness, lack of attention, etc. Sometimes, also, it is desirable to verify the child's age and to make record of the verification.

Once more let it be urged that no degree of mechanical perfection of the tests can ever take the place of good judgment and psychological insight. Intelligence is too complicated to be weighed, like a bag of grain, by any one who can read figures.

ALTERNATIVE TESTS. The tests designated as "alternative tests" are not intended for regular use. Inasmuch as they have been standardized and belong in the year group where they are placed, they may be used as substitute tests on certain occasions. Sometimes one of the regular tests is spoiled in giving it, or the requisite material for it may not be at hand. Sometimes there may be reason to suspect that the subject has become acquainted with some of the tests. In such cases it is a great convenience to have a few substitutes available.

It is necessary, however, to warn against a possible misuse of alternative tests. It is not permissible to count success in an alternative test as offsetting failure in a regular test. This would give the subject too much leeway of failure. There are very exceptional cases, however, when it is legitimate to break this rule; namely, when one of the regular tests would be obviously unfair to the subject being tested. In year X, for example, one of the three alternative tests should be substituted for the reading test (X, 4) in case we are testing a subject who has not had the equivalent of at least two years of school work. In year VIII, it would be permissible to substitute the alternative test of naming six coins, instead of the vocabulary test, in the case of a subject who came from a home where English was not spoken. In VII, it would perhaps not be unfair to substitute the alternative test, in place of the test of copying a diamond, in the case of a subject who, because of timidity or embarrassment, refused to attempt the diamond. But it would be going entirely too far to substitute an alternative test in the place of every regular test which the subject responded to by silence. In the large majority of cases persistent silence deserves to be scored failure.

Certain tests have been made alternatives because of their inferior value, some because the presence of other tests of similar nature in the same year rendered them less necessary.

FINDING MENTAL AGE. As there are six tests in each age group from III to X, each test in this part of the scale counts 2 months toward mental age. There are eight tests in group XII, which, because of the omission of the 11-year group, have a combined value of 24 months, or 3 months each. Similarly, each of the six tests in XIV has a value of 4 months (24 / 6 = 4). The tests of the "average adult" group are given a value of 5 months each, and those of the "superior adult" group a value of 6 months each. These values are in a sense arbitrary, but they are justified in the fact that they are such as to cause ordinary adults to test at the "average adult" level.

The calculation of mental age is therefore simplicity itself. The rule is: (1) Credit the subject with all the tests below the point where the examination begins (remembering that the examination goes back until a year group has been found in which all the tests are passed); and (2) add to this basal credit 2 months for each test passed successfully up to and including year X, 3 months for each test passed in XII, 4 months for each test passed in XIV, 5 months for each success in "average adult," and 6 months for each success in "superior adult."

For example, let us suppose that a child passes all the tests in VI, five of the six tests in VII, three in VIII, two in IX, and one in X. The total credit earned is as follows:—

_Years_Months_ Credit presupposed, years I to V 5 Credit earned in VI, 6 tests passed, 2 months each 1 Credit earned in VII, 5 tests passed, 2 months each 10 Credit earned in VIII, 3 tests passed, 2 months each 6 Credit earned in IX, 2 tests passed, 2 months each 4 Credit earned in X, 1 test passed, 2 months 2 —— —— Total credit 7 10

Taking a subject who tests higher, let us suppose the following tests are passed: All in X, six of the eight in XII, two of the six in XIV, and one of the six in "average adult." The total credit is as follows:—

_Years_Months_ Credit presupposed, years I to IX 9 Credit earned in X, 6 tests passed, 2 months each 1 Credit earned in XII, 6 tests passed, 3 months each 1 6 Credit earned in XIV, 2 tests passed, 4 months each 0 8 Credit earned in "average adult," 1 success, 5 months 5 —— —— Total credit 12 7

One other point: If one or more tests of a year group have been omitted, as sometimes happens either from oversight or lack of time, the question arises how the tests which were given in such a year group should be evaluated. Suppose, for example, a subject has been given only four of the six tests in a given year, and that he passes two, or half of those given. In such a case the probability would be that had all six tests been given, three would have been passed; that is, one half of all. It is evident, therefore, that when a test has been omitted, a proportionately larger value should be assigned to each of those given.

If all six tests are given in any year group below XII, each has a value of 2 months. If only four are given, each has a value of 3 months (12 / 4 = 3). If five tests only are given, each has a value of 2.4 months (12 / 5 = 2.4). If in year group XII only six of the eight tests are given, each has a value of 4 months (24 / 6 = 4). If in the "average adult" group only five of the six tests are given, each has a value of 6 months instead of the usual 5 months. In this connection it will need to be remembered that the six "average adult" tests have a combined value of 30 months (6 tests, 5 months each); also that the combined value of the six "superior adult" tests is 36 months (6 x 6 = 36). Accordingly, if only five of the six "superior adult" tests are given, the value of each is 36 / 5 = 7.2 months.

For example, let us suppose that a subject has been tested as follows: All the six tests in X were given and all were passed; only six of the eight in XII were given and five were passed; five of the six in XIV were given and three were passed; five of the six in "average adult" were given and one was passed; five were given in "superior adult" and no credit earned. The result would be as follows:—

_Years_Months_ Credit presupposed, years I to IX 9 Credit earned in X, 6 given, 6 successes 1 Credit earned in XII, 6 given, 5 passed. Unit value of each test given is 24 / 6 = 4. Total value of the 5 tests passed is 5 x 4 or 1 8 Credit earned in XIV, 5 tests given, 3 passed. Unit value of each of the 5 given is 24 / 5 = 4.8. Value of the 3 passed is 3 x 4.8, or 0 14+ Credit earned in "average adult," 5 tests given, 1 passed. Unit value of the 5 tests given is 30 / 5 = 6. Value of the 1 success 0 6 Credit earned in "superior adult" 0 0 —— —— Total credit 13 4+

The calculation of mental age is really simpler than our verbal illustrations make it appear. After the operation has been performed twenty or thirty times, it can be done in less than a half-minute without danger of error.

THE USE OF THE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT. As elsewhere explained, the mental age alone does not tell us what we want to know about a child's intelligence status. The significance of a given number of years of retardation or acceleration depends upon the age of the child. A 3-year-old child who is retarded one year is ordinarily feeble-minded; a 10-year-old retarded one year is only a little below normal. The child who at 3 years of age is retarded one year will probably be retarded two years at the age of 6, three years at the age of 9, and four years at the age of 12.

What we want to know, therefore, is the ratio existing between mental age and real age. This is the intelligence quotient, or I Q. To find it we simply divide mental age (expressed in years and months) by real age (also expressed in years and months). The process is easier if we express each age in terms of months alone before dividing. The division can, of course, be performed almost instantaneously and with much less danger of error by the use of a slide rule or a division table. One who has to calculate many intelligence quotients should by all means use some kind of mechanical help.

HOW TO FIND THE I Q OF ADULT SUBJECTS. Native intelligence, in so far as it can be measured by tests now available, appears to improve but little after the age of 15 or 16 years. It follows that in calculating the I Q of an adult subject, it will be necessary to disregard the years he has lived beyond the point where intelligence attains its final development.

Although the location of this point is not exactly known, it will be sufficiently accurate for our purpose to assume its location at 16 years. Accordingly, any person over 16 years of age, however old, is for purposes of calculating I Q considered to be just 16 years old. If a youth of 18 and a man of 60 years both have a mental age of 12 years, the I Q in each case is 12 / 16, or .75.

The significance of various values of the I Q is set forth elsewhere.[44] Here it need only be repeated that 100 I Q means exactly average intelligence; that nearly all who are below 70 or 75 I Q are feeble-minded; and that the child of 125 I Q is about as much above the average as the high-grade feeble-minded individual is below the average. For ordinary purposes all who fall between 95 and 105 I Q may be considered as average in intelligence.

[44] See Chapter VI.

MATERIAL FOR USE IN TESTING. It is strongly recommended that in testing by the Stanford revision the regular Stanford record booklets be used. These are so arranged as to make testing accurate, rapid, and convenient. They contain square, diamond, round field, vocabulary list, fables, sentences, digits, and selections for memory tests, the reading selection barred for scoring, the dissected sentences, arithmetical problems, etc. One is required for each child tested.[45]

[45] Houghton Mifflin Company will supply all the printed material needed in the tests, including the lines for the forms for VI, 2, the four pictures for "enumeration," "description," and "interpretation," the pictures for V, 3 and VI, 2, the colors, designs for X, 3, the code for Average Adult 6, and score cards for square, diamond, designs, and ball-and-field.

This is all the material required for the use of the Stanford revision, except the five weights for IX, 2, and V, 1, and the Healy-Fernald Construction Puzzle for X. These may be purchased of C. H. Stoelting & Co., 3037 Carroll Avenue, Chicago. It is not necessary, however, to have the weights and the Construction Puzzle, as the presence of one or more alternative tests in each year makes it possible to substitute other tests instead of those requiring these materials. This saves considerable expense. Apart from these, which may either be made at home (see pages 278, 279) or dispensed with, the only necessary equipment for using the Stanford revision is a copy of this book with the accompanying set of printed matter, and the record booklets. The record booklets are supplied only in packages of 25.



CHAPTER IX

Instructions For Year III

III, 1. POINTING TO PARTS OF THE BODY

PROCEDURE. After getting the child's attention, say: "Show me your nose." "Put your finger on your nose." Same with eyes, mouth, and hair.

Tact is often necessary to overcome timidity. If two or three repetitions of the instruction fail to bring a response, point to the child's chin or ear and say: "Is this your nose?" "No?" "Then where is your nose?" Sometimes, after one has tried two or three parts of the test without eliciting any response, the child may suddenly release his inhibitions and answer all the questions promptly. In case of persistent refusal to respond it is best not to harass the child for an answer, but to leave the test for a while and return to it later. This is a rule which applies generally throughout the scale. In the case of one exceptionally timid little girl, it was impossible to get any response by the usual procedure, but immediately when a doll was shown the child pointed willingly to its nose, eyes, mouth, and hair. The device was successful because it withdrew the child's attention from herself and centered it upon something objective.