Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

294 CHAPTER 7 Thinking, Language, and IntelligenceAlfred Binet French psychologist AlfredBinet (1857–1911) is shown here with anunidentified child and an instrument fromhis laboratory that was used to measurehis young subjects’ breathing rates whilethey performed different tasks (Cunningham,1997). Although Binet developed thefirst systematic intelligence tests, he didnot believe that he was measuring innateability. Instead, he believed that his testscould identify schoolchildren who couldbenefit from special help.To judge well, to comprehend well, toreason well, these are the essentialactivities of intelligence.ALFRED BINET AND THÉODORE SIMON (1905)mental ageA measurement of intelligence in which anindividual’s mental level is expressed in termsof the average abilities of a given age group.intelligence quotient (IQ)A measure of general intelligence derivedby comparing an individual’s score with thescores of others in the same age group.With the help of French psychiatrist Théodore Simon, Binet devised a seriesof tests to measure different mental abilities. Binet deliberately did nottest abilities, such as reading or mathematics, that the students might havebeen taught. Instead, he focused on elementary mental abilities, such asmemory, attention, and the ability to understand similarities and differences.Binet arranged the questions on his test in order of difficulty, with thesimplest tasks first. He found that brighter children performed like olderchildren. That is, a bright 7-year-old might be able to answer the samenumber of questions as an average 9-year-old, while a less capable 7-yearoldmight only do as well as an average 5-year-old.This observation led Binet to the idea of a mental level, or mental age,that was different from a child’s chronological age. An “advanced” 7-yearoldmight have a mental age of 9, while a “slow” 7-year-old might demonstratea mental age of 5.It is somewhat ironic that Binet’s early tests became the basis for modernintelligence tests. First, Binet did not believe that he was measuring aninborn or permanent level of intelligence (Foschi & Cicciola, 2006; Kamin, 1995).Rather, he believed that his tests could help identify “slow” children who couldbenefit from special help.Second, Binet believed that intelligence was too complex a quality to describewith a single number (Siegler, 1992). He steadfastly refused to rank “normal” childrenon the basis of their scores, believing that such rankings would be unfair. Herecognized that many individual factors, such as a child’s level of motivation, mightaffect the child’s score. Finally, Binet noted that an individual’s score could varyfrom time to time (Fancher, 1996; Gould, 1993).Lewis Terman and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence TestThere was enormous interest in Binet’s test in the United States. The test was translatedand adapted by Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman. Terman’s revision wascalled the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. First published in 1916, the Stanford-Binetwas for many years the standard for intelligence tests in the United States.Terman adopted the suggestion of a German psychologist that scores on theStanford-Binet test be expressed in terms of a single number, called the intelligencequotient, or IQ. This number was derived by dividing the individual’s mental ageby the chronological age and multiplying the result by 100. Thus, a child of averageintelligence, whose mental age and chronological age were the same, would have anIQ score of 100. A “bright” 10-year-old child with a mental age of 13 would havean IQ of 130 ( 13 ⁄ 10 100). A “slow” child with a chronological age of 10 and a mentalage of 7 would have an IQ of 70 ( 7 ⁄ 10 100). It was Terman’s use of the intelligencequotient that resulted in the popularization of the phrase “IQ test.”World War I and Group Intelligence TestingWhen the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. military was facedwith the need to rapidly screen 2 million army recruits. Using a group intelligencetest designed by one of Terman’s students, army psychologists developed the ArmyAlpha and Beta tests. The Army Alpha test was administered in writing, and theArmy Beta test was administered orally to recruits and draftees who could not read.After World War I ended, the Army Alpha and Army Beta group intelligence testswere adapted for civilian use. The result was a tremendous surge in the intelligencetestingmovement. Group intelligence tests were designed to test virtually all agesand types of people, including preschool children, prisoners, and newly arrivingimmigrants (Anastasi, 1988; Kamin, 1995). However, the indiscriminate use of thetests also resulted in skepticism and hostility.For example, immigrants were screened as they arrived at Ellis Island. The resultwas sweeping generalizations about the intelligence of different nationalities andraces. During the 1920s, a few intelligence testing experts even urged the U.S.Congress to limit the immigration of certain nationalities to keep the country from