Restless Pioneer: The Achievements of Alfred Binet

History of psychology, 2013

Sante De Sanctis (1862–1935) and Alfred Binet (1857–1911), the latter in collaboration with Théodore Simon (1873–1960), introduced their intelligence tests to the scientific community at the Fifth International Congress of Psychology, held in Rome in 1905 on April 26–30. The cultural and political contexts within which De Sanctis and Binet developed their respective intelligence tests showed certain similarities. Nevertheless, De Sanctis’s intelligence test and Binet’s test did differ in certain respects. The objective of this article is to understand the differences and similarities between the Parisian and the Roman contexts in relation to mental testing, and to investigate the theoretical-methodological contributions of each. In addition, the article analyzes the “diversity” of De Sanctis’s context and test, which did not influence the international psychology.

The previous article ended with the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) consensus model of a transcendent third order factor g and, an array of nine second order factors. This emerged near to the culmination of a series which has mainly focussed on the structure of human intelligence.

Boyle (Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 709-715, 1989b)conducted an iterative principal factoring and oblique rotation of the standardisation sample (n = 5,013) for the revised Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Fourth Edition). Nevertheless, because of the exploratory methodology employed, the results were problematic. Keith, Cool, Novak, White and Pottebaum (1988)-(Journal of School Psychology, 26, 253-274) had previously carried out a confirmatory factor analysis and had concluded that the results supported the four Area dimensions (Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract/Visual Reasoning, and Short-Term Memory) in the new instrument. As congeneric factor analysis via LISREL has not yet been performed, the present paper presents a LISREL reanalysis of the subtest intercorrelations provided in the Stanford-Binet IV Technical Manual. In replicating the confirmatory analysis of Keith et al., it was found that some of the subtests were loaded differently from that previously reported, although each Area dimension was supported strongly by congeneric factor analysis. Even so, the magnitude of the intercorrelations between the four Area dimensions was quite high, suggesting that intellectual abilities are influenced strongly by general ability (g).

Archives of Disease in Childhood, 1987

Are intelligence tests outmoded? Most doctors know little about clinical and educational psychologists' areas of expertise; although most do know that they carry out intelligence tests. Now, just when doctors have accepted the intelligence quotient (10) as a measure of intelligence, psychologists seem reluctant to use the term. Why? Is something wrong with the concept of IQ? Are IQ tests outmoded? The history of IQ tests According to Eysenck, the ancient Greeks introduced the concept of intelligence.' They regarded it as the potential to think, reason, and solve mental problems, and they differentiated it from a person's observed behaviour. Centuries later tests of intelligence evolved, the first widely used one being Binet's, which was developed in France in the early 1900s. Binet's original test still exists today, recently restandardised as the Stanford-Binet test of intelligence. The original purpose of the test, which was designed at the request of the French education authorities, was to select children who were having difficulties in learning so that they could have extra tuition. Binet himself believed that ability could change, but many of those who adopted the idea of testing IQ believed that intelligence was inherited and essentially unalterable. This belief was parti

Professional School Psychology, 1988

Psychologists using the Stanford-Binet, Fourth Edition (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986a) for the first time may be surprised to discover tKat the test resembles a new test more than a revision of the old instrument. No longer are testing tasks organized in age levels; nor is scoring done by mental age units that produce an "IQ." Rather, the Fourth Edition is organized by the placement of items in 15 subtests that are assigned to one of four areas or theoretical factors. Those psychologists familiar with The Manual for the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (McCarthy, 1972) will recognize the format and, perhaps, comparable theoretical rationale. Not all examinees take all the subtests on the Stanford-Binet, Fourth Edition. In fact, the authors claim a valid administration of the test might include as few as four subtests; Thorndike et al. (1986a) suggested one subtest from each of the four areas could make up a quick screening battery. The administration manual suggests different batteries for different purposes. Each of these suggested batteries need to be validated in the future. Reliance on age levels is gone from the new test; however, the items in each subtest are arranged in pairs called levels that are designated by the letters A through Y. Each examinee, through an adaptive-testing process utilizing the Vocabulary subtest as the first administered, is assigned a letter that determines the beginning level and item on all subsequent subtests. Only on the Vocabulary subtest is the examinee's chronological age used as a guide to the appropriate beginning item; a basal and ceiling is still used to determine the range of items presented on each subtest. Although the rules for determining the basal and ceiling are different from those on the old Stanford-Binet, the experienced administrator will have little trouble adapting these concepts to the Fourth Edition. Users of the Fourth Edition will encounter a number of other changes in test format: Requests for reprints should be sent to

Intelligence, 2013

This paper examines the first moments of the emergence of “psychometrics” as a discipline, using a history of the Binet-Simon test (precursor to the Stanford-Binet) to engage the question of how intelligence became a “psychological object.” To begin to answer this, we used a previously-unexamined set of French texts to highlight the negotiations and collaborations that led Alfred Binet (1857-1911) to identify “mental testing” as a research area worth pursuing. This included a long-standing rivalry with Désiré-Magloire Bourneville (1840-1909), who argued for decades that psychiatrists ought to be the professional arbiters of which children would be removed from the standard curriculum and referred to special education classes in asylums. In contrast, Binet sought to keep children in schools and conceived of a way for psychologists to do this. Supported by the Société libre de l’étude psychologique de l’enfant [Free society for the psychological study of the child], and by a number of collaborators and friends, he thus undertook to create a “metric” scale of intelligence—and the associated testing apparatus—to legitimize the role of psychologists in a to-that-point psychiatric domain: identifying and treating “the abnormal.” The result was a change in the earlier law requiring all healthy French children to attend school, between the ages of 6 and 13, to recognize instead that otherwise normal children sometimes need special help: they are “slow” (arriéré), but not “sick.” This conceptualization of intelligence was then carried forward, through the test’s influence on Lewis Terman (1877-1956) and Lightner Witmer (1867-1956), to shape virtually all subsequent thinking about intelligence testing and its role in society. [Open access; feel free to share widely.]

The history of David Wechsler's intelligence scales is reviewed by tracing the origins of the subtests in the 1939 Wechsler±Bellevue Intelligence Scale. The subtests originated from tests developed between 1880 and World War I, and was based on approaches to mental testing including anthropometrics, association psychology, the Binet±Simon scales, language-free performance testing of immigrants and school children, and group testing of military recruits. Wechsler's subtest selection can be understood partly from his clinical experiences during World War I. The structure of the Wechsler±Bellevue Scale, which introduced major innovations in intelligence testing, has remained almost unchanged through later revisions.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia for History of Psychology , 2020

Note: this version represents a pre-print version and differs from the published version. Abstract: The intelligence test consists of a series of exercises designed to measure intelligence. Intelligence is generally understood as mental capacity enabling a person to learn at school or, more generally, to reason, to solve problems and to adapt to new (challenging) situations. There are many types of intelligence tests depending on the kind of person (age, profession, culture, etc.) and the way intelligence is understood. Some tests are general, others are focused on evaluating language skills, others on memory, abstract and logical thinking or abilities in a wide variety of areas such as, for example, recognizing and matching implicit, visual patterns. Scores may be presented as an IQ (intelligence quotient), as a mental age, or simply as a point on a scale. Intelligence tests are instrumental in ordering, ranking and comparing individuals. The testing of intelligence started in the nineteenth century and became a common practice in schools and universities, psychotechnical institutions, courts, asylums, and private companies on an international level during the twentieth century. It is generally assumed that the first test was designed by the French scholars A. Binet and T. Simon in 1905. But, the historical link between testing and experimenting allows to speak of previous tests, such as the word association test. Testing was practiced and understood in different ways, depending not only on the time, but also on the concrete local (cultural and institutional) conditions. For example, in the United States and Brazil it would get immediately linked to race differences and eugenic programs, while in other places, such as Spain, it would be part of an attempt to detect "feebleness" and to grade students at certain schools. Since the very beginnings, the intelligence test received harsh criticisms and triggered massive protests. The debate went through the mass media leading to the infamous IQ test wars. Thus, now-a-days psychologists are careful in the promotion of intelligence testing, aware of the inherent danger of cultural discrimination and social marginalization. In order to understand the role, the intelligence test plays in today's society, it is necessary to explore its history with the help of well documented case studies. Such studies show how the testing practice was employed in national contexts and how it was received, used or rejected by different social groups or professionals. The central role of testing played in North-America is bit by bit removed by current historical research with the help of a more inclusive perspective; a perspective that explores how testing was taking place in different national and cultural environments such as Russia (or the former Soviet Union), India, Italy, Netherland, Sweden, Argentina, Chile, and many other places.

Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 2017

This paper is published open access. It challenges the historiographical discontinuity established between earlier " an-thropometric testing " and the arrival of " psychological testing " with Binet and Simon's intelligence test in 1905. After some conceptual clarifications, it deals with " word association " : a kind of psychological experimentation and testing which became popular over the last two decades of the 19th century. First Galton's exploration are presented, followed by experiments performed at the Leipzig laboratory by Trautscholdt, and then Cattell and Bryant's collective testing. Additionally, I document the use of this method for the study of mental difference through the works of Münsterberg, Bourdon, Jastrow, Nevers and Calkins. The cases I present show how the method gave rise to various measurements and classifications. I conclude that the word association technique triggered reflection on mental " uniqueness " , gender traits and the influence of education, among other topics. Moreover, it prepared the terrain and anticipated some basic attractions and problems intelligence testing would later encounter.