Question

Answer the following question in 150 to 200 words.

Write in detail about the history of the measurement of intelligence.

Answer 1

1. Paul Broca and Sir Francis Galton were among the first scientists to think about measuring intelligence. In the mid-1880s, Sir Francis Galton administered a battery of tests measuring variables such as head size, reaction time, visual accuracy, auditory threshold, breathing capacity, etc.
2. He thought he could determine intelligence by measuring the size of the human skull. He assumed that the larger the skull, the smarter the person. But Sir Francis Galton’s test did not prove very useful for the measurement of intelligence.
3. In the early 1890s, Raymond Cattell, an assistant in Sir Francis Galton’s laboratory, established similar laboratories in the United States. During this time, Raymond Cattell used the term ‘mental test’ for the first time in the psychological literature.
4. Raymond Cattell shared Sir Francis Galton’s view that intelligence is best measured through sensory tasks but expanded his mentor’s ideas by emphasizing that test administration must be standardized so that results are comparable from person to person and from time to time.
5. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the school authorities in Paris were keenly interested in knowing the reasons for the repeated failure of certain students in the examination as no medical reason or any environmental factor was found to be associated with their failure.
6. The result was the Binet- Simon Intelligence Scale. In collaboration with Theodore Simon, French Psychologist, Alfred Binet published the first scale of intelligence in 1905. So Alfred Binet is considered the ‘Father of the Intelligence Test’. Binet- Simon Intelligence Scale consists of several components such as logical reasoning, finding rhyming words, and naming objects. This scale was revised in 1908 and again in 1911.
7. Lewis Terman from Stanford University revised the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale in 1916. He adapted a few items, added other items, established new age norms, and extended the upper age limit of the scale. This revised test was known as Stanford Binet Test. This test was revised in 1937, 1960, 1972, 1986, and 2004.
8. The First World War began in 1914. Later on, in 1917, Robert Yerks, with his colleagues' help, prepared Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests. These intelligence tests were used while recruiting soldiers in the army.
9. In the Post First World War period, the importance of intelligence testing increased. In 1939, during the Second World War, again while recruiting soldiers in the army, an intelligence test named the Army General Classification Test was used on a large scale.
10. David Wechsler, in 1939, published the Wechsler- Bellevue Intelligence Scale. This scale was revised in 1955 and was renamed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). WAIS is a test designed to measure the intelligence of adults and older adolescents.
11. The fourth edition of this test (WAIS-IV) was released in 2008 by Karl Pearson. David Wechsler also developed an intelligence test to measure the intelligence of children. This test is known as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).

Besides these tests, many other psychologists have developed various intelligence tests. The number of intelligence tests and applications of intelligence testing is increasing day by day.