How Did Alfred Binet Resolve The Enquiry Of Aptitudes?
The invention of the IQ test by Alfred Binet in 1905 appeared to ignite quite a frenzy over human heredity. Current research confers pivotal points of initial usage of psychometrics as a specialty and the historical prelude of the Binet-Simon assessment (pioneer to all other IQ test) to resolve the enquiry of how aptitude evolved into a “psychological object” (Nicholas, Andrieu, Croizet, Santioso & Burman, 2013). Commissioned by the French government, his organization known as Société libre de l'étude psychologique de l’enfant (Free society for the psychological study of the child) was bestowed with the task of creating a process for identify slow students so they could receive accommodations for their academic needs. As a result, Binet along
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with the help of his colleague, Theodore Simon, created a tool of measurement, identified as the Binet-Simon scale. However positive Binet intentions were for IQ testing, his scale was brought back to the U.S.to classify and label the weak and the poor.
A well-known American psychologist and advocate of the eugenics movement, Henry Goddard, traveled to Europe and acquired duplicates of the Binet-Simon intelligence test. In 1910, Goddard converted Binet’s test into English; aiding other eugenicist in implementing aptitude assessments to brand subgroups as fools and idiotic (Moore, Jensen, Hsu & Hatch, 2002). American eugenicists chose to misuse the test for it’s originally purpose, instituting a ghoulish system, designed to eradicate certain groups of people. Deliberately overlooking the French school children and people with mental retardation (Reddy, 2007).
Robert Yerkes, a Harvard University graduate and an innovator in field of comparative psychology studied the aptitudes of many forms of life; however, his main focus was on study of primates.
His research in the behavior and intelligence of various humans and animals enabled him to create a multiple-choice system and multiple-choice tool for measurement (Trewin, 2007). In 1913, Yerkes presented his device to exhibit how a multiple-choice process could successfully quantify normal and maladaptive behavior in humans. He would later go on to redesign the Stanford-Binet Intelligence so it could be frequently used as a measurement scale of human aptitude. Yerkes was appointed president of the American Psychological Association during the war were he directed a group of psychologists whose purpose was to introduce and establish psychological approaches for military service (Miles, 1946). Under his direction, his team devised ways of assessing the abilities of army recruits; developing the Army Alpha which was a verbal intelligence test and the Army Beta, a pictorial test designed for the illiterate. The irrefutable impact the tests had on the military was extensive, proving it was capable of selecting the fit recruits. The test could be administered to large groups unlike the Stanford-Binet scale, making it more efficient and easier to reproduce. The results of the test were successful and had a broad appeal which drew the attention of notable figures in the academic world. Encouraged by test results of recruits in the Army, intellectuals and elite leaders from academic circles became enthusiastic about using the IQ test for admissions to
colleges.
However, the successful implementation of IQ testing in the military also has a tainted past. During World War I, in the United States, there was a wide spread view which presumed only the most intelligent could become military leaders and the lesser skilled fight on the front lines (Berger, 2012). This type of eugenics propaganda often served as an even harsher form of racial exclusion for African-Americans living in an already hostile society. Marginalized and segregated during World War I, these IQ test prevented many from serving in a racially divided military system, in spite of dedicated service and loyalty to the country. Additionally, during the conflict with Nazi Germany, the practice of White entitlement through assessments, became a crucial method for denying African Americans the rights to equal citizenship and privileges (White, 2012). The Army General Classification Test was one such tool used to classify and control advancements, compensation and benefits of African American soldiers during World War II. This systematic racist practice was commonly institutionalized in the military and used as a covert form of racial discrimination.
Carl Brigham, an assistant professor of psychology at Princeton, published the first study, A Study of American Intelligence (1923), which was promoted by Yerkes who praised the significance of the research and its importance to the science of immigration (Kamin, 1975). Brigham, a prominent figure in the movement for eugenics and a pioneer in the field of psychometrics, worked with Yerkes during the Army IQ test trails as a colleague. His book, which became very popular at the time, revealing data derived from World War I on the first IQ test used by Army recruits. Brigham had the most contempt for Blacks as noted in his book (as cited in Kamin, p 320, 1975):
We are incorporating the negro into our racial stock, while all of Europe is comparatively free from this taint.... The steps that should be taken... must of course be dictated by science and not by political expediency.... And the revision of the immigration and naturalization laws will only afford a slight relief.... The really important steps are those looking toward the prevention of the continued propagation of defective strains in the present population.
with the help of his colleague, Theodore Simon, created a tool of measurement, identified as the Binet-Simon scale. However positive Binet intentions were for IQ testing, his scale was brought back to the U.S.to classify and label the weak and the poor.
A well-known American psychologist and advocate of the eugenics movement, Henry Goddard, traveled to Europe and acquired duplicates of the Binet-Simon intelligence test. In 1910, Goddard converted Binet’s test into English; aiding other eugenicist in implementing aptitude assessments to brand subgroups as fools and idiotic (Moore, Jensen, Hsu & Hatch, 2002). American eugenicists chose to misuse the test for it’s originally purpose, instituting a ghoulish system, designed to eradicate certain groups of people. Deliberately overlooking the French school children and people with mental retardation (Reddy, 2007).
Robert Yerkes, a Harvard University graduate and an innovator in field of comparative psychology studied the aptitudes of many forms of life; however, his main focus was on study of primates.
His research in the behavior and intelligence of various humans and animals enabled him to create a multiple-choice system and multiple-choice tool for measurement (Trewin, 2007). In 1913, Yerkes presented his device to exhibit how a multiple-choice process could successfully quantify normal and maladaptive behavior in humans. He would later go on to redesign the Stanford-Binet Intelligence so it could be frequently used as a measurement scale of human aptitude. Yerkes was appointed president of the American Psychological Association during the war were he directed a group of psychologists whose purpose was to introduce and establish psychological approaches for military service (Miles, 1946). Under his direction, his team devised ways of assessing the abilities of army recruits; developing the Army Alpha which was a verbal intelligence test and the Army Beta, a pictorial test designed for the illiterate. The irrefutable impact the tests had on the military was extensive, proving it was capable of selecting the fit recruits. The test could be administered to large groups unlike the Stanford-Binet scale, making it more efficient and easier to reproduce. The results of the test were successful and had a broad appeal which drew the attention of notable figures in the academic world. Encouraged by test results of recruits in the Army, intellectuals and elite leaders from academic circles became enthusiastic about using the IQ test for admissions to
colleges.
However, the successful implementation of IQ testing in the military also has a tainted past. During World War I, in the United States, there was a wide spread view which presumed only the most intelligent could become military leaders and the lesser skilled fight on the front lines (Berger, 2012). This type of eugenics propaganda often served as an even harsher form of racial exclusion for African-Americans living in an already hostile society. Marginalized and segregated during World War I, these IQ test prevented many from serving in a racially divided military system, in spite of dedicated service and loyalty to the country. Additionally, during the conflict with Nazi Germany, the practice of White entitlement through assessments, became a crucial method for denying African Americans the rights to equal citizenship and privileges (White, 2012). The Army General Classification Test was one such tool used to classify and control advancements, compensation and benefits of African American soldiers during World War II. This systematic racist practice was commonly institutionalized in the military and used as a covert form of racial discrimination.
Carl Brigham, an assistant professor of psychology at Princeton, published the first study, A Study of American Intelligence (1923), which was promoted by Yerkes who praised the significance of the research and its importance to the science of immigration (Kamin, 1975). Brigham, a prominent figure in the movement for eugenics and a pioneer in the field of psychometrics, worked with Yerkes during the Army IQ test trails as a colleague. His book, which became very popular at the time, revealing data derived from World War I on the first IQ test used by Army recruits. Brigham had the most contempt for Blacks as noted in his book (as cited in Kamin, p 320, 1975):
We are incorporating the negro into our racial stock, while all of Europe is comparatively free from this taint.... The steps that should be taken... must of course be dictated by science and not by political expediency.... And the revision of the immigration and naturalization laws will only afford a slight relief.... The really important steps are those looking toward the prevention of the continued propagation of defective strains in the present population.