This document provides a history of psychological testing from antiquity to the 19th century. It describes how testing began in ancient China to select civil servants and how ancient Greeks attempted to categorize personalities. In the 19th century, there was growing interest in distinguishing between mentally ill and disabled individuals. Key figures like Esquirol, Seguin, Darwin, Galton, Wundt, Cattell, Ebbinghaus, and Binet contributed to the development of early psychological tests and intelligence scales through their research and applications. Binet is particularly notable for developing one of the first intelligence tests, the Binet-Simon Scale, in collaboration with Theodore Simon in 1905.
This document provides a history of psychological testing from antiquity to the 19th century. It describes how testing began in ancient China to select civil servants and how ancient Greeks attempted to categorize personalities. In the 19th century, there was growing interest in distinguishing between mentally ill and disabled individuals. Key figures like Esquirol, Seguin, Darwin, Galton, Wundt, Cattell, Ebbinghaus, and Binet contributed to the development of early psychological tests and intelligence scales through their research and applications. Binet is particularly notable for developing one of the first intelligence tests, the Binet-Simon Scale, in collaboration with Theodore Simon in 1905.
This document provides a history of psychological testing from antiquity to the 19th century. It describes how testing began in ancient China to select civil servants and how ancient Greeks attempted to categorize personalities. In the 19th century, there was growing interest in distinguishing between mentally ill and disabled individuals. Key figures like Esquirol, Seguin, Darwin, Galton, Wundt, Cattell, Ebbinghaus, and Binet contributed to the development of early psychological tests and intelligence scales through their research and applications. Binet is particularly notable for developing one of the first intelligence tests, the Binet-Simon Scale, in collaboration with Theodore Simon in 1905.
This document provides a history of psychological testing from antiquity to the 19th century. It describes how testing began in ancient China to select civil servants and how ancient Greeks attempted to categorize personalities. In the 19th century, there was growing interest in distinguishing between mentally ill and disabled individuals. Key figures like Esquirol, Seguin, Darwin, Galton, Wundt, Cattell, Ebbinghaus, and Binet contributed to the development of early psychological tests and intelligence scales through their research and applications. Binet is particularly notable for developing one of the first intelligence tests, the Binet-Simon Scale, in collaboration with Theodore Simon in 1905.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING Dr. John Manuel R. Kliatchko University of Santo Tomas Antiquity to the 19th century • It is believed that tests and testing programs first came into being in China as early as 2200 B.C. (Dubois, 1966, 1970, in Cohen and Swerdlik, 2009). § Testing was instituted as a means for selecting who, of many applicants, would obtain government jobs. § In a culture where one’s position in society was largely determined by the family into which he was born, the fact that one could improve his lot by scoring high in exams was a significant step forward. Antiquity to the 19th century •Ancient Greco-Roman writings indicative of attempts to categorize people in terms of personality types (i.e., reference to abundance or deficiency in some bodily fluid such as blood or phlegm). Antiquity to the 19th century • 19th Century: strong awakening of interest in the humane treatment of mentally retarded and insane persons § It became necessary to distinguish between mentally retarded and insane persons Antiquity to the 19th century 1838: Esquirol § French physician whose two-volume work made the first explicit distinction between mentally retarded and insane individuals § More than 100 pages of his work devoted to “mental retardation” § Esquirol pointed out that there are many degrees of mental retardation § The individual’s use of language provides the most dependable criterion of his intellectual level Antiquity to the 19th century Seguin § Another French physician § Pioneered in the training of mentally retarded persons § 1837: established the first school devoted to the education of mentally retarded children § 1848: migrated to the USA, made suggestions regarding the training of mentally retarded persons § Some of the procedures developed by Seguin were eventually incorporated into performance or nonverbal tests of intelligence Antiquity to the 19th century On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)
• He argued that chance variation in
species would be selected or rejected by nature according to adaptivity and survival value. • Darwin spurred interest in individual differences. According to him, individual differences are of the highest importance, for they afford materials for natural selection to act on. Antiquity to the 19th century Francis Galton • English biologist; Darwin’s half cousin • Galton (1869) aspired to classify people “according to their natural gifts” (p. 1) and to ascertain their “deviation from the average” (p. 11) • His initial work on heredity was done with sweet peas, in part because there tended to be fewer variations among the peas in a single pod Antiquity to the 19th century Francis Galton • Realized the need for measuring the characteristics of related and unrelated persons • Focused on INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES • Galton was instrumental in inducing a number of educational institutions to keep systematic ANTHROPOMETRIC RECORDS of their students Antiquity to the 19th century Francis Galton • 1884: Galton set up an anthropometric laboratory at the International Exposition, where visitors could be measured on certain variables such as height (standing), height (sitting), arm span, weight, breathing capacity, keenness of vision and hearing, strength of pull, strength of squeeze, swiftness of blow, memory of form, discrimination of color, hand steadiness, reaction time, and other simple sensorimotor functions. Antiquity to the 19th century § For all these efforts, Galton is credited to be primarily responsible for the launching of the testing movement § Galton also pioneered in the application of rating scale and questionnaire methods (including self-report inventories) § He is also responsible for the development of statistical methods for the analysis of data on individual differences (i.e., coefficient of correlation) Antiquity to the 19th century Wilhelm Wundt Wundt (1879): The problems studied in their laboratories were concerned largely with sensitivity to visual, auditory, and other sensory phenomena. This was reflected in the nature of the first psychological tests. Antiquity to the 19th century Wilhelm Wundt § Emphasis on the need for rigorous control of the conditions under which observations were made o Example: wording of directions, manuals for the administration of many tests provide explicit instructions designed to hold constant or “standardize” the conditions under which the test is administered Antiquity to the 19th century James McKeen Cattell • American psychologist, student of Wilhelm Wundt • In 1888, while lecturing at Cambridge, came in contact with Francis Galton, whom he regarded as “the greatest man I have known” (Roback, 1961; in Cohen and Swerdlik, 2009); Antiquity to the 19th century James McKeen Cattell • Galton stimulated his interest in the measurement of individual differences • Boring (1950, p. 283): “Cattell, more than any other person was, in this fashion, responsible for getting mental testing underway in America, and it is plain that his motivation was similar to Galton’s, and that he was influenced, or at least reinforced, by Galton.” Antiquity to the 19th century James McKeen Cattell • He became active in the spread of the testing movement; first to use the term MENTAL TEST (1890) • He was instrumental in founding the PSYCHOLOGICAL CORPORATION, which named 20 of the country’s leading psychologists as its directors Antiquity to the 19th century James McKeen Cattell • The goal of the corporation was the “advancement of psychology and the promotion of the useful applications of psychology” Antiquity to the 19th century Herman Ebbinghaus (1897) • German psychologist • Administered tests of arithmetic computation, memory span, and sentence completion to schoolchildren • Only sentence completion, the most complex of the three tests, showed a clear correspondence with the children’s scholastic achievement Antiquity to the 19th century Alfred Binet • French psychologist • Urged that children who failed to respond to normal schooling be examined before dismissal, and if considered educable, be assigned to special classes Antiquity to the 19th century Alfred Binet • His advocacy for the cause of mentally retarded children led to the establishment (in France) of a ministerial commission for the study of retarded children, to which he was appointed – momentous event in the history of psychological testing Antiquity to the 19th century 1895 • Alfred Binet and Victor Henri criticized most of the available tests as being too largely sensory and as concentrating unduly on simple, specialized abilities • An extensive and varied list of tests was proposed, covering such functions as memory, imagination, attention, comprehension, and aesthetic appreciation Antiquity to the 19th century 1895 • Led to the development of the famous BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALES Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales 1905 Scale • In collaboration with Theodore Simon • Also known as the Binet-Simon Scale • Made use of a standardization sample of 50 children Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales • Scale consisted of 30 problems or tests arranged in ascending order of difficulty, which measured JUDGMENT, COMPREHENSION, and REASONING, seen by Binet as essential components of intelligence • The scale was designed to help identify mentally retarded Paris schoolchildren Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales 1908 Scale • Nearly twice as many items as the 1905 Scale • Some unsatisfactory tests in the 1905 Scale were eliminated • All tests were grouped into age levels • Score obtained corresponded to the child’s mental level (mental age) Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales 1911 Scale • Third revision, coincided with Binet’s untimely death • No fundamental changes, more tests added at several year levels, extended to the adult level Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales • As a testing instrument, the BINET- SIMON Scale was outdistanced by the more extensive and psychometrically refined STANFORD-BINET Scale, developed by Lewis Terman and his associates at Stanford University Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales • Standardization sample was increased to 1000 • Terman was the first to use the term IQ Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales Binet and the Rise of Intelligence Scales Kuhlmann-Binet Revision • Extended the scale downward to the age of three months (1912) STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT TESTS • First standardized tests for measuring the outcomes of school instruction appeared in 1900; spearheaded by the work of E.L. Thorndike • 1923 – Stanford Achievement Test (Kelly, Rush, and Terman) • 1930 – phaseout of essay tests; introduction of test-scoring machines STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT TESTS • 1939: David Wechsler (clinical psychologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York City) • Introduced a test designed to measure adult intelligence • Defined intelligence as the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with his environment (1939, p. 3) STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT TESTS • Originally called the Wechsler- Bellevue Intelligence Scale, later renamed as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • Standardization sample: 3,000 individuals STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT TESTS Rise of the Group Intelligence Test • Response to an urgent need to screen military recruits • By the late 1930s, approximately 4,000 different psychological tests were in print (Buros, 1938), and clinical psychology was synonymous with “mental testing” ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (1920-1940) • Personal Data Sheet, developed by Robert Woodworth during World War I, the prototype of the personality questionnaire ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (1920-1940) • Answerable by yes or no to disguise its true nature • Designed as a rough screening device for identifying seriously disturbed men who would be disqualified for military service ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (1920-1940) • Robert Woodworth chaired the government’s Committee on Emotional Fitness, tasked to develop a measure of adjustment and emotional stability that could be administered quickly and efficiently to new recruits • This led to the development of the Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory, the first widely used self-report test ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (1920-1940) • Interpretation of the test depended on the now-discredited assumption that the content of a test item could be accepted at face value. For example, if the person marked “False” for the statement “I wet the bed,” then it was assumed that he or she did not “wet the bed.” ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (1920-1940) • In addition to being dishonest, the person responding to the question may not interpret the meaning of “wet the bed” the same way as the administrator does. • After an initial surge of interest and optimism during most of the 1920s, structured personality tests declined by the late 1930s and early 1940s. Projective Tests • To overcome limitations of self-report • In contrast to structured personality tests, projective personality tests provide an ambiguous stimulus and unclear response requirements. Projective Tests • Rorschach Inkblot Test • First published by Hermann Rorschach in 1921 in Switzerland • Consisted of 10 inkblots with the colors black, gray, red, and various pastels; subjects are asked what the inkblots might be Projective Tests • Rorschach Inkblot Test • Introduced in the United States by David Levy • Sam Beck (Levy’s student) wrote the first doctoral dissertation using the Rorschach in 1932. After this time, the popularity of the Rorschach technique grew, despite suspicion, doubt, and criticism from the scientific community. Projective Tests • Thematic Apperception Test • Developed by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan (1935) • Consisted of 20 pictures, of various scenes, and one blank card • Subjects are asked to make up a story about the ambiguous scene Projective Tests • Thematic Apperception Test New Approaches in Personality Testing • Projective techniques have not withstood a vigorous examination of their psychometric properties (Wood, Nezworski, Lilienfield, and Garb, 2003, in Kaplan and Sacuzzo, 2011) • In 1943, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) introduced the use of empirical methods to determine the meaning of a test response New Approaches in Personality Testing • The problem with the early structured personality tests was that they made far too many assumptions that subsequent scientific investigations failed to substantiate. • The authors of the MMPI argued that the meaning of a test response could be determined only by empirical research • The MMPI (and its updated version – the MMPI-2) is currently the most widely used and referenced personality test New Approaches in Personality Testing
§ Emergence of personality tests
based on the Factor Analytic strategy in the 1940s § Factor analysis is a method of finding the minimum number of dimensions (characteristics, attributes), called factors, to account for a large number of variables § J.R. Guilford made the first serious attempt to use factor analysis New Approaches in Personality Testing
§ Late 1940s, Raymond B.
Cattell introduced the Sixteen Personality Factors (16PF) Questionnaire Post World War II • Development of applied branches of psychology (industrial, clinical, counseling, educational, and school psychology) • Psychological testing as a unique function of the clinical psychologist Post World War II • Applied psychology acknowledged the use of tests to solve practical human problems • The potentially intrusive nature of tests and fears of misuse began to create public suspicion, distrust, and contempt for tests. • Testing underwent another decline in status in the late 1950s until the 1970s. The Current Environment • Emergence of several more branches of applied psychology (neuropsychology, health psychology, forensic psychology, and child psychology) – all of which make extensive use of psychological tests • Psychological testing again grew in status and use • Tests are currently in use in developed countries around the world The Philippine Scene 1962 • The Philippine Psychological Corporation is founded. The corporation offers psychological services and is the main retailer of psychological tests. 1970s • Psychology becomes the most popular undergraduate major in many colleges and universities. Psychological testing flourishes as the overseas contract workers boom begins. 1982 • The PAP decides the time has come for quality control in the practice of psychology. It introduces a bill in the Batasang Pambansa that would require practicing psychologists to be licensed. THANK YOU!
