The Measurement of Intelligence Part 13

The forty-minute test had told more about the mental ability of this boy than the intelligent mother had been able to learn in eleven years of daily and hourly observation. For X is feeble-minded; he will never complete the grammar school; he will never be an efficient worker or a responsible citizen.

Let us change the picture. Z is a bright-eyed, dark-skinned girl of 9 years. She is dark-skinned because her father is a mixture of Indian and Spanish. The mother is of Irish descent. With her strangely mated parents and two brothers she lives in a dirty, cramped, and poorly furnished house in the country. The parents are illiterate, and the brothers are r.e.t.a.r.ded and dull, though not feeble-minded.

It is Z's turn to be tested. I inquire the name. It is familiar, for I have already tested the two stupid brothers. I also know her ignorant parents and the miserable cabin in which she lives.

The examination begins with the 8-year tests. The responses are quick and accurate. We proceed to the 9-year group. There is no failure, and there is but one minor error. Successes and failures alternate for a while until the latter prevail. Z has tested at 11 years. In spite of her wretched home, she is mentally advanced nearly 25 per cent. By the vocabulary test she is credited with a knowledge of nearly 6000 words, or nearly four times as many as X, the boy of cultured home and scholarly parents, had learned by the age of 8 years.

Five years have pa.s.sed. When given the test, Z was in the fourth grade and, as we have already stated, 9 years of age. As a result of the test she was transferred to the fifth grade. Later she skipped again and at the age of 14 is a successful student in the second year of high school. To a.s.say her intelligence and determine its quality was a task of forty-five minutes.

The above cases, each of which could be paralleled by many others which we have found, will serve to ill.u.s.trate the fact that exceptionally superior endowment is discoverable by the tests, however unfavorable the home from which it comes, and that inferior endowment cannot be normalized by all the advantages of the most cultured home. Quoting again from Stern, "The tests actually reach and discover the general developmental conditions of intelligence, and not mere fragments of knowledge and attainments acquired by chance."

PART II

GUIDE FOR THE USE OF THE STANFORD REVISION AND EXTENSION

CHAPTER VIII

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

NECESSITY OF SECURING ATTENTION AND EFFORT. The child's intelligence is to be judged by his success in the performance of certain tasks. These tasks may appear to the examiner to be very easy, indeed; but we must bear in mind that they are often anything but easy for the child. Real effort and attention are necessary for his success, and occasionally even his best efforts fall short of the desired result. If the tests are to display the child's real intellectual ability it will be necessary, therefore, to avoid as nearly as possible every disturbing factor which would divide his attention or in any other way injure the quality of his responses. To insure this it will be necessary to consider somewhat in detail a number of factors which influence effort, such as degree of quiet, the nature of surroundings, presence or absence of others, means of gaining the child's confidence, the avoidance of embarra.s.sment, fatigue, etc.

One should not expect, however, to secure an absolutely equal degree of attention from all subjects. The power to give sustained attention to a difficult task is characteristically weak in dull and feeble-minded children. What we should labor to secure is the maximum attention of which the child is capable, and if this is unsatisfactory without external cause, we are to regard the fact as symptomatic of inferior mental ability, not as an extenuating factor or an excuse for lack of success in the tests.

Attention, of course, cannot be normal if any acute physical or mental disturbance is present. Toothache, headache, earache, nausea, fever, cold, etc., all render the test inadvisable. The same is true of mental anxiety or fear, as in the case of the child who has just been arrested and brought before the court.

QUIET AND SECLUSION. The tests should be conducted in a quiet room, located where the noises of the street and other outside distractions cannot enter. A reasonably small room is better than a very large one, because it is more homelike. The furnishings of the room should be simple. A table and two chairs are sufficient. If the room contains a number of unfamiliar objects, such as psychological apparatus, pictures on the walls, etc., the attention of the child is likely to be drawn away from the tasks which he is given to do. The halls and corridors which it is sometimes necessary to use in testing school children are usually noisy, cold, or otherwise objectionable.

PRESENCE OF OTHERS. A still more disturbing influence is the presence of other persons. Generally speaking, if accurate results are to be secured it is not permissible to have any auditor, besides possibly an a.s.sistant to record the responses. Even the a.s.sistant, however quiet and un.o.btrusive, is sometimes a disturbing element. Though something of a convenience, the a.s.sistant is by no means necessary, after the examiner has thoroughly mastered the procedure of the tests and has acquired some skill in the use of abbreviations in recording the answers. If an a.s.sistant or any other person is present, he should be seated somewhat behind the child, not too close, and should take no notice of the child either when he enters the room or at any time during the examination.

At all events, the presence of parent, teacher, school princ.i.p.al, or governess is to be avoided. Contrary to what one might expect, these distract the child much more than a strange personality would do. Their critical att.i.tude toward the child's performance is very likely to cause embarra.s.sment. If the child is alone with the examiner, he is more at ease from the mere fact that he does not feel that there is a reputation to sustain. The praise so lavishly bestowed upon him by the friendly and sympathetic examiner lends to the same effect.

As Binet emphasizes, if the presence of others cannot be avoided, it is at least necessary to require of them absolute silence. Parents, and sometimes teachers, have an almost irrepressible tendency to interrupt the examination with excuses for the child's failures and with disturbing explanations which are likely to aid the child in comprehending the required task. Without the least intention of doing so, they sometimes practically tell the child how to respond. Parents, especially, cannot refrain from scolding the child or showing impatience when his answers do not come up to expectation. This, of course, endangers the child's success still further.

The psychologist is not surprised at such conduct. It would be foolish to expect average parents, even apart from their bias in the particular case at hand, to adopt the scientific att.i.tude of the trained examiner.

Since we cannot in a few moments at our disposal make them over into psychologists, our only recourse is to deal with them by exclusion.

This is not to say that it is impossible to test a child satisfactorily in the presence of others. If the examiner is experienced, and if the child is not timid, it is sometimes possible to make a successful test in the presence of quite a number of auditors, provided they remain silent, refrain from staring, and otherwise conduct themselves with discretion. But not even the veteran examiner can always be sure of the outcome in demonstration testing.

GETTING INTO "RAPPORT." The examiner's first task is to win the confidence of the child and overcome his timidity. Unless _rapport_ has first been established, the results of the first tests given are likely to be misleading. The time and effort necessary for accomplishing this are variable factors, depending upon the personality of both the examiner and the subject. In a majority of cases from three to five minutes should be sufficient, but in a few cases somewhat more time is necessary.

The writer has found that when a strange child is brought to the clinic for examination, it is advantageous to go out of doors with him for a little walk around the university buildings. It is usually possible to return from such a stroll in a few minutes, with the child chattering away as though to an old friend. Another approach is to begin by showing the child some interesting object, such as a toy, or a form-board, or pictures not used in the test. The only danger in this method is that the child is likely to find the object so interesting that he may not be willing to abandon it for the tests, or that his mind will keep reverting to it during the examination.

Still another method is to give the child his seat as soon as he is ushered into the room, and, after a word of greeting, which must be spoken in a kindly tone but without gushiness, to open up a conversation about matters likely to be of interest. The weather, place of residence, pets, sports, games, toys, travels, current events, etc., are suitable topics if rightly employed. When the child has begun to express himself without timidity and it is clear that his confidence has been gained, one may proceed, as though in continuance of the conversation, to inquire the name, age, and school grade. The examiner notes these down in the appropriate blanks, rather unconcernedly, at the same time complimenting the child (unless it is clearly a case of serious r.e.t.a.r.dation) on the fine progress he has made with his studies.

KEEPING THE CHILD ENCOURAGED. Nothing contributes more to a satisfactory _rapport_ than praise of the child's efforts. Under no circ.u.mstances should the examiner permit himself to show displeasure at a response, however absurd it may be. In general, the poorer the response, the better satisfied one should appear to be with it. An error is always to be pa.s.sed by without comment, unless it is painfully evident to the child himself, in which case the examiner will do well to make some excuse for it; e.g., "You are not quite old enough to answer questions like that one; but, never mind, you are doing beautifully," etc.

Exclamations like "fine!" "splendid!" etc., should be used lavishly.

Almost any innocent deception is permissible which keeps the child interested, confident, and at his best level of effort. The examination should begin with tests that are fairly easy, in order to give the child a little experience with success before the more difficult tests are reached.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TACT. It goes without saying that children's personalities are not so uniform and simple that we can adhere always to a single stereotyped procedure in working our way into their good graces. Suggestions like the above have their value, but, like rules of etiquette, they must be supported by the tact which comes of intuition and cannot be taught. The address which flatters and pleases one child may excite disgust in another. The examiner must scent the situation and adapt his method to it. One child is timid and embarra.s.sed; another may think his mental powers are under suspicion and so react with sullen obstinacy; a third may be in an angry mood as a result of a recent playground quarrel. Situations like these are, of course, exceptional, but in any case it is necessary to create in the child a certain mood, or indefinable att.i.tude of mind, before the test begins.

PERSONALITY OF THE EXAMINER. Doubtless there are persons so lacking in personal adaptability that success in this kind of work would be for them impossible. The wooden, mechanical, matter-of-fact and unresponsive personality is as much out of place in the psychological clinic as the traditional bull in the china shop. It would make an interesting study for some one to investigate, by exact methods, the influence on test results of the personality of different examiners who have been equally trained in the methods to be employed and who are equally conscientious in applying them according to rules.

On the whole, differences of this kind are probably not very great among experienced and reasonably competent examiners. Adaptability grows with experience and with increase of self-confidence. After a few score tests there should be no serious failure from inability to get into _rapport_ with the child. Even in those rare cases where the child breaks down and cries from timidity, or perhaps refuses to answer out of embarra.s.sment, the difficulty can be overcome by sufficient tact so that the examination may proceed as though nothing had happened.

If the examiner has the proper psychological and personal equipment, the testing of twenty or thirty children forms a fairly satisfactory apprenticeship. Without psychological training, no amount of experience will guarantee absolute accuracy of the results.

THE AVOIDANCE OF FATIGUE. Against the validity of intelligence tests it is often argued that the result of an examination depends a great deal on the time of day when it is made, whether in the morning hours when the mind is at its best, or in the afternoon when it is supposedly fatigued. Although no very extensive investigation has been made of this influence, there is no evidence that the ordinary fatigue incident to school work injures the child's performance appreciably. Our tests of 1000 children showed no inferiority of results secured from 1 to 4 P.M., as compared with tests made from 9 to 12 A.M.

An explanation for this is not hard to find. Although school work causes fatigue, in the sense that a part of the child's available supply of mental energy is used up, there is always a reserve of energy sufficient to carry the child through a thirty-to fifty-minute test. The fact that the required tasks are novel and interesting to a high degree insures that the reserve energy will really be brought into play. This principle, of course, has its natural limits. The examiner would avoid testing a child who was exhausted either from work or play, or a child who was noticeably sleepy.

DURATION OF THE EXAMINATION. About the only danger of fatigue lies in making the examination too long. Young children show symptoms of weariness much more quickly than older children, and it is therefore fortunate that not so much time is needed for testing them. The following allowances of time will usually be found sufficient:--

Children 3-5 years old 25-30 minutes " 6-8 " " 30-40 "

" 9-12 " " 40-50 "

" 13-15 " " 50-60 "

Adults 60-90 "

This allowance ordinarily includes the time necessary for getting into _rapport_ with the child, in addition to that actually consumed in the tests. But the examiner need not expect to hold fast to any schedule.

Some subjects respond in a lively manner, others are exasperatingly slow. It is more often the mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded child who answers slowly, but exceptions to this rule are not uncommon. One 8-year-old boy examined by the writer answered so hesitatingly that it required two sittings of nearly an hour each to complete the test. The result, however, showed a mental age of 11 years, or an I Q of 143.

It is permissible to hurry the child by an occasional "that's fine; now, quickly," etc., but in doing this caution must be exercised, or the child's mental process may be blocked. The appearance of nagging must be carefully avoided. If the test goes so slowly that it cannot be completed in the above limits of time, it is usually best to stop and complete the examination at another time. When this is not possible, it is advisable to take a ten-minute intermission and a little walk out of doors.

Time can be saved by having all the necessary materials close at hand and conveniently arranged. The coins should be kept in a separate purse, and the pictures, colors, stamps, and designs for drawing should be mounted on stiff cardboard which may be punched and kept in a notebook cover. The series of sentences, digits, comprehension questions, fables, etc., should either be mounted in similar fashion, or else printed in full on the record sheets used in the tests. The latter is more convenient.[43] All other materials should be kept where they will not have to be hunted for.

[43] Examiners will find it a great convenience to use the record booklet which has been specially devised for testing with the Stanford revision. It contains all the necessary printed material, including digits, sentences, absurdities, fables, the vocabulary list, the reading selection, the square and diamond for copying, etc., and in addition gives with each test the standard for scoring. It is so arranged as to afford ample room for a _verbatim_ record of all the child's responses, and contains other features calculated to make testing easy and accurate. Regarding purchasing of supplies see p. 141.

Besides saving valuable time, a little methodical foresight of this kind adds to the success of the test. If the child is kept waiting, the test loses its interest and attention strays. See to it, if possible, that no lull occurs in the performance.

Inexperienced examiners sometimes waste time foolishly by stopping to instruct the child on his failures. This is doubly bad, for besides losing time it makes the child conscious of the imperfection of his responses and creates embarra.s.sment. Adhere to the purpose of the test, which is to ascertain the child's intellectual level, not to instruct him.

DESIRABLE RANGE OF TESTING. There are two considerations here of equal importance. It is necessary to make the examination thorough, but in the pursuit of thoroughness we must be careful not to produce fatigue or ennui. Unless there is reason to suspect mental r.e.t.a.r.dation, it is usually best to begin with the group of tests just below the child's age. However, if there is a failure in the tests of that group, it is necessary to go back and try all the tests of the previous group. In like manner the examination should be carried up the scale, until a test group has been found in which all the tests are failed.

It must be admitted, however, that because of time limitations and fatigue, it is not always practicable to adhere to this ideal of thoroughness. In testing normal children, little error will result if we go back no farther than the year which yielded only one failure, and if we stop with the year in which there was only one success. _This is the lowest permissible limit of thoroughness._ Defectives are more uneven mentally than normal children, and therefore scatter their successes and failures over a wider range. With such subjects it is absolutely imperative that the test be thorough.

In the case of defectives it is sometimes necessary to begin with random testing, until a rough idea is gained of the mental level. But the skilled observer soon becomes able to utilize symptoms in the child's conversation and conduct and to dispense with most of this preliminary exploration.

ORDER OF GIVING THE TESTS. The child's efforts in the tests are sometimes markedly influenced by the order in which they are given. If language tests or memory tests are given first, the child is likely to be embarra.s.sed. More suitable to begin with are those which test knowledge or judgment about objective things, such as the pictures, weights, stamps, bow-knot, colors, coins, counting pennies, number of fingers, right and left, time orientation, ball and field, paper-folding, etc. Tests like naming sixty words, finding rhymes, giving differences or similarities, making sentences, repeating sentences, and drawing are especially unsuitable because they tend to provoke self-consciousness.

The tests as arranged in this revision are in the order which it is usually best to follow, but one should not hesitate to depart from the order given when it seems best in a given case to do so. It is necessary to be constantly alert so that when the child shows a tendency to balk at a given type of test, such as those of memory, language, numbers, drawing, "comprehension," etc., the work can be shifted to more agreeable tasks. When the child is at his ease again, it is usually possible to return to the troublesome tests with better success. In the case of 8-year-old D. C., who is a speech defective but otherwise above normal, it was quite impossible at the first sitting to give such tests as sentence-making, naming sixty words, reading, repeating sentences, giving definitions, etc.; at each test of this type the child's voice broke and he was ready to cry, due, no doubt, to sensitiveness regarding his speech defect. Others do everything willingly except the drawing and copying. The younger children sometimes refuse to repeat the sentences or digits. In all such cases it is best to pa.s.s on to something else.

After a few minutes the rejected task may be done willingly.

COAXING TO BE AVOIDED. Although we should always encourage the child to believe that he can answer correctly, if he will only try, we must avoid the common practice of dragging out responses by too much urging and coaxing. The sympathies of the examiner tend to lead him into the habit of repeating and explaining the question if the child does not answer promptly. This is nearly always a mistake, for the question is one which should be understood. Besides, explanations and coaxing are too often equivalent to answering the question for the child. It is almost impossible to impress this danger sufficiently upon the untrained examiner. One who is not familiar with the psychology of suggestion may put the answer in the child's mouth without suspecting what he is doing.