The document summarizes the history of psychological testing from its origins in the late 19th century to the modern era. It describes how early tests focused on measuring reaction time and sensory abilities but shifted to measuring intelligence through tests developed by Binet, Goddard, Yerkes, and others. These early intelligence tests were widely used but also criticized for labeling and segregating minorities. The testing field grew in the 20th century but also faced criticisms over privacy, bias, and misuse of results to discriminate. Despite failures, testing continues to be used widely in education to assess students and programs.

1. CHAPTER I

2.  A Little History
Early Period
The Boom Period
The First Period of Criticism
The Battery Period
The Second Period of Criticism
The Age of Accountability

3.  Chinese used competitive exam, civil
service positions.
 Civil law, military affairs, agriculture,
revenue, and geography.
 Testing extremely rigorous
 Confucian classics was emphasized.
 Only 3% of the group became eligible
for public office.

4. Chinese served as
models for developing
civil service exams in
Europe and America in
the 1800s.

5.  Chinese failed to validate the
selection procedures.
- Penmanship was at that
time given a relevant
predictor for suitability for
office.

6.  Formal measurement procedures
 Western educational system
 19th Century
 Wundt, Galton, and Cattell laid the
foundation for the 20th Century
testing.

7.  studied conscious
human experience
using his
psychological
laboratory.
 Acknowledged
individual
differences but
inclination was on
the study of the
human mind.

8.  His legacy was on the rigorous
experimental control of
procedures, which is very
important in tests
administration under
standardized conditions.

9.  Studied individual differences, most
basic concept underlying
psychological testing.
 Concentrated individual differences
sensory and motor functioning.
 10 years, tested 17,000 individuals

10.  He pioneered the study of individual
differences in mental ability.
 Related intellectual ability to skills
such as reaction time, sensitivity to
physical stimuli, and body
proportions.
 Demonstrated that objective tests
could be devised through standardized
procedures.

12.  Cattell transported brass instruments to the
U.S.; did an elaborate reaction time studies;
invented the term mental test.
 Some of his famous students were:
 Thorndike (1898)
 Woodworth (1899) and E.K. Strong (1911) whose
Vocational Interest Blank ,after so many revisions,
is still in wide use.

13.  Wundt, Galton, and Cattell laid
the foundation for the 20th
Century testing.

14.  Others keep track on Cattell and Galton’s
interests.
 Wissler
▪ Correlated mental tests and academic
performance which showed weak
relationship between reaction time and
sensory discrimination as measures of
intelligence.
▪ desirable development in the history of
psychological testing; abandonment of RT
and sensory discrimination

15. Abandonment of RT
and sensory as
measures

16.  Premature abandonment
 poor research
method, homogenous sample
and lesser number of trials.
 70 years later correlation was
established and Stenberg
recognized the value of RT in
intelligence.

17. VOID IN TESTING

18. Alfred Binet was on the
verge of a major break
through in intelligence
testing.

19.  Binet developed his test to
help identify children in Paris
school system who could not
profit from ordinary
instruction.

20. 1905: Binet-Simon Scale
was established; major
breakthrough in the
creation of modern test.

21.  15-year boom period
 New science of Psychology was called
on to play a part in military situations
 Yerkes used the Army Alpha (Verbal)
and Army Beta for selection of
individuals for military service.

22. • Robert Yerkes, a Harvard psychology
professor. Convinced the Department of
War that it should test all of its 1.75
million recruits for intelligence tests, so
they could be classified and given
appropriate assignments (Goddard and
Terman also chaired this committee).

23.  The height of Goddard's success came at a time when America
was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Europe. The
Immigration Restriction Act, passed in 1924 (which remained in
effect until 1965) was influenced by American eugenics' efforts. In
1913 Goddard was invited to Ellis Island to help detect morons in
the immigrant population. In his Intelligence Classification of
Immigrants of Different Nationalities (1917) he asserted that most
of the Ellis Island immigrants were mentally deficient. For
example, he indicated that 83% of all Jews tested were feeble-
minded, as were 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and
87% of the Russians. The result was that many immigrants were
turned away and sent back to Europe.


24. ARMY BETA ARMY ALPHA
 A company advanced 6 miles and
retreated 2 miles. How far was it
then from its first position?
 A dealer bought some mules for
$1,200. He sold them for
$1,500, making $50 on each mule.
How many mules were there?
 Thermometers are useful because
 They regulate temperature
 They tell us how warm it is
 They contain mercury
 A machine gun is more deadly
than a rifle, because it
 Was invented more recently
 Fires more rapidly
 Can be used with less training

25.  Measurement expanded in 12
years after the war;
vocational, and personality tests
were developed.

26.  Personality Tests: 1920-1940 (WWII)
 Structured personality tests: paper
and pencil tests; i.e., Woodworth
Personal Data Sheet
 tests like MMPI were published

27.  test developers and users
placed too much reliance on
the correctness of tests results
regarding people’s abilities
and characteristics

28.  Goddard (1906) began testing 378
residents and categorized them as
Idiot (ma below 2), imbecile (3-
7), feebleminded (8-12), moron
(foolish)
 Goddard’s desire was to separate
people out

29.  Believed feeble minded people were the
cause of most social problems
(thievery, laziness, alcoholism, prostitution, i
mmorality).
• Called for the colonization of “morons” to
restrict their breeding. Further, he believed
that many immigrants were feeble minded.

30. • Produced evidence that supported
segregation. Sounded dire warnings that
racial intermixture would inevitably
cause a deterioration of American
intelligence. Later recanted: “without
foundation” Probably the result of
cultural and language differences.

31.  “Age of Discrimination” –testing
revealed large score
differences between White
Americans and minorities-
“feeble-minded”; started to
question the test and the
conclusions drawn from the tests

32.  1930s saw a crash in the
expectations of mental
measurement.
 criticisms led young
Psychologist to initiate the
Mental Measurements
Yearbook (MMY) to critically
review test.

33.  Psychological measurement was
used again for military service
where batteries of tests were
developed that measure several
abilities.
 Reduced failure rates and led to
emphasis on test batteries.

34.  1950s educational and
psychological testing grew and
expanded not lonely in the field
of education but other fields like
business, industry, clinics.
 APA set guidelines for good
testing practice.

35. In 1965, civil rights
movement were in full
swing; reacted to test’s
invasion of privacy.

36. Tests were seen as biased
tools; discriminate women
and minorities in
education and
employment.

37.  despite criticisms , governments
and specifically educational
institutions were putting greater
faith in testing to determine
whether government and
educational programs were
achieving their objectives.

38. Despite failures, school are
accountable for maximum
learning of the students

39.  Failures
▪ Segregation between/among minorities.
▪ Created intellectual hierarchy between/among races.
▪ Labelling: Americans superior over African Americans
and other minorities.
▪ Discrimination between men and women in
employment.
▪ Invasion of privacy