Historical Development of Intelligence Testing

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Historical Development of Intelligence Testing “Since the beginning of time humans have searched for means to describe, order, measure and classify our perceptions and experiences, including observed similarities and differences between and among individuals and groups” (McGrew, 2009, p. 1). This desire to measure the mental abilities of individuals has contributed significantly to the development of intelligence batteries as we know them today. “Sir Francis Galton is regarded as the father of the psychometrically based testing movement” (Sattler, 2008, P. 216). Galton advocated for direct measures and suggested reaction time as this approach to assessment utilizing sensori-motor assessment techniques which were later deemed to be invalid measures (Sattler, 2008). Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the first successful measure of intelligence as we know them today. This was a result of the French government requesting to define a method in order to identify school-aged children with intellectual delays. “The 1905 Binet-Simon Scale included age based items that implicitly recognized the changes that occur in cognitive growth during development” (Sattler, 2008, p. 218). Items on the scale were graded in level of difficulty based on age. The scale consisted of 30 items and required approximately two hours to administer. Areas measured by the Simon-Binet Scale included: language, auditory processing, visual processing, learning and memory, judgment, and problem solving (Sattler, 2008, p. 219). According to Sattler (2008), the Binet-Simon Scale, “. . . stimulated the development of clinical psychology in the United States and elsewhere” (p. 220). The Army had a need for intelligence testing during World War I to determine the type of training to provide to recruits. Lewis Terman, Robert Yerkes, and approximately 40 other psychologists developed the Army Alpha

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