PsychoStud.com

The history of intellectual testing began circa 1500 A.D. Prior to that, most psychological testing would probably fall into the realm of personality/interest/skill testing. Still, it was not really until the mid- to late-1800s that the “intelligence” tests associated with today’s tests came into being with Sir Francis Galton. However, his was not a true measurement of intelligence; rather it was a measurement of physical and sensory ability. It wasn’t until 1896 that Alfred Binet and Victor Henri proposed a theoretical program for the development of an intelligence test. Then in 1905, Binet and Theophile’ Simon actually did develop the first practical test of intelligence, with tasks still influencing most modern day intelligence tests. This scale was primarily used to classify children according to the three levels of mental retardation. In 1908, realizing that the scale had more far-ranging abilities than originally intended, the Binet-Simon scale was modified to include age levels (3 to 8 years). In 1911, the scale was again modified to include assessment of older adolescents and adults. Originally written in French, the Binet-Simon was translated into English by Henry Goddard in 1909, extending the applicability of the test. This would open the door for English speaking persons, such as Lewis Terman, to translate the scale and adapt it for use in the United States. Terman’s 1916 Stanford-Binet adaptation quickly rose to the forefront of intellectual testing. Still, following the pattern of it’s predecessors, the Stanford-Binet was mainly applied to the assessment of mental deficiency or superiority in children. It wasn’t until the entry of the US into World War I that adult assessment rose to the forefront. The Stanford-Binet was adapted by Arther Otis, a student of Terman, to be used in a group setting with the resulting test being named the Army Alpha. At the same time, a non-verbal group test, the Army Beta, was designed and given to those who were illiterate and/or non-English speaking. A third scale, the Army Performance Scale Examination, was created by David Wechsler. This scale would lead the way for the most widely used intelligence test in the US today. In 1939, Wechsler developed the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale. Designed solely for adolescents and adults, this was a break from pre- and post-war bias for childhood assessment. Following along the same visionary concepts, Wechsler placed equal value on the performance scale and the verbal scale, to collectively complete his scale. In 1949, in an attempt to modify the Wechsler-Bellevue to assess children ages 5 to 15, the WISC was created. It was during this time that intelligence tests came under fire by accusations of being culturally biased. This accusation would pave the path for several court cases concerning IQ test bias, beginning almost two decades later. Still, there has been little change regarding the most widely used intelligence tests in the past several decades and the Wechsler family of tests is at the top of lists from psychologists across the board.