What Is Binet's Appropriate Representation Of Intelligence?

In the early 1900s, psychologist Alfred Binet worked on creating a test that would measure a child’s intellectual capacity, determining whether or not they child was retarded or normal. In this test, both past history and future history are avoided, focusing solely on the child’s present state. Binet did not want to know why the child had the amount of intelligence that he did, nor if this state could be cured, but only the current mental state of the child. He pointed out that there were many different forms of names for types of intelligences – from moral imbeciles to insanity victims to idiots to degenerates. However, these forms are generally not found in schools, and for that reason, they were excluded from the study. Binet also noted …show more content…
This collaboration was made up of a medical method, a pedagogical method, and a psychological method. The medical method would provide an indirect look at the child’s intelligence, while the pedagogical method would be direct, and the psychological method would be even more direct. The psychological method creates a scale that attempts to measure intelligence. In the past, no intelligence tests had been attempted in schools due to a lack of patience in both the child and the researcher. These tests would be a difficult feat for Binet, as they could not be measured in the typical way, but rather required classification as measurement. The results of the test would be compared to children of the same age. Each test would become increasingly difficult for the child, beginning at the lowest intellectual level and increasing to an average child’s intellectual level. Binet’s work on these tests created a great advantage for the future of the world’s educational …show more content…
If this fit of uncooperativeness continued, the child would be sent away until a later time. As mentioned earlier, ten simple tests were given. Some required common household items, like a match, small piece of wood, pictures, or candy. Each tested different skills. Test one studied the idea of regard and if a child could coordinate movement with his eyes. A match would be passed in front of his face, and the experimenter would watch to see if his eyes followed it. If the child had a vision impairment, this same test could be tried as an auditory test, using a bell. Test two looked at if the child could grasp a small object, pick it up, and place it in his mouth. The experimenter would touch the palm or back of the child’s hand, and observe what happened. Test three was similar, but this time, there were no tactile stimuli. The object would simply be placed within close reach of the child. The tests continued, testing ideas such as food recognition, food recognition with a small mechanical difficulty, imitation, verbal knowledge of objects and pictures, and more.
Results
This study was not set up like other studies, and thus, does not have results in the typical sense. However, these tests were made to study intelligence in children, and are still used today, so it is safe to say that it worked. Parents can bring their children in and discover if they compare