The Measurement of Intelligence Part 29

PROCEDURE. Say to the child: "_You know what a rhyme is, of course. A rhyme is a word that sounds like another word. Two words rhyme if they end in the same sound. Understand?_" Whether the child says he understands or not, we proceed to ill.u.s.trate what a rhyme is, as follows: "_Take the two words 'hat' and 'cat.' They sound alike and so they make a rhyme. 'Hat,' 'rat,' 'cat,' 'bat' all rhyme with one another._"

That is, we first explain what a rhyme is and then we give an ill.u.s.tration. A large majority of American children who have reached the age of 9 years understand perfectly what a rhyme is, without any ill.u.s.tration. A few, however, think they understand, but do not; and in order to insure that all are given equal advantage it is necessary never to omit the ill.u.s.tration.

After the ill.u.s.tration say: "_Now, I am going to give you a word and you will have one minute to find as many words as you can that rhyme with it. The word is 'day.' Name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'day.'_"

If the child fails with the first word, before giving the second we repeat the explanation and give sample rhymes for _day_; otherwise we proceed without further explanation to _mill_ and _spring_, saying, "_Now, you have another minute to name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'mill,'_" etc. Apart from the mention of "one minute"

say nothing to suggest hurrying, as this tends to throw some children into mental confusion.

SCORING. Pa.s.sed if in _two out of the three_ parts of the experiment the child finds _three words_ which rhyme with the word given, the time limit for each series being _one minute_. Note that in each case there must be three words in addition to the word given. These must be real words, not meaningless syllables or made-up words. However, we should be liberal enough to accept such words as _ding_ (from "ding-dong ") for _spring_, _Jill_ (see "Jack and Jill") for _mill_, _Fay_ (girl's name) for _day_, etc.

REMARKS. At first thought it would seem that the demands made by this test upon intelligence could not be very great. Sound a.s.sociations between words may be contrasted unfavorably with a.s.sociations like those of cause and effect, part to whole, whole to part, opposites, etc. But when we pa.s.s from _a-priori_ considerations to an examination of the actual data, we find that the giving of rhymes is closely correlated with general intelligence.

The 9-year-olds who test at or above 10 years nearly always do well in finding rhymes, while 9-year-olds who test as low as 8 years seldom pa.s.s. When a test thus shows high correlation with the scale as a whole, we must either accept the test as valid or reject the scale altogether.

While the feeble-minded do not do as well in this test as normal children of corresponding mental age, the percentage successes for them rises rapidly between mental age 8 and mental age 10 or 11.

Closer psychological a.n.a.lysis of the processes involved will show why this is true. To find rhymes for a given word means that one must hunt out verbal a.s.sociations under the direction of a guiding idea. Every word has innumerable a.s.sociations and many of these tend, in greater or less degree, to be aroused when the stimulus word is given. In order to succeed with the test, however, it is necessary to inhibit all a.s.sociations which are not relevant to the desired end. The directing idea must be held so firmly in mind that it will really direct the thought a.s.sociations. Besides acting to inhibit the irrelevant, it must create a sort of magnetic stress (to borrow a figure from physics) which will give dominance to those a.s.sociative tendencies pointing in the right direction. Even the feeble-minded child of imbecile grade has in his vocabulary a great many words which rhyme with _day_, _mill_, and _spring_. He fails on the test because his verbal a.s.sociations cannot be subjugated to the influence of a directing idea. The end to be attained does not dominate consciousness sufficiently to create more than a faint stress. Instead of a single magnetic pole there is a conflict of forces.

The result is either chaos or partial success. _Mill_ may suggest _hill_, and then perhaps the directing idea becomes suddenly inoperative and the child gives _mountain_, _valley_, or some other irrelevant a.s.sociation. The lack of a.s.sociations, however, is a more frequent cause of failure than inability to inhibit the irrelevant.

If any one supposes that finding rhymes does not draw upon the higher mental powers, let him try the experiment upon himself in various stages of mental efficiency, say at 9 A.M., when mentally refreshed by a good night of sleep and again when fatigued and sleepy. Poets questioned by Galton on this point all testified to the greater difficulty of finding rhymes when mentally fatigued. In this and in many other respects the mental activities of the fatigued or sleepy individual approach the type of mentation which is normal to the feeble-minded.

It is important to note that adults make a less favorable showing in this test than normal children of corresponding mental age, Mr. Knollin's "hoboes" of 12-year intelligence doing hardly as well as school children of 10-year intelligence. Those who are habitually employed in school exercises probably acquire an adeptness in verbal a.s.sociations which is later gradually lost in the preoccupations of real life.

There has been more disagreement as to the proper location of this test than of any other test of the Binet scale. Binet placed it in year XII of the 1908 scale, but s.h.i.+fted it to year XV in 1911. Kuhlmann retains it in year XII, while G.o.ddard drops it down to year XI. However, when we examine the actual statistics for normal children we do not find very marked disagreement, and such disagreement as is present can be largely accounted for by variations in procedure and by differing conclusions drawn from identical data. In the first place, Binet gave but one trial.

This, of course, makes the test much harder than when three trials are given and only two successes are required. To make one trial equal in difficulty to three trials we should perhaps need to demand only two rhymes, instead of three, in the one trial. In the second place, the word used by Binet (_obeissance_) is much harder than one-syllable words like _day_, _mill_, and _spring_. Finally, the wide s.h.i.+ft of the test from year XII to year XV was not justified by the statistics of Binet himself, and the figures of Kuhlmann and G.o.ddard are really in exceptionally close agreement with our own, notwithstanding the fact that G.o.ddard required three successes instead of two. In four series of tests, considered together, we have found 62 per cent pa.s.sing at year IX, 81 per cent at year X, 83 per cent at year XI, and 94 per cent at year XII.

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 1: NAMING THE MONTHS

PROCEDURE. Simply ask the subject to "_name all the months of the year_." Do not start him off by naming one month; give no look of approval or disapproval as the months are being named, and make no suggestions or comments of any kind.

When the months have been named, we "check up" the performance by asking: "_What month comes before April?_" "_What month comes before July?_" "_What month comes before November?_"

SCORING. Pa.s.sed if the months are named in about _fifteen or twenty seconds with no more than one error_ of omission, repet.i.tion, or displacement, and if _two out of the three check questions_ are answered correctly. Disregard place of beginning.

REMARKS. Some are inclined to consider this test of little value, because of its supposed dependence on accidental training. With this opinion we cannot fully agree. The arguments already given in favor of the retention of naming the days of the week (year VII), apply equally well in the present case. It has been shown, however, that age, apart from intelligence, does have some effect on the ability to name the months. Defective adults of 9-year intelligence do about as well with it as normal children of 10-year intelligence.

The test appears in year X of Binet's 1908 scale and in year IX of the 1911 revision. G.o.ddard places it correctly in year IX, while Kuhlmann and Bobertag have omitted it.

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 2: COUNTING THE VALUE OF STAMPS

PROCEDURE. Place before the subject a cardboard on which are pasted three 1-cent and three 2-cent stamps arranged as follows: 111222. Be sure to lay the card so that the stamps will be right side up for the child. Say: "_You know, of course, how much a stamp like this costs_ (pointing to a 1-cent stamp). _And you know how much one like this costs_ (pointing to a 2-cent stamp). _Now, how much money would it take to buy all these stamps?_"

Do not tell the individual values of the stamps if these are not known, for it is a part of the test to ascertain whether the child's spontaneous curiosity has led him to find out and remember their values.

If the individual values are known, but the first answer is wrong, a second trial may be given. In such cases, however, it is necessary to be on guard against guessing.

If the child merely names an incorrect sum without saying anything to indicate how he arrived at his answer, it is well to tell him to figure it up aloud. "_Tell me how you got it._"

SCORING. Pa.s.sed if the correct value is given in not over fifteen seconds.

REMARKS. The value of this test may be questioned on two grounds: (1) That it has an ambiguous significance, since failure to pa.s.s it may result either from incorrect addition or from lack of knowledge of the individual values of the stamps; (2) that familiarity with stamps and their values is so much a matter of accident and special instruction that the test is not fair.

Both criticisms are in a measure valid. The first, however, applies equally well to a great many useful intelligence tests. In fact, it is only a minority in which success depends on but one factor. The other criticism has less weight than would at first appear. While it is, of course, not impossible for an intelligent child to arrive at the age of 9 years without having had reasonable opportunity to learn the cost of the common postage stamps, the fact is that a large majority have had the opportunity and that most of those of normal intelligence have taken advantage of it. It is necessary once more to emphasize the fact that in its method of locating a test the Binet system makes ample allowance for "accidental" failures.

Like the tests of naming coins, repeating the names of the days of the week or the months of the year, giving the date, tying a bow-knot, distinguis.h.i.+ng right and left, naming the colors, etc., this one also throws light on the child's spontaneous interest in common objects. It is mainly the children of deficient intellectual curiosity who do not take the trouble to learn these things at somewhere near the expected age.

The test was located in year VIII of the Binet scale. However, Binet used coins, three single and three double sous. Since we do not have either a half-cent or a 2-cent coin, it has been necessary to subst.i.tute postage stamps. This changes the nature of the test and makes it much harder. It becomes less a test of ability to do a simple sum, and more a test of knowledge as to the value of the stamps used. That the test is easy enough for year VIII when it can be given in the original form is indicated by all the French, German, and English statistics available, but four separate series of Stanford tests agree in finding it too hard for year VIII when stamps are subst.i.tuted and the test is carried out according to the procedure described above.

CHAPTER XVI

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YEAR X

X, 1. VOCABULARY (THIRTY DEFINITIONS, 5400 WORDS)

PROCEDURE AND SCORING AS IN VIII, 6. At year X, thirty words should be correctly defined.

X, 2. DETECTING ABSURDITIES

PROCEDURE. Say to the child: "_I am going to read a sentence which has something foolish in it, some nonsense. I want you to listen carefully and tell me what is foolish about it._" Then read the sentences, rather slowly and in a matter-of-fact voice, saying after each: "_What is foolish about that?_" The sentences used are the following:--

(a) "_A man said: 'I know a road from my house to the city which is downhill all the way to the city and downhill all the way back home.'_"

(b) "_An engineer said that the more cars he had on his train the faster he could go._"

(c) "_Yesterday the police found the body of a girl cut into eighteen pieces. They believe that she killed herself._"

(d) "_There was a railroad accident yesterday, but it was not very serious. Only forty-eight people were killed._"

(e) "_A bicycle rider, being thrown from his bicycle in an accident, struck his head against a stone and was instantly killed. They picked him up and carried him to the hospital, and they do not think he will get well again._"

Each should ordinarily be answered within thirty seconds. If the child is silent, the sentence should be repeated; but no other questions or suggestions of any kind are permissible. Such questions as "_Could the road be downhill both ways?_" or, "_Do you think the girl could have killed herself?_" would, of course, put the answer in the child's mouth.

It is even best to avoid laughing as the sentence is read.

Owing to the child's limited power of expression it is not always easy to judge from the answer given whether the absurdity has really been detected or not. In such cases ask him to explain himself, using some such formula as: "_I am not sure I know what you mean. Explain what you mean. Tell me what is foolish in the sentence I read._" This usually brings a reply the correctness or incorrectness of which is more apparent, while at the same time the formula is so general that it affords no hint as to the correct answer. Additional questions must be used with extreme caution.

SCORING. Pa.s.sed if the absurdity is detected in _four out of the five_ statements. The following are samples of satisfactory and unsatisfactory answers:--

(a) _The road downhill_

_Satisfactory._ "If it was downhill to the city it would be uphill coming back." "It can't be downhill both directions."

"That could not be." "That is foolish. (Explain.) Because it must be uphill one way or the other." "That would be a funny road. (Explain.) No road can be like that. It can't be downhill both ways."

_Unsatisfactory._ "Perhaps he took a little different road coming back." "I guess it is a very crooked road." "Coming back he goes around the hill." "The man lives down in a valley." "The road was made that way so it would be easy." "Just a road. I don't see anything foolish." "He should say, 'a road which goes.'"

(b) _What the engineer said_

_Satisfactory._ "If he has more cars he will go slower." "It is the other way. If he wants to go faster he mustn't have so many cars." "The man didn't mean what he said, or else it was a slip of the tongue." "That's the way it would be if he was going downhill." "Foolish, because the cars don't help pull the train." "He ought to say _slower_, not _faster_."