The Psychology Book (17 page)

1894. It was to be the beginning

life: that is judgment.

Child). Within a short time, he

of a long and fruitful collaboration

Alfred Binet

became the group’s leader, and

between the two scientists.

began to publish articles and

By 1905, Binet and Simon had

information useful to teachers

created their first test, labeled

and education officials. Around the

“New Methods for Diagnosing

same time, it became mandatory

Idiocy, Imbecility, and Moron

for all children in France to attend

Status.” Soon after, they introduced

school between the ages of six and

a revised version, for children aged

12, and Binet was asked to consider

three to 13, which was simply

strange visitors. He has received

how to develop a test that would

called the Binet–Simon Scale. It

in turn a doctor, a lawyer, and then

identify children who might have

was revised once more in 1908,

a priest. What is taking place?”

learning disabilities, so that they

and then again in 1911.

Binet and Simon tested their

could receive schooling that was

Based on their many years

Scale on a sample of 50 children,

appropriate to their needs. In 1904,

of observing children, Binet and

divided equally between five age

this work led to Binet being asked

Simon put together 30 tests of

groups. These children had been

to join a government commission

increasing difficulty, using a range

selected by their school teachers

to devise a method of assessing

of tasks that reflected the average

as being average for their age,

learning potential in infants, and

abilities of children at different

providing a baseline measure of

he made it his mission to establish

ages. The easiest tasks included

normality against which children

the differences between normal

following a beam of light, or

of all abilities could be measured.

engaging in basic conversation

Binet and Simon’s 30 tasks,

with the person who was testing

arranged in order of difficulty,

them. Slightly more difficult tasks

were to be carried out under

included pointing to various

carefully controlled conditions.

named body parts, repeating a

Binet had learned from observing

series of two digits, repeating

his daughters that children are

simple sentences, and defining

easily distracted, and that their

basic words such as “house” or

level of attention plays a critical role

“fork.” In the more difficult tests,

in their ability to perform. He saw

children were asked to describe

intelligence as a mixture of

the difference between pairs of

multifaceted mental faculties

similar objects, to reproduce

that operate within a real world of

drawings from memory, and to

ever-changing circumstances, and

construct sentences around three

are controlled by practical judgment.

given words. The very hardest

tasks included repeating seven

Intelligence is not fixed

Taking intelligence tests
, which are

random digits, finding three rhymes

Binet was always frank about the

still largely based on the Binet–Simon

Scale, has become an almost standard

for the French word “obéisance;”

limitations of the Binet–Simon

way of predicting a child’s potential

and answering questions such as

Scale. He was keen to point out

to be successful at school.

“My neighbor has been receiving

that the scale simply ordered

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 53

children from their performance

Binet–Simon tests
generate an IQ (intelligence

of intellectual tasks in relation to

quotient) number, representing an overall level of

other children of a similar age.

performance. This can be plotted on a graph to

reveal IQ variations across groups or populations.

The tests of 1908 and 1911 placed

greater emphasis on tests for

different age groups, and it was

this that eventually led to the

concept of “mental age.”

Binet also stressed that mental

development progressed at different

34.13% 34.13% 13

rates and could be influenced by

tion

%

9

.59

environmental factors. He preferred

la

.5

%

u

3

to think of his tests as a way of

assessing mental level at a

Pop

particular point in time, because

1

2.14

this allowed for an individual’s level

%

to change as their circumstances

0.

0.13% 2.14%

13%

changed. This was in opposition

to the views of the influential

IQ

52

68

84

100

116

132

148

English psychologist Charles

Spearman, who later proposed

that intelligence was based on

saw the Binet–Simon Scale as a

his work. When he eventually

biological factors alone.

way of rooting out “feebleminded

became aware of the “foreign ideas

Binet maintained that a

people” for compulsory sterilization.

being grafted on his instrument” he

child’s “intelligence is not a fixed

In 1916, yet another American

strongly condemned those who with

quantity,” but grows just as the

psychologist, Lewis Terman,

“brutal pessimism” and “deplorable

child does, and that even though he

modified the Binet–Simon Scale.

verdicts” promoted the concept of

had devised a way of quantifying

Using test results from a large

intelligence as a single constant.

it, no number could ever give an

sample of American children, he

Binet’s concept of the “IQ test”

accurate measure of a person’s

renamed it the Stanford–Binet

remains the basis of intelligence

intelligence. A complete picture,

Scale. It was no longer used solely

testing today. Despite its

Binet thought, could only be formed

to identify children with special

shortcomings, it has generated

from an accompanying case study.

needs, but to pick out those who

research that has advanced our

Ultimately, Binet did not believe

might be suitable for streaming

knowledge of human intelligence. ■

that it was possible to measure

off into more vocational, or job-

intellectual aptitude as if it were

oriented, education, effectively

a length or a capacity; it was only

condemning them to a lifetime of

possible to classify it.

menial work. Terman, like Goddard,

believed that intelligence was

Uses and abuses

inherited and unchangeable, so no

In 1908, the American psychologist

amount of schooling could alter it.

I have not sought

Henry H. Goddard traveled to

Binet was probably unaware of

to sketch a method

Europe, where he discovered the

these uses of his work for quite some

of measuring… but only

Binet–Simon tests. He translated

time. He was an isolated figure,

a method of classification

them, distributing around 22,000

who rarely concerned himself with

of individuals.

copies across the US to be used for

professional developments outside

Alfred Binet

testing in schools. Unfortunately,

his immediate sphere. He never

while Binet had been careful not to

traveled outside France, where the

attribute intelligence to hereditary

Binet–Simon Scale was not adopted

factors, Goddard thought that it

during his lifetime, so he was never

was genetically determined. He

confronted by any modifications of

54

THE UNCONSCIOUS

SEES THE MEN BEHIND

THE CURTAINS

PIERRE JANET (1859–1947)

IN CONTEXT

B
etween around 1880 and

1910, there was a great deal

If someone shows

of interest in the condition

APPROACH

physiological signs

of “dissociation”—the separation of

Neurological science

of terror
or distress for

some mental processes from

no apparent reason…

BEFORE

a person's conscious mind, or

1878
Jean-Martin Charcot

normal everyday personality. Mild

in
Diseases of the Nervous

dissociation, in which the world

System
describes the

seems “dreamlike” and “unreal,” is

symptoms of hysteria, then

common, and affects most people

considered to be a distinct,

at some time or other. It is often

biological illness.

caused by illnesses, such as flu, or

…they may be caused

drugs, including alcohol, and may

by a
subconscious idea
…

AFTER

lead to a partial or complete loss of

1895
Sigmund Freud suggests

memory during and after the period

that dissociation is one of the

of dissociation. In rare cases of

mind’s defense mechanisms.

what was then described as

multiple personality disorder, a

1900s
American neurologist

person appears to have two or

Morton Prince suggests

more distinct personalities. Such

that there is a spectrum of

…that therapy reveals

extreme examples are now classified

dissociative disorders.

to be related to an
earlier

traumatic incident
.

as “dissociative identity disorder.”

1913
French naturalist J.P.F.

The French philosopher and

Deleuze describes dissociation

physician Pierre Janet is credited

as being like the formation of

with being the first person to study

two distinct people—one of

and describe dissociation as a

them fully awake, and the

psychiatric condition. In the late

1880s and early 1890s, he worked

other in a trancelike state.

at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris,

This may in severe cases

1977
Ernest R. Hilgard's

where he treated patients who

lead to
dissociation
—the

Divided Consciousness

existence of two

were suffering from “hysteria.” He

discusses the splitting up of

separate consciousnesses.

published case studies of several

consciousness by hypnosis.

women who showed extreme

symptoms. A patient called