History and Development of

Psychological Testing
Objectives: At the end of the lesson, you
are expected to...
• Recognize the process of how psychological
testing started and developed, and the
individuals who made significant
contributions.
• Value the history of testing and its relevance
in present times.
• Apply learned knowledge in current practical
settings.
Outline
• Early beginnings
• Start of ability testing
– Intelligence
– Aptitude
– Achievement
– Group testing
• Personality testing
Early Beginnings
• Chinese influence
• Charles Darwin
• Francis Galton
• James McKeen Cattell
• J.E.D. Esquirol
Chinese Influence
• Civil service examination
– Developed to assess governmental officials
– Conducted every three years
– Initially measured proficiency in music, archery, horsemanship,
writing, arithmetic, public & private rites & ceremonies
– Han Dynasty – modified & refined, introduced written exams; tested
topics on civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, geography
• National multi-stage testing
– Introduced during the Ming Dynasty
– Involved local and regional testing centers where candidates are asked
to write essays in special testing booths
– Those who passed the local level moved up to the district level, then
the final examinations; passers are made eligible for public office
 Charles Darwin
• stimulated the interest in the study of
individual differences
• published “Origin of the Species” in 1859
• those who have the best or most adaptive
characteristics will survive at the expense of
lesser fit life forms – “survival of the fittest”
 Francis Galton
• cousin of Darwin, applied the theory of individual
differences
• English biologist who was responsible for launching the
testing movement
• interest in human heredity – basis of intelligence and
techniques for measuring human abilities
• set up a psychometric laboratory at the International
Health Exhibition in London in 1884
• developed the first large, systematic body of data on
individual differences, and statistical methods to analyze
the data
• also pioneered rating scale & questionnaire methods, as
well as free association techniques
 James McKeen Cattell
• American psychologist who studied with Galton and
Wilhelm Wundt, and was active in establishing
experimental laboratories & in the spread of the testing
movement
• 1890 – invented the term “mental test” to describe a series
of tests to determine the intellectual level of college
students
• shared Galton’s view that measure of intellectual functions
could be obtained through tests of sensory discrimination
and reaction time
• tests were administered individually, but correlations on
test performance and scholastic achievement proved to be
very low
 Cattell’s Mental Tests
• Strength of hand squeeze as measured by dynamometer
• Rate of hand movement through a distance of 50 centimeters
• Two-point threshold for touch—minimum distance at which two
points are still perceived as separate
• Degree of pressure needed to cause pain—rubber tip pressed
against the forehead
• Weight differentiation—discern the relative weights of identical-
looking boxes varying by one gram from 100 to 110 grams
• Reaction time for sound—using a device similar to Galton’s
• Time for naming colors
• Bisection of a 50-centimeter line
• Judgment of 10 seconds of time
• Number of letters repeated on one hearing
 J.E.D. Esquirol
• French physician who started to formalize the
difference between insane and retarded
people
• emphasized language skills to diagnose mental
retardation
• also proposed the first classification of M.R.
• 3 levels: (1) using short phrases, (2) using
monosyllables, (3) with cries only, no speech
 Intelligence Testing
• Alfred Binet
– French psychologist who was appointed in 1904
by the Minister of Public Instruction to study
procedures for the education of retarded children
– invented the first modern intelligence test, Binet-
Simon Scale, which he developed with his
physician-associate Theodore Simon
 1905 Scale
• 30 problems on tests in ascending order of
difficulty
• designed to cover various functions, with
emphasis on the essential elements of
intelligence: judgment, comprehension,
reasoning
 1905 Scale
1. Follows a moving object with the eyes.
2. Grasps a small object which is touched.
3. Grasps a small object which is seen.
4. Recognizes the difference between a square of chocolate and a square of wood.
5. Finds and eats a square of chocolate wrapped in paper.
6. Executes simple commands and imitates simple gestures.
7. Points to familiar named objects, e.g., “Show me the cup.”
8. Points to objects represented in pictures, e.g., “Put your finger on the window.”
9. Names objects in pictures, e.g., “What is this?” [examiner points to a picture of a
sign].
10. Compares two lines of markedly unequal length.
Source: Based on translations in Jenkins and Paterson (1961) and Jensen (1980).
CH01.QXD 6/12/2003 8:50 AM Page 12
 1905 Scale

11. Repeats three spoken digits.

12. Compares two weights.
13. Shows susceptibility to suggestion.
14. Defines common words by function.
15. Repeats a sentence of 15 words.
16. Tells how two common objects are different, e.g., “paper and cardboard.”
17. Names from memory as many as possible of 13 objects displayed on a
board for 30 seconds. [This test was later dropped because it permitted too
many possibilities for distraction.]
18. Reproduces from memory two designs shown for 10 seconds.
19. Repeats a longer series of digits than in item 11 to test immediate memory.
20. Tells how two common objects are alike, e.g., “butterfly and flea.”
 1905 Scale
21. Compares two lines of slightly unequal length.
22. Compares five blocks to put them in order of weight.
23. Indicates which of the previous five weights the examiner has removed.
24. Produces rhymes, e.g., “What rhymes with ‘school’?”
25. A word completion test based on those proposed by Ebbinghaus.
26. Puts three nouns, e.g., “Paris, river, fortune” (or three verbs) in a sentence.
27. Responds to 25 abstract (comprehension) questions, e.g., “When a person
has offended you, and comes to offer his apologies, what should you do?”
28. Reverses the hands of a clock.
29. After paper folding and cutting, draws the form of the resulting holes.
30. Defines abstract words by designating the difference between, e.g.,
“boredom and weariness.”
 1908 Scale
• tests were grouped into age levels between 3
– 13
• score on the entire test was expressed as
“mental level” corresponding to the age of
normal children whose performance he or she
equaled
• “mental level” sometimes substituted by
“mental age”
 1911 Scale
• little revision was made due to the death of
Binet
• scale was extended to adult level
 1912
• William Stern suggested that an intelligence
quotient computed from the mental age
divided by the chronological age (MACA)
would give a better measure of the relative
functioning of a subject compared to his or
her same-aged peers
 Lewis M. Terman
• Stanford professor who popularized IQ testing with
his revision of the Binet scales in 1916
• developed the more extensive and psychometrically
refined Stanford-Binet test
• suggested that IQ be multiplied by 100 to remove the
decimals
• (MA÷CA)/100
 Binet tests
• introduced individual tests administered to
only one person at a time
• require oral responses or manipulation of
materials
• individual timing of responses
 Aptitude Testing
• Psychologists realized the need for tests of
special aptitudes to supplement global
intelligence tests, even prior to WWI
• special aptitude tests were used in vocational
counseling as well as in the selection &
classification of industrial and military
personnel
• examples were tests on mechanical, clerical,
musical, artistic aptitudes
 Aptitude Testing
• Factor Analysis
– Developed by Charles Spearman, T.L. Kelley, and
L.L. Thurstone
– Defined as a mathematical procedure for
analyzing a matrix of correlations among
measurement to determine what factors (or
constructs) are sufficient to explain the
correlations
 Aptitude Testing
• data gathered by such procedures indicated that
there are relatively independent factors or traits
• this contributed to the development of multiple
batteries – designed to provide a measure of the
individual’s standing in each of a number of traits
• in place of a total score of IQ, there is a separate
score obtained for those traits
• such batteries provide a suitable instrument for
intra-individual analysis
 Achievement Testing
• E.L. Thorndike – spearheaded the use of
standardized tests to measure the outcomes
of school instruction
1845
• written examinations replaced oral
interrogation among Boston public schools
Written examinations
• put all students in uniform situation, wider
coverage of content, reduced the element of
chance in question choice, eliminated the
possibility of favoritism on the examiner’s part
• replaced essay questions with objective
multiple-choice items
Stanford Achievement Test
• first edition was published in 1923
• authored by the 3 early leaders in test
development: T.L. Kelley, G.M. Ruch and L.M.
Terman
1930
• introduction of test scoring machines, since
essays were more time consuming for both
examiner and examinees and yielded less
reliable results than the new type of objective
items
CEEB
• College Entrance Examination Board
• foremost program that resulted from the
establishment of statewide, regional, and
national testing programs
• used to reduce duplication in the examining of
entering college freshmen
• 1947 – CEEB testing functions were merged with the
Carnegie Corporation and American Council on
Education to form the ETS – Educational Testing
Service
– assumed responsibility for testing programs in
behalf of universities, professional schools and
government agencies and other institutions
Achievement tests
• were also used in selection of applicants for
industrial and government jobs
• technical aspects of achievement tests
resemble those of intelligence and aptitude
tests
• difference between intelligence and
achievement tests lies on the specificity of
content and the extent to which the test
presupposes a designated course of prior
instruction
 Group Testing
• picked up dramatically during the World War I
in 1917
 Robert Yerkes
• psychology professor at Harvard appointed by
the American Psychological Association to
assess army recruits
• provide information that could assist in
administrative functions
– rejection or discharge from military service
– assignment to different types of services
– admission to officer-training camps
 Arthur S. Otis
• prepared the group intelligence test and
turned it over to the army
• introduced multiple-choice and other
“objective” types of items
 Army Alpha
• designed for general routine testing
• consisted of 8 verbally loaded tests
1. following oral directions 5. disarranged sentences
2. arithmetical reasoning 6. number series completion
3. practical judgment 7. analogies
4. synonym-antonym pairs 8. information
 Army Beta
• non-language scale used with illiterates and
foreign-bred recruits unable to take a test in
English
• consisted of various visual-perceptual and
motor tests such as tracing a path through
mazes and visualizing the correct number of
blocks depicted in a three-dimensional
drawing
Personality Testing

• Robert Woodworth – developed the Personal

Data Sheet
• Hermann Rorschach – designed the first
inkblot test
Pseudo-sciences as Foundations of
Personality Assessment
1. Phrenology - development of specific brain areas is
associated with certain personality characteristics and
mental disorders.
• Phrenology, a method developed by Franz Joseph Gall,
is a process that involves observing and/or feeling the
skull to determine an individual's psychological
attributes.
• Although now regarded as obsolete, Gall's assumption
that character, thoughts, and emotions are located in
specific parts of the brain is considered an important
historical advance toward neuropsychology.
2. Physiognomy - one’s temperament & character is
determined from external features of the body,
especially the face.
• Physiognomy associates any feature of the face
and head with personal characteristics. Some
traditional physiognomists insist on a much
stronger relation between facial appearance and
character. They posit a virtual identity between
facial and psychological characters, such that if
one is changed, a change in the other will follow.
3. Graphology - personality can be analyzed by
studying handwriting samples.
• There are aspects of handwriting that are
described in graphology, such as direction of
lines, space between words, slant, body
image, pressure, among others.