Binet–Simon Intelligence Test
The Binet–Simon Intelligence Test was the first intelligence test that could be used to predict scholarly performance and which was widely accepted by the fields of psychology and psychiatry. The development of the test started in 1905 with Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon in Paris, France. Binet and Simon published articles about the test multiple times in Binet's scientific journal L'Année Psychologique, twice in 1905, once in 1908, and once in 1911. The revisions and publications on the Binet–Simon Intelligence Test by Binet and Simon stopped in 1911 due to the death of Alfred Binet in 1911.
The outcomes of the test were related to academic performance. The Binet–Simon was popular because psychologists and psychiatrists at the time felt that the test was able to measure higher and more complex mental functions in situations that closely resembled real life. This was in contrast to previous attempts at tests of intelligence, which were designed to measure specific and separate "faculties" of the mind.
Binet's and Simon's intelligence test was well received among contemporary psychologists because it fit the generally accepted view that intelligence includes many different mental functions.
Precursors
The precursors to the Binet–Simon Intelligence Test were craniological and anthropometric research, especially the anthropometric research by Francis Galton and James Mckeen Cattell. Galton and Cattell discontinued their research when they realised that their measurements of human bodies did not correlate to academic performance. As a result, French psychology excluded methods that measured intelligence based on correlations between physical measurements of the body and academic success.Development
Before working on the test, Alfred Binet had experience of raising his two daughters on whom he also conducted studies of intelligence between 1900 and 1902. He had already written a considerable number of scientific articles on individual differences, intelligence, magnetism, hypnosis, and many other psychological topics.Théodore Simon had studied medicine and was beginning his PhD at the Perray-Vacluse psychiatric hospital when he contacted Binet in 1898, when Simon was 25 years old. Simon's supervisor, Dr Blin, tasked Simon with finding a better assessment to measure children's intelligence than the available medical methods. Binet and Simon started working together, first looking at the relationship between skull measurements and intelligence, and later abandoning this anthropometric approach in favour of psychological testing.
The development of Binet and Simon's intelligence test started in Paris in 1905. The test was issued to identify mental abnormality in French primary school children. These children, referred to as feebleminded or mentally retarded, supposedly caused trouble in French primary schools because they were unable to follow standard education and were disturbing the rest of their classmates. The law on compulsory primary education for children ages of six to thirteen was passed in 1882, and in 1904, primary school teachers started complaining about children of abnormal intelligence in the press and meetings.
These complaints were picked up by French national politicians, resulting in the establishment of the Bourgeois Commission in 1904 by the French Minister of Public Instruction. This Commission aimed to study the measures to be taken so that these abnormal children could be identified. The Bourgeois Commission was staffed by specialists in the study of children with mental abnormality, members of the public education system and representatives from the interior ministry. Binet joined the Commission because of his presidency of La Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant. La Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant was a scientific collaboration mainly between scientists and educators. Binet volunteered as the Secretary of the commission.
Binet constructed the first intelligence test to limit the influence of psychiatrists. Psychiatrists such as Bourneville argued for taking abnormal children out of schools and placing them in medical asylums to receive special education from medical practitioners. Identifying and treating the abnormal had, until that point, been a psychiatric domain but Binet wanted to keep these children in schools and looked for a way for psychologists to become the authority. Binet was supported in this attempt by La Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant, other collaborators and friends.
Despite Binet's position as Secretary of the Bourgeois Commission, he was unable to prevent the commission from recommending that only medical and educational experts should decide on the intellectual level of children and if they should go to a special school. However, the recommendation never turned into legislation, nor did Bourneville's plans for creating special education classes in asylums. La Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant lobbied against both these plans, and Binet was encouraged to come up with a better alternative to measure the difference between normal and abnormal children.
Versions
There have been three versions of the Binet–Simon Intelligence Test. The first, designed in 1905, was designed to detect abnormal children. The second version, in 1908, added the notion of age, making it possible to calculate how many years a child was intellectually behind. The last test, from 1911, retained the notion of mental age and was a revised version of the 1908 version. The tests from 1908 and 1911 were later used by American psychologists, such as Henry H. Goddard and Lewis Terman.1905 version
The 1905 version aimed to distinguish children with normal and 'abnormal' intelligence. Binet and Simon grouped children into: 'idiocy', 'imbecility' 'debility' and 'normality'. Each category had its own set of tasks, organised from lowest to highest difficulty. Typically, the administration of the full test only took fifteen minutes.Binet and Simon assumed that an 'idiot' had basic skills. Six subtests on the 1905 test first measured these basic skills. The second part of the Binet–Simon Intelligence test aimed to differentiate between 'idiocy' and 'imbecility'. If a child could not pass all the subtests in this section, the test was discontinued, and the child was labelled an 'idiot'. This part was made up of five subtests. The third part of the 1905 test intended to differentiate between imbecility and debility. If a child could not pass all the tests from this part, they were labelled an imbecile. This part included 15 subtests. The fourth and final part of the test distinguished between debility and normality. This part had four subtests.
The measurement of basic skills included tasks such as object grabbing and testing knowledge of food. The distinction between idiocy and imbecility was made by for example testing verbal knowledge of objects and images and comparing two lines of different lengths. To differentiate between an imbecility and debility, some of the tasks that were used were drawing from memory and repetition of numbers. Lastly, to differentiate between debility and normality, a child could be asked to respond to an abstract question or to perform a paper cutting exercise. For a full overview of all the subtests of the 1905 version, see the two images on the right.
The 1905 test was mainly based on Binet's work from the previous 15 years and was constructed within a few weeks. This bundle of tests was the first metric scale of intelligence.
1908 version
The 1908 version was the first version of the test to include scaling to assess mental age. The published text could be easily read as a manual of an intelligence test. The test had become a scale, and the subtests were arranged from easiest to most difficult. The test also showed in detail the four to eight tasks that children should be able to perform at 11 different ages, ranging from 3 to 13. The test was constructed by giving the subtests to children of a specific age group. If 75% of these children passed, the subtest would be assigned to that age group.The test measured what Binet termed mental age, the age level at which a child could perform. If a child, for example, could perform all the tasks meant for a 10-year-old, but not those meant for an 11-year-old, they would have the mental age of 10. The mental age was established independently from the chronological age, meaning that a child could have the mental age of a 10-year-old and the chronological age of a 12-year-old. It was also possible for a child to have a higher mental age than their chronological age. If the mental age of a child was two years behind their chronological age, the child was classified as abnormal. Binet and Simon saw a two or more years lag as a warning sign of low intelligence, which required special attention, first by providing remedial education.
The 1908 version of the Binet–Simon test was seen as a scientific and objective method capable of delivering factual statements about the complex mental phenomenon of human intellectual capabilities.