The abilities of man : their nature and measurement / by C. Spearman.

  • Charles Spearman
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The abilities of man : their nature and measurement / by C. Spearman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    And ten years later, this voice crying in isolation suddenly swelled into a chorus. Thus Trabue, who had himself been among the most active constructors of mental tests, veered round towards scepticism. He told of a woman who, although making a very bad record with the tests, neverthe¬ less became “ the housekeeper at one of the finest Fifth Avenue hotels, where she successfully directed the work of a corps of approximately 50 maids, three carpenters, two decorators, and a plumber/’ 1 By this achievement on her part he was moved to conclude as follows : “ In spite of the evidence of the tests, I insist that she is intelligent.” A different but no less damaging line of criticism was about the same time adopted by Viteles. He complained that although the current tests “ are all called tests of ‘ general intelligence ’ . . . the mental ability measured by each is not the same.” 2 Another assault was headed by Woodworth, who declared that the tests really touch neither the lower nor the higher ranges of intelligent behaviour.3 Still more recently the critical voices have continued to multiply and the tone has become even more hostile. Bishop protests that “ The common practice of calling these tests intelligence tests will in many cases involve most serious error.” 4 Porteus picks out the three most important and widely adopted conclusions obtained by means of the tests up to the present date, and proceeds to declare that, one and all, “ these conclusions run counter to everything that commonsense tells us.” 5 1 Journ. Educ. Research, 1922. 3 Psychology, 1921. 5 Journ. Appl. Psychol. 1924. 2 Journ. Appl. Psychol. 1922. 4 Journ. Educ. Research, 1924.
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