Binet–Simon Intelligence Test

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. 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. Binet volunteered as the Secretary of the commission. Binet constructed the first intelligence test to limit the influence of psychiatrists. Psychiatrists such as Bourneville (who was also on the Bourgeois Commission) argued for taking abnormal children out of schools and placing them in medical asylums to receive special education from medical practitioners. 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 Overview of the first version of the Simon–Binet test (July 1905). Aims at distinguishing 'idiocy', 'imbicility', 'debility' and 'normality' in children. This table was constructed for the article: 'Sick? Or slow? On the origins of intelligence as a psychological object' (2013) 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 ("échelle métrique de l'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 (chronological) 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. 1911 version In 1911, Binet revised the 1908 version without Simon. Simon did not contribute to the 1911 version because he had moved to Northern France to work at the Saint-Yon asylum and on his book "L'Aliéné, l'Asile, l'Infirmier" [The Alienated, the Asylum, the Nurse]. In the 1911 version, no new tests were added. The number of subtests was evened out, with five tasks per age group. Binet created new categories for 15-year-olds and adults by moving the most difficult subtests to these new categories. This 1911 publication was made up mainly of clarifications and reactions to comments from teachers and researchers and the presentation of new data collected from using the test in a couple of schools. Binet died in 1911, and Simon did not work on any new test versions. Translated version for the United States 1911 This English version included a category for idiocy (questions 1–6), which measures a mental age of 1–2, and the addition of tests 17a and 50a. It also focused on distinguishing between different levels of mental ability. Arranged from lowest to highest, these were: 'idiot', 'imbecile', 'moron' and 'normal'.The test was advised to be administered in the following ways. Before starting the test, the person conducting the test, the experimenter, would note down the biodata of the subject. These biodata were: name, birth year, place of birth, nationality, sex, health, physical defects, school grade, school standing (years pedagogically retarded or accelerated) and the data of the examination and who the experimenter was that executed the test. After the test was finished, the experimenter indicated the subject's mental condition during the test. The general results were first reported as the number of 'passed tests of mental age', then the chronological (actual) age, and then the number of years difference between this and intellectual age. Lastly, the experimenter had to indicate the degree of mentality. The labels an examiner could choose were 'supernormal', 'normal', 'subnormal', 'backward' or 'feeble-minded'. These labels could also be linked to the labels 'low, middle or high idiot'; low, middle or high imbecile, and low, middle or high moron. == Validity ==

When the test was published in France, its validity was accepted because it could distinguish between normal and intellectually slow children and because the scores on the test increased with a child's age. Moreover, Binet and Simon presented evidence that the order of tasks was linear and that a child's score on the test would correlate to their academic performance. In the United States, Henry Goddard (1886–1957) was enthralled by the Binet–Simon Test's efficiency. he is quoted as saying: 'No one can use the tests on any fair number of children without becoming convinced that whatever defects or faults they may have, and no one can claim that they are perfect, the tests do come amazingly near [to] what we feel to be the truth in regard to the mental status of any child tested.' == Who used it? ==

The test's original purpose was to distinguish between normal and abnormal children in French primary schools. The test was administered by French public school teachers. == Critiques ==

Yerkes's Critique Robert Yerkes (1876–1956) criticized the Binet–Simon test for assuming that everyone taking it is a native speaker. He also argued that an intelligence test should have a universal performance scale, not an age-graded scale. He further stated that social and biological differences should be considered when deciding the norms used to evaluate performance . Gould's Critique In Stephen Jay Gould's book 'the mismeasure of man', Gould argues that even though the Binet–Simon test was used for a morally good goal (to identify children who needed extra help), the way the test was subsequently used in the United States by psychologists such as Spearman, Terman, Goddard, Burt and Brigham, was not ethical. Gould argues that in the United States, the intelligence test was used to help discriminate against foreigners and members of the working class and to help those of higher social classes. Mülberger's Critique Mülberger (2020) has pointed out that an intelligence test is a theory-laden tool that 'does something' with those who interact with it. The Binet–Simon Intelligence Test instrumentalized intelligence for psychologists for the first time. Consequently, ontological assumptions and conceptual understandings were black-boxed. As a result, the concept of intelligence became what the test was measuring. The test has built-in sets of norms and values that assume the kind of mental work a normal citizen should be able to perform. Mülberger (2020) recognizes the methodological diligence of psychologists to assess and assure its validity, reliability and replicability and, at the same time, the test could be damaging to the tested and had the ability to bring about scepticism and fear. == Influence ==

The Binet–Simon intelligence test was the model for future intelligence tests. also combined different mental tests to arrive at a single score of intelligence. The first version of the Stanford–Binet had 90 items, and a later revised version had 129. == See also ==