A brief history of intelligence tests

Question 1

Galton

Answer 1

· Sir Francis Galton found that success appeared consistently in well-bred, upper-class families
· Advantages such as better schooling and social connections
· Stated that hereditary success was due to the genetic inheritance of great intelligence
· Cousin: Charles Darwin
· Proposed “survival of the fittest” could be applied to intelligence; if this could be quantified, then this could be used to breed superior people
· Less endowed would be discouraged or prevented from reproducing
· Founded the eugenics movement
· Needed objective measure of intelligence
· Assumed mind was composed of sensations
· Measured simple sensory processes
· Put ideas to test at 1884 International Exposition in LDN (10000 attendees paid to be tested
· Didn’t work: His measurements were unrelated to scholastic or professional success (also did not show gender differences
· Lasting influence: Coined ‘nature vs nurture’; invented concepts of correlation and percentile test scores; stimulated interest in measuring mental ability