Psychoanalyzing intelligence Béla Székely’s Los Tests

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to analyze the definition of intelligence that appeared in the book Los Tests (1946) written by BélaSzékely, a Hungarian psychologist who emigrated to Argentina in 1938. Although Székely’s work was mainly related to psychoanalysis and child psychology, the publication of this compilation of psychometric tests became one of his most influential works, in which he based his observations on the ideas of Wilhelm Stern, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Adler. The methodology used in this article is based on a qualitative and interpretative analysis of bibliographical sources from the perspectives of the critical history of psychology and intellectual history in Argentina in the 1930s and 1940s. In using this approach, I analyze what other specialists thought of intelligence, in contrast to the ideas presented by Székely. The article approaches the issue first by briefly presenting the author in question, and his position within Hungarian and Argentinian intellectual groups. Then, it studies general understandings of ‘intelligence’ and ‘intellectual level’ in Argentina around the time that Székely’s book made its first appearance and, finally, it examines to what extent his viewpoint was different (AU)

A publication missing from Lewis M. Terman's CV? Ralph K. White's 1931 "The versatility of genius".

Lewis M. Terman's publication list is impressively long. Even a selective bibliography includes around three dozen articles and books (Watson, 1974). Yet by many standards of authorship assignment, one significant contribution is invariably omitted: the paper "The Versatility of Genius" nominally sole-authored by Ralph K. White in 1931. To see why, it is necessary to place this article in the context of two careers-Terman's and White's. Terman (1940) discussed White's (1931) key results in his overview of "Psychological Approaches to the Biography of Genius." In that article, Terman's appreciation for the study seems much greater than the author's own. No criticisms even mentioned. Furthermore, it has become apparent many decades later that White's inquiry into the versatility of genius remains the most rigorous empirical treatment of the subject-a subject that encompasses the fascinating topic of polymathy as well (Cassandro & Simonton, 2010). Hence, why not give White's (1931) inquiry the attention it deserves? Just add the reference to Terman's curriculum vita with an asterisk indicating White's mentor as covert coauthor! (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Child delinquency and intelligence testing at Santiago's Juvenile Court, Chile, 1929-1942.

This article deals with intelligence testing conducted at Santiago's Juvenile Court, in Chile, between 1929 and 1942. It is based on an analysis of 56 court records containing psychological or psychopedagogical reports filed by the Section for Observation and Classification at Santiago's House of Juveniles, an institution created in 1929 as part of the Juvenile Protection Law. To understand the purposes for juvenile intelligence testing in this field, several articles published at the time by the key actors involved in these institutions will also be analyzed. The results of this research signal, first, that psychology did indeed play a role in the juvenile justice system by laying the groundwork for the idea that it was necessary to measure and diagnose intelligence. The Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, developed in France between 1904 and 1911 and adapted for Chile between 1922 and 1925, was systematically administered to juveniles in Santiago's Juvenile Court; the results were deployed as technical-scientific recommendations at the service of the presiding juvenile judge. On the one hand, this instrument, supposedly scientific and objective, helped legitimize the nascent field of psychology. On the other, it emerged as a useful tool in its own right to assess children. Second, the notions of intelligence underpinning these practices, while certainly in debt to the American approaches from which they were appropriated, managed to forge a more balanced stance between nature and nurture, positioning intelligence testing as a way of conceiving of and planning to prevent crime and reeducate juveniles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive profile analysis in school psychology: History, issues, and continued concerns.

Intelligence testing remains a fixture in school psychology training and practice. Despite their popularity, the use of IQ tests is not without controversy and researchers have long debated how these measures should be interpreted with children and adolescents. A controversial aspect of this debate relates to the utility of cognitive profile analysis, a class of interpretive methods that encourage practitioners to make diagnostic decisions and/or treatment recommendations based on the strengths and weaknesses observed in ability score profiles. Whereas numerous empirical studies and reviews have challenged long-standing assumptions about the utility of these methods, much of this literature is nearly two decades old and new profile analysis methods (e.g., XBA, PSW) have been proffered. To help update the field's understanding of these issues, the present review traces the historical development of cognitive profile analysis and (re)introduces readers to a body of research evidence suggesting new and continued concerns with the use of these methods in school psychology practice. It is believed that this review will serve as a useful resource to practitioners and trainers for understanding and promoting a countering view on these matters.

Evaluating the Aboriginal child's mind: assimilation and cross-cultural psychology in Australia.

This article examines two psychological interventions with Australian Aboriginal children in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The first involved evaluating the cognitive maturation of Aboriginal adolescents using a series of Piagetian interviews. The second, a more extensive educational intervention, used a variety of quantitative tests to measure and intervene in the intellectual performance of Aboriginal preschoolers. In both of these interventions the viability of the psychological instruments in the cross-cultural encounter created ongoing ambiguity as to the value of the research outcomes. Ultimately, the resolution of this ambiguity in favour of notions of Aboriginal 'cultural deprivation' reflected the broader political context of debates over Aboriginal self-governance during this period.

Alfred Binet: Charcot's pupil, a neuropsychologist and a pioneer in intelligence testing.

The psychologist, Alfred Binet, who worked under the supervision of Prof. Charcot at the end of the 19th century, made several important contributions to neuropsychology, in partnership with Théodore Simon. Most notable among these was the development of intelligence testing scales.

Alfred Binet: Charcot's pupil, a neuropsychologist and a pioneer in intelligence testing / Alfred Binet: pupilo de Charcot, neuropsicólogo e pioneiro nos testes de inteligência

ABSTRACT The psychologist, Alfred Binet, who worked under the supervision of Prof. Charcot at the end of the 19th century, made several important contributions to neuropsychology, in partnership with Théodore Simon. Most notable among these was the development of intelligence testing scales.

RESUMO Alfred Binet, psicólogo, que trabalhou sob a supervisão do professor Charcot, no final do século XIX, tem várias importantes contribuições na área de neuro-psicologia, particularmente a criação de escalas com testes de inteligência, com a participação de Théodore Simon.

Fluid intelligence: A brief history.

The concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence was introduced to the psychological community approximately 75 years ago by Raymond B. Cattell, and it continues to be an area of active research and controversy. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the origin of the concept, early efforts to define intelligence and uses of intelligence tests to address pressing social issues, and the ongoing controversies associated with fluid intelligence and the structure of intelligence. The putative neuropsychological underpinnings and neurological substrates of fluid intelligence are discussed.

MENTAL ASSOCIATION: TESTING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES BEFORE BINET.

This paper challenges the historiographical discontinuity established between earlier "anthropometric testing" and the arrival of "psychological testing" with Binet and Simon's intelligence test in 1905. After some conceptual clarifications, it deals with "word association": a kind of psychological experimentation and testing which became popular over the last two decades of the 19th century. First Galton's exploration are presented, followed by experiments performed at the Leipzig laboratory by Trautscholdt, and then Cattell and Bryant's collective testing. Additionally, I document the use of this method for the study of mental difference through the works of Münsterberg, Bourdon, Jastrow, Nevers and Calkins. The cases I present show how the method gave rise to various measurements and classifications. I conclude that the word association technique triggered reflection on mental "uniqueness", gender traits and the influence of education, among other topics. Moreover, it prepared the terrain and anticipated some basic attractions and problems intelligence testing would later encounter.

General Intelligence (g): Overview of a Complex Construct and Its Implications for Genetics Research.

Current technology has dramatically increased the prevalence of studies to establish the genetic correlates of a wide variety of human characteristics, including not only the physical attributes that determine what we look like and the risk of physiological disease but also the psychological and cognitive characteristics that often define who we are as individuals. Perhaps one of the most deeply personal and often controversial characteristics is the concept of general intelligence, known in the psychological literature as "g." As with the genetic study of any complex trait, the first step in studying the genetics of g is to carefully define the characteristic of interest. For g, this entails establishing what intelligence means and providing a clear operational definition for how it will be measured. In this paper, we provide a brief historical and theoretical overview of the construct of general intelligence, describe its relationship to the contemporary measurement of intelligence, and discuss these concepts in light of the challenges associated with defining g as a characteristic in the study of genetics.

Test or toy? Materiality and the measurement of infant intelligence.

Adopting a material culture perspective, this article interrogates the composition of the copy of the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale housed at the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection. As a deliberately assembled collection of toys, the Cattell Scale makes clear the indefinite boundary between test and toy in 20th-century American psychology. Consideration of the current condition of some of the material constituents of this particular Cattell Scale provides valuable insight into some of the elusive practices of intelligence testers in situ and highlights the dynamic nature of the testing process. At the same time, attending to the materiality of this intelligence test reveals some of the more general assumptions about the nature of intelligence inherent in tests for young children. The scale and others like it, I argue, exposes psychologists' often-uncritical equation of childhood intelligence with appropriate play undertaken with an appropriate toy, an approach complicit in, and fostered by, midcentury efforts to cultivate particular forms of selfhood. This analysis serves as an example of the kind of work that may be done on the history of intelligence testing when the material objects that were (and are) inherently a part of the testing process are included in historical scholarship.

Searching for South Asian intelligence: psychometry in British India, 1919-1940.

This paper describes the introduction and development of intelligence testing in British India. Between 1919 and 1940 experimenters such as C. Herbert Rice, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, and Venkatrao Vithal Kamat imported a number of intelligence tests, adapting them to suit a variety of South Asian languages and contexts. Charting South Asian psychometry's gradual move from American missionary efforts toward the state, this paper argues that political reforms in the 1920s and 1930s affected how psychometry was "indigenized" in South Asia. Describing how approaches to race and caste shifted across instruments and over time, this paper charts the gradual recession, within South Asian psychometry, of a "race" theory of caste. Describing some of the ways in which this "late colonial" period affected the postcolonial landscape, the paper concludes by suggesting potential lines for further inquiry into the later career of intelligence testing in India and Pakistan.

A psychology for pedagogy: intelligence testing in USSR in the 1920s.

This article examines a case of intelligence testing conducted in the mid-1920s, while considering the broader political and scientific context of Soviet life. Guided by questions about the status and influence of mental measurement in Russian society, previously and after the revolution, as well as asking about the main actors in the fields linked to testing, such as psychology, pedagogy, and pedology, during this tumultuous period. To answer these questions, journals and difficult-to-access archival sources were used, which provided evidence regarding the enthusiasm psychological testing had on scholars in the 1920s and the institutional support they received for their surveys. The article offers some hints concerning why this was so and why this situation changed completely a decade later. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental testing in the early twentieth century: internationalizing the mental testing story.

This article suggests a possible approach to analyzing the global history of intelligence testing in light of some recent work in the history of science and science studies. In particular, it uses work in metrology and subaltern studies to develop possible models for the dissemination, appropriation, and transformation of mental testing in the early 20th century. It draws on the accounts presented in the other articles in this collection to substantiate its claims. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychological measurement in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s.

This article deals with the initial applications of psychological tests in Brazil during the 1920s and 1930s, and it is focused on their use in education under the influence of the New School and the Mental Hygiene movements. Thus, the objective is to highlight the implication of psychology as a "social science" (Rose, 1996), a support to the legitimacy of racial theories in force during that period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Aims of teachers' psychometry: intelligence testing in Barcelona (1920).

After World War I, members of the teaching profession in Spain were interested in appropriating psychological measurement and bringing it within the expertise of their occupational field, with the intention of upgrading their profession. As professionals devoted to the child, educators attempted to explore the infantile psyche using intelligence tests, with the intention of making scientific contributions to the field of psychology. In the present article we take as a key event one particular application enacted by a Catalan teacher, and insert that case study into the complex local scientific and educational context. It was a context in which the professional interests of teachers competed with those of school physicians, psychologists, and pedologists, at a time when important changes in pedagogical methods and school systems were under way. In the hand of teachers, intelligence testing was mainly seen as a malleable method on which to base daily educational practice on a more individualized and scientific basis. The historical analysis of the case turned out to be instrumental in the identification of common features and particularities attributable to specific local needs. In a society where public schooling competed with private schools, the results of mental testing were used to demonstrate publicly the excellent intellectual level of children attending a public graded primary school in Barcelona. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Making up intelligence scales: De Sanctis's and Binet's tests, 1905 and after.

Sante De Sanctis (1862-1935) and Alfred Binet (1857-1911), the latter in collaboration with Théodore Simon (1873-1960), introduced their intelligence tests to the scientific community at the Fifth International Congress of Psychology, held in Rome in 1905 on April 26-30. The cultural and political contexts within which De Sanctis and Binet developed their respective intelligence tests showed certain similarities. Nevertheless, De Sanctis's intelligence test and Binet's test did differ in certain respects. The objective of this article is to understand the differences and similarities between the Parisian and the Roman contexts in relation to mental testing, and to investigate the theoretical-methodological contributions of each. In addition, the article analyzes the "diversity" of De Sanctis's context and test, which did not influence the international psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).