THE APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
The intelligent reader has by this time begun to see for himself some of
the possibilities opened up by the use of scientific mental tests, and
to perceive their applicability in a wide diversity of fields. In later
chapters specific examples of such applications are given in detail, and
suggestions offered for still other uses of the tests which are
contained in this book.
The usefulness of all mental tests, whether those which are offered in
this volume under the general title of “The Mentimeter,” or others that
may be set up with equal scientific precision, depends upon, or at least
is greatly enhanced by, the most complete understanding of the
underlying principles on the part of the person who undertakes to apply
them. The purpose of this and the next three succeeding chapters is to
make these principles so plain that by the time the reader has reached
the tests themselves he will have a perfectly clear understanding, not
only of _what_ the Mentimeter tests are but of _why_ they have been put
into the form in which he finds them, and of _how_ their use will enable
him to gauge human intelligence and capacity with a greater degree of
accuracy than he has found possible by other means. If, perchance,
psychologists find in this volume much that is to them elementary, it
should be kept in mind that it is only through the widest possible
spread of sound understanding of psychological principles that the wider
application of them in the ordinary walks of life can be brought about.
That, the authors take it, is the great end toward which scientific
psychologists are aiming, and that is the aim of this book.
The general purpose of psychological tests is to determine how
individuals compare with one another in mental capacity, or with
standards based upon the capacities of individuals known to possess
certain qualities. Thus, it may be desirable, as it frequently is, to
determine the relative abilities of the individuals of a certain group,
like a school or college class, clerks employed in a similar form of
work, a number of applicants for a certain position for which only the
most capable among the candidates is desired, or the soldiers of a
particular company or regiment. What is required here is a method of
grading these individuals with reference to one another, by means of
tests which need not necessarily have any relation to any external
standard of mental perfection.
The process here is as if one were to be told to pick out of all the
automobiles in a garage the best one, the next best, and so on,
classifying these particular cars and no others _with relation to one
another_ and not with respect to any standards of automobile perfection
introduced from outside. None of the cars might be perfect; perhaps the
best one of the lot has leaky piston-rings and none of them will climb a
10 per cent. grade on high gear. It is a comparatively easy matter,
however, to devise a few simple tests that will grade a dozen or fifty
automobiles in regard to their relative ability to climb hills, carry
loads, and perform the other services expected of an automobile. The one
that will climb hills the best may not also be the one that will carry
the heaviest load or travel the most miles on a gallon of gasolene, but
out of such a series of group tests any one interested can readily
determine which of all the automobiles in the group is the best general
purpose car, which the poorest, and about where the others grade with
reference to these two extremes.
That is about the process that a man engaged in the automobile trucking
business would use in determining which one of the cars he has available
is best adapted for a particular piece of hauling that is to be done. He
wants to know which of his cars he can rely upon for any one of many
different sorts of service, but he particularly wants to know all the
time which of them are worth spending money on for repairs and
improvements and general overhauling and which are either so poorly
constructed in the first place or so hopelessly out of repair that it is
cheaper to scrap them than to spend any more money on trying to make
them fit for service.
_In other words, the automobile owner needs to know which of his cars,
however poor its present ability, has such inherent qualities as to
justify the belief that it can be made more efficient by proper
attention and reasonable expenditure of money._
Now, that is precisely what the employer of workers, the commander of
soldiers, the teacher of a class or any one else charged with
responsibility for the performance of any sort of tasks by any group of
human beings, wants to know about the individuals under his direction.
He should know or be able to determine readily not alone what each of
the individuals can actually do and which ones can do particular tasks
better than the others, but it is important for him to know the relative
_capacities_ of the entire group, so that he can determine, as in the
case of the automobiles which have been used as an illustration, which
of them are most worth spending time and effort upon in the expectation
that they will learn to do even more difficult tasks, and which of them
are so hopelessly incapable that nothing is to be expected of them
except the simplest routine performances.
Now, the man who operates a fleet of automobile trucks does not stop
when he has made a comparison of the vehicles in his garage with one
another, but is constantly comparing the performance of each with
standards established by other cars, machines of different makes, and
with new machines. There exists, and he is constantly conscious of its
existence, an ideal standard of performance for automobiles to which his
cars must conform as nearly as possible if their service is to be
satisfactory.
So, in measuring human capacity, it is not enough to compare the
individuals of a group with one another, though this is essential and
for some purposes temporarily sufficient; there are available standards
based upon the actual achievements of individuals of known capacity by
which the mental powers of any and all individuals may be gauged. It
will readily be seen that the employer of a number of persons—engaged,
let us say, in some specific mechanical or clerical operation—needs to
know not only whether some of these are capable of being trained to do
better work and some so incapable of further training that it would be
cheaper to discharge them and fill their places with more intelligent
persons, but also to know how any particular group of employees compares
in average intelligence and how each one of the group compares in
individual intelligence with the average or higher-than-average capacity
of those outside of his own particular business establishment who are
engaged in similar work.
This is a matter of dollars and cents to the employer. If he can obtain
a standard that is universal or nearly so, that tells him, in fact, what
all of the employers in his line of business have found to be the
average or the limits of mental capacity possessed by workers of a
particular class, then he is in a position to determine whether he is
getting equally good service for the wages which he pays as is obtained
by other employers requiring similar service.
To illustrate concretely: in an office employing twenty stenographers on
correspondence, it is not only necessary for the employer to know which
of these stenographers is the most competent and which the least and
whether the less competent are incapable merely because they are
beginners or because they lack the necessary mental capacity ever to
become competent. He should also be able to measure the mental capacity
of the entire group by some standard based upon the performance of
thousands and tens of thousands of stenographers of known degrees of
ability. He may discover that the most competent of his entire staff is
only as capable as the average of good stenographers everywhere.
Obviously, his business is handicapped by having a stenographic force
which is inferior in capacity and, consequently, in accuracy, speed, and
other essential requirements, to the average of stenographic office
staffs in business generally. Once this has been determined, the
intelligent employer will proceed to replace the stenographers who are
incapable of improvement, as indicated by the tests applied, with
stenographers who respond to the standard tests with a score well above
the average.
So, too, with the teacher. It is comparatively easy for the teacher to
classify his or her pupils into bright, stupid, and mediocre, through
observation alone. What is more important, however, is to determine
several things about each pupil which observation alone does not tell.
Are the stupid ones really stupid or merely inattentive? Have they the
necessary mental capacity to perform the assigned work of the class or
are they simply lazy? Few teachers can answer this question; none with
any degree of accuracy without the application of scientific tests of
mental capacity. Are the bright children really bright by comparison
with other children of the same age and school grade or do they merely
shine by contrast with the dull members of the class? This question can
by no means be answered accurately except by the application of mental
capacity tests. In another chapter some of the concrete applications of
mental tests in education are described at length. The point to be
emphasized here is that the measurement of the mental capacities of any
group should be based upon standards that will not only determine the
relative capacities of the members of the group but will, at the same
time, compare them all with standards that reflect the known average and
maximum capacities of all others of similar age and environment.
The purpose of these tests might be summed up somewhat as follows:
_To measure, by comparison with the group average or with very carefully
determined standards, some of the infinite number of qualities and
abilities, the possession of which by the individual renders him more or
less susceptible to education and training or more or less capable of
successfully performing certain actions requiring conscious direction
from the mind._
It requires no special argument to point out how a general application
of tests that disclose actual mental capacities might profoundly affect
our judgment of men of all classes and walks of life. Were it possible
to ticket and catalogue the whole human race in accordance with the
capacity of each individual as disclosed under properly devised
psychological tests, we would no longer permit the superficial absence
of polish and taste to blind us to the inherent powers and capacities of
the self-made man, nor, on the other hand, would we be so ready to
assume that the well-dressed, fluent talker, no matter how prepossessing
in appearance and manner, was necessarily able and worthy of confidence.
Likewise, once such a classification became universal, it is conceivable
that many business men and others who are prone to criticize the
universities and their products would be more tolerant of the recent
graduate, whose mental capacity is in no wise reflected by the
particular variety of contents with which his mind has been filled in
college.
Besides the application of scientific mental tests as already indicated,
in business and industry and in education, by the employer or the
teacher, there is another and important use to which standardized tests,
based upon determined capacities of groups and individuals of known
ability, may be put. This is the use of such tests by the individual
upon himself for the purpose of determining his own mental capacity in a
particular direction or of a particular kind as compared with the mental
capacity of others. The man or woman bent on self-improvement or
advancement may thus, within certain limits, assess by the application
of standardized tests his or her own mental quality and capacity.
Again it is unnecessary to point out the advantage to the young man or
young woman endeavouring to decide upon a career or to determine what
particular course of study to pursue or line of business to enter, in
being enabled to obtain an accurate gauge of his or her own qualities,
powers, and limitations. Taste and inclination are no safe guides to
life unless there is coupled with them inherent capacity for the
competent exercise of the faculties which make the gratification of
one’s individual tastes and inclinations possible. Thus it may be that
the individual’s inclinations and tastes run strongly toward music,
toward art in any of its various forms, but that physical and mental
inhibitions, the presence or absence of which may be readily determined,
make it impossible for the possessor of such tastes to hope to be able
to perform creditably the acts which a successful artist or musician
must perform.
Properly devised and applied psychological tests may conceivably
disclose the existence of mental powers and capacities unsuspected or
neglected because overshadowed by strong inclinations in other
directions; early knowledge of the possession of such capacities may
easily direct their possessors into fields in which they can thrive and
prosper and achieve far greater happiness and contentment than would
ever be possible through a lifetime of striving to do that for which
they are not fitted by inheritance.