Intelligence Testing
By: Georgia Karellas
What is intelligence?
“Some recent philosophers seem to have given their moral approval to these deplorable verdicts that affirm that the intelligence of an individual is a fixed quantity, a quantity that cannot be augmented. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism; we will try to demonstrate that it is founded on nothing.”
-Alfred Binet
“The ability to carry on abstract thinking”
-Lewis Terman
“[Intelligence is] the aggregate, or global capacity to act purposefully,
think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. It is global
because it characterizes the individual’s behavior as a whole; it is an
aggregate because it is composed of elements or abilities which,
though not entirely independent, are qualitatively differentiable.”
Over the course of this section of our child psychology website I will be taking you through the history of child intelligence testing by showing how and why these tests have evolved as they have over time. Throughout the pages I have provided information about the psychologists involved in this process as well as the format of each of the tests.