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Essay on Intelligence testing
Although the intelligence test, as we know it today, is of recent growth, it is, nevertheless, interesting to trace its early history, and to find some of the causes, which led to its development. Like so many of the results of modern science, the intelligence test may be said to have appeared as the fulfillment of a need that existed. It came to supply a want in society. And the science of psychology had progressed far enough in the problem of mental testing to be ready to fill this need when the time came. We may thus think of these two aspects, the theoretical interest and the practical need, and we may further consider them as brought to a focus in the work of Binet, as exemplified by his construction of the Binet - Simon scale. Let us call the theoretical interest in the problem the psychological interest and the practical interest the sociological interest.
By this we mean those forces in society directing our attention to the defective and delinquent classes. These classes first aroused the interest of the psychologist because of their peculiarities in mental make-up. This is particularly true of the feebleminded, and the application of the first scales for measuring intelligence was largely restricted to them. It might be well, therefore, to trace briefly the attitude of society towards this group of individuals. (HART, B., & RISLEY, T. R., 1995)
Ancient Period:
We have little information as to the feebleminded in ancient Greece and Rome. Exposure of undesirable children was practiced and at certain periods and in certain places was common. In general the obviously physically defective were exposed, and, to the extent that feeblemindedness is accompanied by physical defect, the feebleminded would thus be eliminated. The great mass of feebleminded, sound in body, would escape.................
