Lewis M. Terman

“ There is little logical connection among K's concepts; they do not light up one another: they have not been subsumed under classes; they lack definiteness of content.
All of this is again brought out in the vocabulary test, which in a remarkable degree is a test of one s ability to distil concepts—from experience. Mere schooling affects it a little, but very little. Although K has attended school fourteen years, his vocabulary is less than a year beyond the standard for average children of his own mental age. ”

“ It is no wonder, therefore, that he should match as equivalents proverbs of the most diverse meaning, for proverbs are generalized experience expressed in highly figurative language. K's moral life will never be integrated by principles of action derived from experience. It is more likely to consist of rule-of-thumb behavior. And if he can not generalize his own experiences he is not likely to read much meaning into the behavior of others. He is not likely to develop that intuitive appreciation of the motives and attitudes of others which are necessary for the exercise of leadership. ”

“ Why honesty is the best policy, why women and children should be saved first in a shipwreck, why marriage licenses are necessary, involve issues too subtle for him to grasp. Although his inferior powers of comprehension render him incapable of real morality, his moral life, measured by the ordinary standards, appears to be quite normal. ”

“ An essential aspect of the higher thought processes is the ability to associate ideas on the basis of similarities or differences. This ability is involved in such diverse mental acts as the understanding of simple figures of speech, the appreciation of poetry, the scientific classification of natural phenomena, and the origination of hypotheses of science or philosophy. Intellectual superiority is especially evidenced in the ability to note essential likenesses and differences, as contrasted with those which are superficial, trivial or accidental. ”

“ Striking examples of the poverty of K's intellectual resources are seen in the various tests of association. Of the dozens of words in his vocabularly which rhyme with spring he could not think of one. During the last minute of the sixty-word test he was able to name words only at the rate of 7 in a half minute. Analogies involving concrete objects he can sometimes complete correctly, more often not; but his response is not often wholly irrelevant. Arm is to elbow as leg is to—he completes with "abdomen"; a part of the human body, but not the part called for by the logical relationships given. ”

“ In visual acuity he probably equals or exceeds the average savant. In the cancellation of given letters or figures in a mass of printed matter he would rank little if at all below the average of college students. He is probably in less danger of being run over by an automobile than the average college professor. He can probably drive an automobile as skillfully as the average lawyer, doctor or minister could do with the same amount of experience. There is nothing in his intelligence that would prevent him from reaping world renown as a champion athlete. ”

“ As a voter, he will never glimpse the fundamental problems relating to taxation, tariff, government ownership, systems of credit, education, labor or capital. If he ever concerns himself at all with political matters, it will probably be as a loyal adherent to his party and a devout repeater of its catchwords. ”

“ He will make as little headway in understanding the universe of personalities around him as in understanding the laws of gravity, the properties of the atom, the theory of evolution, or the canons of poetry. ”

“ Why honesty is the best policy—"Because you're never caught in a lie; if you are, always there's nothing to hinder you from getting a position."
Definitions. (d) Conceit "One who only thinks about himself. One who thinks nobody is as good as he is—the branches of work what he's in—pretty, or anything that way." ”

“ To think out new combinations of machinery or forces, as in the field of mechanical inventions, appears to be as far beyond him as the ability to manipulate abstract language symbols.
The weakness of K's constructive imagination is also shown in his lack of resourcefulness in meeting practical difficulties like those involved in the Ball and Field problem, the ingenuity test or the Knox Imitation test. ”

“ In "Combinative ability" of the kind which Ebbinghaus rightly regarded as such an important aspect of intelligence, K reveals, notwithstanding fourteen years of schooling, the capacities of an average child of twelve years. His desert-rivers-lakes sentence is correct in form, but absurdly foolish. In the Trabue test we find habitual associations dominant over sense, as in "The stars and stripes will shine to-night"; also a weak appreciation of sequential relationships and language form, as in "She could if she will," "The boy who studied hard will succeed." ”

“ The meaning of a simple mixed sentence like "people are many candy of fond" is not grasped by K because he is unable to profit from logical cues. He sometimes reacts to pictures by descriptions rather than interpretations because he sees merely parts without grasping the whole they compose. ”

“ His intelligence is probably not equalled or exceeded by more than 70 per cent. of our white voters, by more than 50 to 60 per cent. of semi-skilled laborers, by more than 40 to 50 per cent. of barbers or teamsters, or by more than 20 to 30 per cent. of unskilled laborers. It is probably not equaled or exceeded by more than 30 to 40 per cent. of our South Italian or by more than 20 to 30 per cent. of our Mexican immigrants. Compared to the average American Negro, K is intellectually gifted, being equalled by probably not more than 10 to 15 per cent. ”

“ Whatever he does for a living, K may be expected to become a citizen of average respectability, though he is not likely to be elected to important office or to play a leading role in the affairs of his community. ”

“ The striking thing in the above table is the rapid deterioration in quality of performance in the successive parts of the test from addition to reasoning. That is, the higher the mental processes involved in a test, the more clearly it brings out K's subnormality. In speed and accuracy of adding he compares favorably with the average high school pupil, while in arithmetical reasoning he is little above fifth-grade ability. Three errors, all as absurd as the following, were made in indicating operations necessary to solve problems:
1. ”

“ The kind called for in the original form of the army test relates largely to every-day perceptual experiences (common animals, plants, advertisements, sports, etc.) . In information involving memory for abstract terms or appreciation of logical relationships, K makes a ludicrous showing. Information about base-ball champions or movie stars is within his reach; historical information is not.
K's success is no more brilliant when it comes to feats of constructive imagination. ”

“ Among the Jukes, Kallikaks, Pineys or Hill Folk, he would represent the aristocracy of intellect. Just as we are prone to forget how the other half lives, so we are equally likely to forget how the other half thinks. ”

“ Test 1. Oral Directions. Only 2 correct. Weighted score 6. (About 81⁄2 years) .
Test 2. Memory for digits. Four correct. Weighted score, 8. (About 9 years) . Extreme memory span, 5 digits. (8 or 9 years) .
Test 3. Disarranged sentences. Nine correct, 3 wrong. Raw score, 6; weighted score, 12. (About 12 years.) People are many candy of fond—marked false. Property floods life and destroy—marked false.
Test 4. Arithmetical reasoning. Raw score, 6; weighted score, 18. (121⁄2 years.) How many hours will it take a truck to go 66 miles at the rate of 6 miles an hour?—Ans. "10." ”

“ As far as intelligence is concerned there is no reason to suppose that he could not be a reasonably good baker, barber, bricklayer, butcher, carpenter, drill sharpener, freight checker, game warden, glass blower, harness-maker, horse-clipper, jail-keeper, joiner, lathe-hand, policeman, professional baseball player, plumber, prize fighter, peddler, railroad brakeman, riveter, roofer, section boss, soldier, street car conductor, timer, truckman, valet, weaver or yardman. ”

“ Seven Digits Reversed. Would not attempt.
Ingenuity test. Showed no comprehension of the task whatever, although I twice explained it and even solved the first problem for him.
The mental age score is 12 years, 5 months. The distribution of successes and failures does not differ especially from what one might expect of an average child of 12 or 13 years. Qualitatively, however, many of the responses are characteristically different from those of an average child of the same mental age. They show more of what Binet called "maturity" of intelligence, and less of "rectitude." ”

“ There are doubtless also innumerable kinds of routine clerical work in which he could do well. For all we know he may become a successful business man, but this is unlikely unless through the shrewd choice of assistants or marriage to a capable woman. ”

“ An apple and a peach are alike because they have a skin; iron and silver, because they are heavy: an animal and a plant, because they have hearts; a snake, a cow and a sparrow, because they have a tail ”

“ K is at present performing the duties of a regular clerk in his father's store, apparently with success, but it is unlikely that he will ever be able to manage a business of any considerable importance. That he will ever succeed his father in the local bank is hardly in the bounds of possibility. ”

“ Arm is to elbow as leg is to—"abdomen." (c) Head is to hat as hand is to —"arm." (d) Truth is to falsehood as straight line is to—"I have to pass that one." (e) Storm is to calm as war is to—"Have to pass that too." ”

“ Series C. (6) "The boy who studied hard will do well." (7) "Men are more capable to do heavy work than women." (8) "The sun is so hot that one can not sit in it directly without causing great discomfort to the eyes." (9) "The knowledge of man to use fire is———of———important things known by——but unknown——animals." (10) "One ought to take great care to do the right———of———, for one who———bad habits———it———to get away from them." (Score again is 12, seventh grade ability) .
Easy opposites. The easy opposites of List 3, Whipple's Manual, brought the following responses: (i) Best—"poor" (3.2 sec.) ”

“ Distinguish between (a) philosophy and psychology; (b) sensation and perception; (c) mind and soul"! [1]
In physical and personal appearance K was rather prepossessing than otherwise. He carried himself well and had a pleasant smile and expressive eyes. As he also had good clothes, excellent manners and a high-powered automobile, he was promptly initiated into one of the Greek letter fraternities.
For purposes of observation I invited K to my home for dinner. His behavior and manners gave unmistakable evidence of a home environment above the ordinary. ”

“ Can ride a motorcycle, but "does not take care of it himself or try to fix it when it is out of order." Likes an auto better; says he can grease it, fix the fan belt, repair punctures or adjust the carburetor. ”

“ He will never engage in theological disputes or concern himself about principles of artificial immunization. On the other hand, a hundred kinds of skilled or at least semi-skilled work are open to him. ”

“ Kent-Rosanoff Association Test
K presented no symptoms whatever of psychopathological tendencies, but the Kent-Rosanoff test was given in order to compare his responses with those found by the authors for typical dull subjects. The results showed 14 per cent. of "individual" and 4 per cent. of "doubtful" reactions. Kent and Rosanoff found 6.8 per cent. of individual responses for normal adults, 14.3 per cent. for normal ten-year olds, and 26.8 per cent. for insane adults. Eastman and Rosanoff found 13.2 per cent. for delinquents (presumably averaging much be low normal in intelligence) . ”

“ Total score, 48 points. Satisfactory age standards are not available for this scale, but 48 points is probably not far from average for 13 years. Typical responses include the following:
Digits Forward. Memory span, 5 digits. Repeating Sentences. Failed on all sentences of more than 14 syllables.
Comprehension Questions. (b) Actions versus words—"What they usually do is what they usually say." Asked to explain, "What a person usually does, he has his mind made up and if he should say anything that way his mind would run in the same order." ”

“ Average reaction time was 3.1 seconds. ± 1.54. The average for college students is usually between 1.5 and 2.25; for children or men tally inferior adults, about 3. Four responses required more than 10 seconds. K s slow reaction time, as well as the quality of his responses, indicates mental inferiority.
Educational Tests
Handwriting. Smooth and legible, entirely lacking in infantile qualities. Grades 14 on Thorndike scale.
Kansas silent reading. Slightly better than eighth grade ability.
Buckingham spelling test. Lists 1 and 2. Better than ninth grade ability. ”