Psychological testing

“ The importance of more accurate psychological tests in studying mental disturbance is well illustrated by comparing the results that may be obtained with the Binet tests with the desultory, unstandardized tests such as one finds in Dr. ”

“ The rapid accumulation of data with psychological tests has made it possible to take our first halting steps in the direction of greater definiteness in diagnosis by a larger use of objective methods. This increase in significance of the concept of deficiency is fruitful at once in estimating the size of the social problem and planning means for undertaking the care of these unfortunates. We can discover something of the error in the previous subjective estimates of the frequency of feeble-mindedness. ”

“ Mental tests are of definite value in enabling the observer to arrive at a conclusion regarding the general mental development of the subject, or to investigate some particular psychological function. A too exclusive dependence upon the result of the application of these tests, especially by a layman, would invariably lead to error. A comprehensive survey is necessary, taking into consideration such factors as family history, environment, physical condition, behaviour, temperament, &c. ”

“ It is to be expected that the knowledge so laboriously gained by the psycho-analytic method of investigation would prove of great value in the attempt to solve the psychological problems concerned with the obscurer motives of human action and desire. ”

“ But even in those cases where the patient is convinced from the very first of the psychic nature of his illness, a critical survey of the history is very advantageous, since it discloses to him a psychological concatenation of ideas of which he was unaware. In this manner those problems which need special discussion are frequently brought to the surface. Work of this kind may occupy many sittings. ”

“ In selecting a new test which will involve the same mental attitude and call for the exercise of the same psychological functions as are needed in the work itself, we are handicapped by the unreliability of the introspection of the examinee and also by our inadequate ability to recognize, identify and classify psychological functions even when we are confident that these are present. ”

“ If the problems of Psychical Research, or that portion of the problems in which investigation seems profitable, are ever to [55] be illuminated and exhibited in an intelligible form, it will only come about when they are investigated by the same methods and in the same spirit as are other psychological problems, when they are studied in connection with and as a part of other general problems of normal and abnormal Psychology. ”

“ A promising way to this end is the inexhaustible association test which we mentioned when we discussed the contributions of the psychological laboratory to the medical diagnosis. A series of short words are spoken to the patient and, as soon as he hears one, he is to pronounce as quickly as possible the first word which comes to his mind. If we use fifty words, we should be able to learn something as to the inner states of the man and as to the working of his mind, if we analyze carefully his particular choices. ”

“ Of no man or woman can it be said that he or she is infallible, and as every one who applies a psychological test is human, and so liable to error either in its application or the reading of its result, conclusions drawn from the results of any particular test should be accepted as accurate only when they have been checked by the results of other tests applied to the same subject, and substantial conformity of the results of one to those of the others has been obtained. ”

“ But psychology can be of service to the general practitioner both in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. A thorough psychological knowledge of human nature will assist a physician in diagnosis. Often the best way to find out what ails a patient’s body is through the patient’s mind, and the doctor must know how to get the truth from the patient’s mind even in those cases in which the patient is actually trying to conceal the truth. ”

“ Undoubtedly—and especially since the invention of psychological tests to determine the mental state of dullards—many children have been erroneously pronounced feeble-minded when their backwardness is in reality due to remediable causes. The trouble is not with the tests so much as with the inexperience of those who apply them, some of the tests being seemingly so easy of application that in many instances they have been utilised by teachers and others having little or no training in clinical psychology. ”

“ The mild abnormalities of the mind, and especially the nervous disturbances which exist outside the field of insanity, demand this support of psychology much more. And even the normal personality will be more safely protected from disease and from social dangers for its mental constitution if the resources of experimental psychology are employed. The more we know of the psychological constitution of the individual, the more we can foresee the development which is to be hoped for or feared and which may be encouraged or retarded. ”

“ One who demands that a chauffeur or a motorman of an electric railway be examined as to his psychical abilities by systematic psychological methods, so that accidents may be avoided, does not necessarily demand that a congressman or a cabinet minister or a candidate for marriage be tested too by psychological laboratory experiments, as the witty ones have proposed. ”

“ As psychological tests are more and more widely applied and there is consequently accumulated an increasing volume of data which can be collected, classified, and compared, standards become either more firmly established as a result of experience or subject to modification in the light of the wider range of knowledge. In science nothing is final. What psychology offers to-day is a method of mental tests, the soundness of which in principle is unchallenged, though the application in detail of these principles is subject to constant improvement and refinement. ”

“ B. Forms of Mental Deficiency Not Yet Discoverable by Tests. The first broad conclusion that impresses those who try to use mental scales for diagnosing feeble-mindedness is that the lower types, the idiots and imbeciles, can be detected with great accuracy by an hour's testing. The difficulties pile up as soon as the individual rises above the imbecile group. The practical experience of those in institutions for the feeble-minded here becomes of fundamental importance. They are able to supply the history of exceptions that should make us cautious about our general rules. ”

“ That is why I am convinced that the real end of analysis is reached when the patient has acquired adequate knowledge of the method to remain in contact with the unconscious, and sufficient psychological knowledge to be able to understand approximately his ever-changing life-line; otherwise he is not in a position to follow the direction of the libido currents in the unconscious, and thereby to gain conscious support in the development of his individuality. Every serious case of neurosis needs this weapon in order to maintain the cure. ”

“ To adequately cover the teaching field of psychological medicine one should therefore, on the one hand, be conversant with and able to judge of the methods of experimental psychology in reference to their application to the analysis and interpretation of symptoms; and, on the other hand, able to recognize and elucidate the more general questions now stated dynamically. First-hand acquaintance with psychiatric conditions and problems is everywhere implicit, which involves the close and continual association with clinical material that is also necessary for research. ”

“ Whilst psychological investigation finds its subject matter in the bare facts of psychic life, there are two further problems which are conditioned by the antithesis of fact and value as it appears in psychic life, the problem of knowledge, and the problem of evaluation. ”

“ Indeed the times seem ripe for a systematic introduction of psychological studies into every regular medical course. It is not a question of mental research in the psychological laboratory where advanced work is carried on, but a solid foundation in empir [Pg 365] ical psychology can be demanded of everyone. ”

“ Five series of psychological tests were given at stated intervals during the course of the experiment. They included tests of immediate recall, spontaneous and controlled association (opposites) , adding, and attention-perception (cancellation) . There were six sets of each test, numbered from one to six, of equal difficulty, and given under uniform conditions. Tests 1 and 2 were given before the treatment began, and the average was taken as the "initial efficiency." The last four, or the last two, were averaged to represent the pupils' "terminal efficiency." ”

“ During the last thirty years, psychological laboratories, aided by physiology, through oft-repeated experiments conducted with newly-invented weighing and measuring instruments of marvelous accuracy, have put us in possession of an array of facts unknown to students of earlier periods, who sought the "why and the how" of man's erratic actions as a social animal. ”

“ Psychological analysis is far from being able to explain in complete and illuminating fashion all cases of the disease with which we are here concerned. On the contrary, the majority remain obscure and difficult to understand, and chiefly because only a certain proportion of patients recover. Our last patient is noteworthy because his return to a normal state afforded us a survey of the period of his illness. Unfortunately the advantage of this standpoint is not always possible to us, for a great number of persons never find their way back from their dreams. ”

“ The mental scales can only detect those feeble-minded who cannot succeed with our present tests. This is the basal principle in using any system of tests.
Stated in another way, this first caution for anybody seeking the assistance of a mental scale is that tests may detect a feeble-minded person, but when a person passes them it does not guarantee social fitness. The negative conclusion, “this person is not feeble-minded,” can not be drawn from tests alone. Mental tests at present are positive and not negative scales. ”

“ Properly applied psychological tests would pass over all or nearly all of the acquired knowledge of such individuals about their particular business and related matters, and neglect also, the bulk, at least, of the acquired knowledge of the university man, and so compare merely what might be called two naked brains, the native intelligence of each being the only thing to be measured. ”

“ Central in interest and promise stands the psychological test. In so far as psychology has laid bare the fundamental qualities upon which achievement depends, [Pg xiv] its application has developed a series of tests to determine how the individual compares with the others or with the average in respect to this, that, and the other constituent quality. Professor Hollingworth presents the results of such analysis, both in relation to the variety of human traits and in the grading of individuals by reference to the measure of the quality which each possesses. ”

“ There are psychosocial problems where we examine the psychological factors which have to enter into public movements, into social reforms, into legislation and into politics. In this way new and ever new groups may be added; every time the central thought is: how far can causal psychological knowledge help us to reach a certain end? Together with these forms of applied psychology, we find the psychomedical problems; here belongs everything which allows the application of causal psychology in the interests of health. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We can obtain some help from abnormal psychology in its application to the medical treatment of nervous and mental maladies. This is quite natural as abnormal psychology is essentially based on clinical and experimental studies of mental diseases. The claim, however, that psychology can give directions for vocations of life or for business and industry is entirely unfounded. ”

“ It is in the determination of these universal standards and the preparation of tests, the results of which indicate the individual’s relative approximation to these standards, that the scientific training of the psychologist comes principally into play. Rough standards for testing the more obvious mental capacities might be set up by any intelligent person who would take the pains to collect the essential data. ”

“ With his desire to supplement the test person betrays a tendency to give the experimenter more than he wants, he even exerts the greatest efforts to seek further mental occurrences in order finally to discover something quite satisfactory. If we translate this elementary observation into the psychology of everyday life, it signifies that the test person has a tendency constantly to give to others more feeling than is required and expected. ”

“ From that time the advance in ability is made by attaining greater skill in specific activities through training and by increasing knowledge, rather than through a native change in the form of thinking. If mental tests mainly reach capacity for thinking, as they aim to do, rather than amount of knowledge or skill in specific work, then we are conservative in using a randomly selected group at 15 years of age for approximating the borderline on the scale for the mature. ”