Alfred Binet: Pioneer in Intelligence Testing

French psychologist who influenced the measurement of abilities.

Alfred Binet was a French psychologist who established the first French psychology laboratory in 1889, and the first French psychology journal with Theodore Simon. He co-authored with Simon the Binet-Simon the Test of Intelligence.


Alfred Binet was born in Nice, France on July 8, 1857. In 1883, he studied hypnosis with the pioneering neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpetrière Hospital in Paris. A year later, he married Laure Balbiani and the couple had two daughters. Six years later, he left Salpetrière Hospital to concentrate on studying his two daughters.

Francis Galton and Galtonian Approach
 
In the late 19th century, English scientist Sir Francis Galton made pioneering studies of individual differences in intelligence. He believed that people with good senses would be highly intelligent and that these individual differences in intelligence were also inherited. In his book Hereditary Genius, Galton argued that eminent fathers would raise eminent sons.


In 1888, Galton established his "anthropometric laboratory" in order to measure physical features of people and to assess their intelligence.


American psychologist James McKeen Cattell referred to these as "mental tests." By 1901, no association had been found between physical features and intellectual performance, so Galtonian approach was abandoned.

Alfred Binet Begins Work on Intelligence Scales
 
In France, psychologist Alfred Binet began work on intelligence scales. His first attempts to measure intelligence were based on measuring the size of children's heads, between the talented and poorly performing students. He did not find any substantial patterns and argued that individual differences in intelligence could only be detected by more complex processes such as memory, attention, comprehension, imagination and suggestibility.

Binet Devises a Test that Measures Children's Intelligence
 
In 1904, Binet was appointed by the French minister of public instruction to develop tests that could measure intelligence in children. A new law has been passed requiring that all French children should be given an education. The problem was that not all children were not capable of learning as were others. Concerned with the low-achieving children, the government asked him to devise a test that could pick out slow learners.

The Binet-Simon Scale Test of Intelligence
 
The goal was to find a spectrum of tests that could clearly separate children into a normal and a slow group. In 1898, he was joined by Theodore Simon, a young physician who had experience studying retarded children, he constructed a series of specific tests. He developed a scale that differentiated slow learners from those who were able to keep pace with normal levels of instruction.

In 1905, Binet and Simon published their rationale and tests, in The Binet-Simon Test of Intelligence. It figured that any discussion of the cause of a mental retardation was irrelevant. The tests were designed to avoid anything resembling schoolwork, and instead, the tests included activities like remembering shopping lists. It is the intelligence alone they sought to measure, disregarding the degree of instruction the children had received.

This psychological method measured comprehension, judgment, reasoning, and invention. It gave an indication of the child's general intelligence at that moment. Binet believed that the test reflected the nature of intelligence, as the child's practical ability to adapt to circumstances are revealed.

Age Introduced as a Feature in the Test
 
In 1908, Binet and Simon introduced age into the scale. One useful feature of the tests was that an individual child's score could be compared with the average score for that age. They said that if, for example, 75 percent or more of six-year-old children could pass a particular test, the test was placed at the six-year level. In addition, if a six-year-old child performed as good as the average eight-year-old, he would have a "mental level" of eight.

When his writings were translated into English, the term "mental age" was used, which implied an ordered developmental progression which he did not intend. He was not able to pursue the argument. On October 18, 1911, shortly after revising his tests, he died in Paris.

The Legacy of Alfred Binet
 
His greatest contribution was devising the first successful and practical intelligence testing which became the basis for IQ tests, a significant measurement of abilities, both in psychology and education worldwide.

Aside from psychometrician Theodore Simon, Binet's acquaintances also included philosopher John Stuart Mill and neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.



Resources:

Briggs, Asa, Consulting. Ed. Who's Who in the 20th Century. Oxford: OUP, 1999.
Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1978.
Moore, Pete. E=MC². London: Quintet Publishing Ltd., 2002.


Note:  I've originally written this article for Suite101, entitled "Alfred Binet and His Intelligence Tests." / Tel