what is the history of the first modern intelligence test?

Answer 1

The concept of IQ goes all the way back to the 500 BC. Alcmaion first described the brain as the center of intellectual activity. Sir Francis Galton (Hereditary Genius) is known as the Father of the Testing Movement and contributed to the development of statistical research and the assessment of IQ over time. He developed the first comprehensive intelligence test. Galton focused more on the non-verbal, sensory aspects of intelligence. Spearman was one of the first to operationalize intelligence, referring to it as "g" or the manipulation of conscious and complex mental abilities. However, Lewis Terman was the one who first coined the term "intelligence quotient" or IQ (by dividing mental age by chronological age).
In 1905, Binet and Simon created the first IQ test to be used on children to distinguish between mental retardation and behaviorally disabled, as well as to identify children who were learning at a slower space. The Binet-Simon scale was born, with an emphasis on genetic and hereditary components of intelligence (you can see Galton's influence here). Binet's focus was on language and verbal abilities. Terman translated the Binet-Simon, adjusted for cultural differences (from French to American), and brought it to the US.
The US really started to embrace intelligence testing during World War I, as a means of selecting and categorizing army recruits. The Army enlisted Robert Yerkes to develop the army intelligence test (Army Alpha and Beta). The Army Alpha focused on verbal abilities, while the Beta was focused on nonverbal abilities (thus making it possible to also test immigrants). (Terman was also part of the group of psychologists picked to develop the tests.) However, the Army tests did not use IQ, but rather measures of incorrect or correct. Wechsler later came into the field with the publishing of the Wechsler Bellvue Intelligence Scale (1939), which has been revised and renormed into the WAIS, WISC, and WPPSI. The Wechsler scales are highly influenced by the Stanford Binet and Army Alpha and Beta scales. Originally, Wechsler was studying memory loss associated with alcoholism, became interested in the study of intelligence and the mind, and joined the Yerkes group. He had also worked with Spearman, but felt Spearman's theories were too narrow and neglected factors such as motivation and personality. He based the IQ scores on the normal bell curve, with 100 as the average and a standard deviation of 15. The Wechsler tests have since been renormed and revised to reduce cultural bias, update items, simplify instructions, increase the age upper limit, and to reduce the emphasis on timed responses.

Answer 2

I would say that the first modern intelligence test was the Stanford-Binet. In the early 1900s, Alfred Binet was a French psychologist who was trying to develop a method to identify children with mental handicaps. He worked with another psychologist named Theodore SImon and the series of tests they developed was called the Binet-Simon scales. Binet died in 1912. Work on his scales was continued by Louis Terman, a Stanford psychologist. It became the Stanford-Binet when Terman released a revision of the scales in 1916. The Stanford Binet has gone through numerous revisions and continues to be used today, although it has been largely replaced by the scales developed by David Wechsler (the WISC, WAIS, etc.) For a detailed history, here is a link: http://assess.nelson.com/pdf/sb5-asb1.pdf

Answer 3

Caveman#1 builds a fire. Caveman#2 finds out it is hot.

Answer 4

Big dinosaur it eat man, man no pet monster