Part 33 (2/2)
Approximately 38 per cent of 102 correct responses referred to treating everybody the same way; 25 per cent to ”doing the square thing”, 12 per cent were concrete ill.u.s.trations; and 4 per cent were definitions of what justice is not.
_Unsatisfactory._ ”It means to have peace.” ”It is where they have court.” ”It's the Courthouse.” ”To be honest.” ”Where one is just” (_minus_, unless further explained). ”To do right”
(_minus_, unless in explaining _right_ the subject gives a definition of _justice_).
It is very necessary, in case of such answers as ”Justice is to do right,” ”To be just,” etc., that the subject be urged to explain further what he means. ”To do right” includes nearly 12 per cent of all answers, and is given by the very brightest children. Most of these are able, when urged, to complete the definition in a satisfactory manner.
REMARKS. The reader may be surprised that the ability to define common abstract words should develop so late. Most children who have had anything like ordinary home or school environment have doubtless heard all of these words countless times before the age of 12 years.
Nevertheless, the statistics from the test show unmistakably that before this age such words have but limited and vague meaning. Other vocabulary studies confirm this fact so completely that we may say there is hardly any trait in which 12- to 14-year intelligence more uniformly excels that of the 9- or 10-year level.
This is readily understandable when we consider the nature of abstract meanings and the intellectual processes by which we arrive at them.
Unlike such words as _tree_, _house_, etc., the ideas they contain are not the immediate result of perceptual processes, in which even childish intelligence is adept, but are a refined and secondary product of relations.h.i.+ps between other ideas. They require the logical processes of comparison, abstraction, and generalization. One cannot see justice, for example, but one is often confronted with situations in which justice or injustice is an element; and given a certain degree of abstraction and generalization, out of such situations the idea of justice will gradually be evolved.
The formation and use of abstract ideas, of one kind or another, represent, _par excellence_, the ”higher thought processes.” It is not without significance that delinquents who test near the border-line of mental deficiency show such inferior ability in arriving at correct generalizations regarding matters of social and moral relations.h.i.+ps. We cannot expect a mind of defective generalizing ability to form very definite or correct notions about justice, law, fairness, owners.h.i.+p rights, etc.; and if the ideas themselves are not fairly clear, the rules of conduct based upon them cannot make a very powerful appeal.[69]
[69] See also p. 298 _ff._
Binet used the words _charity_, _justice_, and _kindness_, and required two successes. In the 1911 revision he s.h.i.+fted the test from year XI to year XII, where it more nearly belongs. G.o.ddard also places it in year XII and uses Binet's words, translating _bonte_, however, as _goodness_ instead of _kindness_. Kuhlmann retains the test in year XI and adds _bravery_ and _revenge_, requiring three correct definitions out of five. Bobertag uses _pity_, _envy_, and _justice_, requires two correct definitions, and finds the test just hard enough for year XII.
After using the words _goodness_ and _kindness_ in two series of tests, we have discarded them as objectionable in that they give rise to so many doubtful definitions. Even intelligent children often say: ”Goodness means to do something good,” ”Kindness means to be kind to some one,” etc. These definitions in a circle occur less than half as often with _pity_, _revenge_, and _envy_, which are also superior to _charity_ and _justice_ in this respect.
The relative difficulty of our five words is indicated by the order in which we have listed them in the test (i.e., beginning with the easiest and ending with the hardest). On the standard of three correct definitions, these words fit very accurately in year XII.
XII, 3. THE BALL-AND-FIELD TEST (SUPERIOR PLAN)
PROCEDURE, as in year VIII, test 1.
SCORING. Score 3 (or superior plan) is required for pa.s.sing in year XII.[70]
[70] See scoring card.
XII, 4. DISSECTED SENTENCES
The following disarranged sentences are used:--
FOR THE STARTED AN WE COUNTRY EARLY AT HOUR
TO ASKED PAPER MY TEACHER CORRECT I MY
A DEFENDS DOG GOOD HIS BRAVELY MASTER
These should be printed in type like that used above. The Stanford record booklet contains the sentences in convenient form.
It is not permissible to subst.i.tute written words or printed script, as that would make the test harder. All the words should be printed in caps in order that no clue shall be given as to the first word in a sentence.
For a similar reason the period is omitted.
PROCEDURE. Say: ”_Here is a sentence that has the words all mixed up so that they don't make any sense. If the words were changed around in the right order they would make a good sentence. Look carefully and see if you can tell me how the sentence ought to read._”
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