Part 40 (1/2)

Record the response, and, showing another box, say: ”_This box has two smaller boxes inside, and each of the smaller boxes contains two tiny boxes. How many altogether? Remember, first the large box, then two smaller ones, and each smaller one contains two tiny boxes._”

The third problem, which is given in the same way, states that there are _three_ smaller boxes, each of which contains _three_ tiny boxes.

In the fourth problem there are _four_ smaller boxes, each containing _four_ tiny boxes.

The problem must be given orally, and the solution must be found without the aid of pencil or paper. Only one half-minute is allowed for each problem. Note that each problem is stated twice.

A correction is permitted, provided it is offered spontaneously and does not seem to be the result of guessing. Guessing can be checked up by asking the subject to explain the solution.

SCORING. _Three of the four_ problems must be solved correctly within the half-minute allotted to each.

REMARKS. Success depends, in the first place, upon ability to comprehend the statement of the problem and to hold its conditions in mind.

Subjects much below the 12-year level of intelligence are often unable to do this.

Granting that the problem has been comprehended, success seems to depend chiefly upon the facility with which the constructive imagination manipulates concrete visual imagery. In this respect it resembles the problem of reversing the hands of a clock. With some subjects, however, verbal imagery alone is operative. Tactual imagery would, of course, serve the purpose as well.

This is as good a place as any to emphasize the fact that the introspective study of mental imagery has little to contribute to the measurement of intelligence. Intelligence tests are concerned with the total result of a thought process, rather than with the imagery supports of that process. Thought may be carried on almost equally well by various kinds of imagery. As Galton showed, a person can be taught to carry on arithmetical processes by the use of smell imagery. The kind of imagery employed is the product of slight, innate preferences complicated by the more or less accidental effects of habit.

We may say that imagery is to thinking what scaffolding is to architecture. The important thing is the completed building rather than the nature of the scaffolding employed in erecting it. No one thinks of blaming the ill construction of a building upon the kind of scaffolding used, for if the architect and builder are competent satisfactory scaffolding will be found. Just as little are deficiencies or peculiarities of imagery the real cause of low-order intelligence. We cannot increase intelligence by formal drill in the use of supposedly important kinds of mental imagery, any more than we can transform a plain carpenter into a Michael Angelo by instructing him in the use of scaffolding materials such as were employed in the construction of St.

Peter's Cathedral.

This test is of our own invention and has been brought to its present form only after a good deal of preliminary experimentation. It correlates fairly well with mental age as determined by the scale as a whole. It was pa.s.sed by 55 per cent of high-school pupils and by 65 per cent of unschooled business men. Success in it is thus seen not to depend upon schooling.

AVERAGE ADULT, 5: REPEATING SIX DIGITS REVERSED

The series used are: 4-7-1-9-5-2; 5-8-3-2-9-4; and 7-5-2-6-3-8.

PROCEDURE and SCORING, as in year VII, alternative 2.

REMARKS. The test is pa.s.sed by approximately half of ”average adults”

and by three fourths of ”superior adults.” It shows no effect of schooling, the uneducated business men even surpa.s.sing our high-school students.

For the higher levels of intelligence, especially, the test is superior to that of repeating digits in the direct order. It is less mechanical and makes heavier demands upon higher intelligence.

AVERAGE ADULT, 6: USING A CODE

PROCEDURE. Show the subject the code given on the accompanying form.

Say: ”_See these diagrams here. Look and you will see that they contain all the letters of the alphabet. Now, examine the arrangement of the letters. They go_ (pointing) _a b c, d e f, g h i, j k l, m n o, p q r, s t u v, w x y z. You see the letters in the first two diagrams are arranged in the up-and-down order_ (pointing again), _and the letters in the other two diagrams run in just the opposite way from the hands of a clock_ (pointing). _Look again and you will see that the second diagram is drawn just like the first, except that each letter has a dot with it, and that the last diagram is like the third except that here, also, each letter has a dot. Now, all of this represents a code; that is, a secret language. It is a real code, one that was used in the Civil War for sending secret messages. This is the way it works: we draw the lines which hold a letter, but leave out the letter. Here, for example, is the way we would write 'spy?'_” Then write the word _spy_, pointing out carefully where each letter comes from, and emphasizing the fact that the dot must be used in addition to the lines in writing any letter in the second or the fourth diagram. Ill.u.s.trate also with _war_.

Then add: ”_I am going to have you write something for me; remember now, how the letters go, first_ (pointing, as before) _a b c, d e f, g h i, then j k l, m n o, p q r, then s t u v, then w x y z. And don't forget the dots for the letters in this diagram and this one_” (pointing). At this point, take away the diagrams and tell the subject to write the words _come quickly_. Say nothing about hurrying.

The subject is given a pencil, but is allowed to draw only the symbols for the words _come quickly_. He is not permitted to reproduce the entire code and then to copy the code letters from his reproduction.

SCORING. The test is pa.s.sed if the words are written in _six minutes and without more than two errors_. Omission of a dot counts as only a half error.

REMARKS. It is not easy to a.n.a.lyze the mental functions which contribute to success in the code test. Contrary to what might be supposed, success does not necessarily depend upon getting and retaining a visual picture of the diagrams. Kinaesthetic imagery will answer the purpose just as well, or the original visual impression may even be translated at once into auditory-verbal imagery and remembered as such. The significance of the test must be expressed in other terms than the kind of imagery it may happen to bring into play.