Part 36 (1/2)

Type (5), inability to respond

REMARKS The fable test, or the ”test of generalization,” as it may aptly be named, was used by the writer in a study of the intellectual processes of bright and dull boys in 1905,[71] and was further standardized by the writer and Mr Childs in 1911[72] It has proved its worth in a nuations It has been necessary, however, to si which was proposed in 1911, not because of any logical fault of theexaminers to use the system correctly The method explained above is so much easier to learn

[71] ”Genius and Stupidity,” in _Pedagogical Seminary_, vol xiii, pp 307-73

[72] ”A Tentative Revision and Extension of the Binet-Sience,” _Journal of Educational Psychology_ (1912)

The generalization test presents for interpretation situations which are closely paralleled in the everyday social experience of hus It tests the subject's ability to understand ives a clue to the status of the social consciousness

This is highly ie of mental defectiveness The criterion of the subnormal's fitness for life outside an institution is his ability to understand social relations and to adjust himself to them Failure of a subnormal to meet this criterion may lead him to break common conventions, and to appear disrespectful, sulky, stubborn, or in some other way queer and exceptional He is likely to be misunderstood, because he so easily misunderstands others

The skein of huence to untangle

Ethnological studies have shown in an interesting way the social origin of the ment The rectitude of the moral life, therefore, depends on the accuracy of the social judg to knohat proportion of offenders have transgressed rasp the essential lessons presented by huent child even the common incidents of life carry an endless succession of lessons in right conduct On the average school playground not an hour passes without soht with a eneralize the situation A boy plays unfairly and is barred froaer and scorn of all his fellows Another vents his braggadocio and feels at once the withering scorn of those who listen Laziness, selfishness, ratitude, inconstancy, inordinate pride, and the countless other faults all have their social penalties The child of norence sees the point, draws the appropriate lesson and (provided emotions and will are also noruide to his own conduct To the feeble- in the power of abstraction and generalization, the situation conveys no such lesson It is but a nificance; or even if its uely apprehended, the powers of inhibition are insufficient to guarantee that right action will follow

It is for this reason that the generalization test is so valuable in the mental exained, to be sure, but none the less real to the individual of normal comprehension It tells us quickly whether the subject tested is able to see beyond the incidents of the given situation and to grasp their wider relations--whether he is able to generalize the concrete

The following responses e demonstrate sufficiently their inability to cooner_ ”Teaches you to look where you are going” ”Not to help any one who is stuck in the mud” ”Not to whip oxen” ”Teaches that Hercules wasto pry the wheels out”

_The Fox and the Crow_ ”Not to sing when eating” ”To keep away fro” ”Not to be stingy” ”Not to listen to evil” ”The fox iser than the crow” ”Not to be selfish with food” ”Not to do two things at once” ”To hang on to what you've got”

_The Farmer and the Stork_ ”Teaches the stork to look where he steps” ”Not to be cruel like the farmer” ”Not to tell lies”

”Not to butt into other people's things” ”To be kind to birds”

”Teaches us how to get rid of troubleso are the responses of an 18-year-old delinquent (intelligence level 10 years) to the five fables:--

_Maid and Eggs_ ”She was thinking about getting the dress and spilled the oner_ ”He wanted to help the oxen out”

_Fox and Crow_ ”Guess that's where the fox got his na”

_Farmer and Stork_ ”Try and help the stork out of the field”

_Miller, Son, and Donkey_ ”They was all big fools and mean to the donkey”

One does not require very profound psychological insight to see that a person of this degree of co eneralize a moral situation is not due to lack of instruction, but is inherent in the nature of his mental processes, all of which have the infantile quality of average 9- or 10-year intelligence Well-instructed normal children of 10 years ordinarily succeed no better The ability to draw the correct lesson from a social situation is little developed below the mental level of 12 or 13 years

The test is also valuable because it throws light on the subject's ability to appreciate the finer shades ofThe mentally retarded often show marked inferiority in this respect They sense, perhaps, in a general way the trend of the story, but they fail to comprehend et what is left for the reader to infer, because they are insensible to the thought fringes It is these which give e the objects and activities described, but taken in the rough such iets him nowhere

Finally, the test is al The subject who has been given a nu with twenty-five or thirty other tests can as a rule give only hazy and inaccurate testih Moreover, we have found that, even if a subject has previously heard a fable, that fact does nota correct interpretation If the situation depicted in the fable is beyond the subject's power of comprehension even explicit instruction has little effect upon the quality of the response

Incidentally, this observation raises the question whether the use of proverbs, mottoes, fables, poetry, etc, in the moral instruction of children may not often be futile because the material is not fitted to the child's power of comprehension Much of the school's instruction in history and literature has a moral purpose, but there is reason to suspect that in this field schools often ” exercises