INTELLIGENCE.

Shannon News, 28 August 1923, Page 4

INTELLIGENCE.

ITS SCIENTIFIC MEASUREMENT. Mr. D W Low was the speaker at the Lunch Club yesterday, taking as his subject, “ The Scientific Measurement of Intelligence.'* Mr. A. E. Mander occupied the chair. “ There was a time,” said Mr. Low, “ When it was thought that science Could net venture into the domain of the mind, but great steps have been made since then.” What, he asked, was intelligence ? He would suggest that it was the power to acquire new facts—the ability to adapt oneself to new conditions, Ther© were people who had abnormal memories. Some needed but to give a long sum a glance and then tell you the answer. Yet these people, when confronted with new conditions, with something other than, a “tall-tot” were found to be mentally deficient. Intelligence, then, was the ability to conform to new situations. How, then, was intelligence measured? asked th© speaker. By measurement of the brain it was thought, until Professor Pearson upset this theory, and proved that physiognomy was no true guide to intelligence. No longer could a genius be picked out because of the size of his head, nor a criminal by the vastness of his ears. Ti:«. speaker • went on to deal with various instruments that had, of recent years, been employed for the purpose of gauging a person's intelligence, such as that machine which registered fatigue of the mind, and the instrument that was applied to the back of the hand to test the sensitiveness of the skin, and, incidentally, it waß imagined, the measure of intelligence. Experiments among the aboriginals of Australia exploded this .idea, however, it being found that these uncultured black men had more sensitive skins than their civilised brothers.

Intelligence testing, stated Mr Low, was first introduced by two French psychologists, in the year .1905, when they commenced experimenting among school children An English psychologist then started investigating, and these tests of intelligence were now used on thousands of children in English schools, and tens of thousands in American schools, in which latter it had become almost an exact science. “If we would measure intelligence we must have a standard,"" continued Mr Low, “and the standard that is now used is that of age. They say that ao-And-so has the intelligence Of an eight-year-old boy, or .so-and-so has the intelligence of a twelve-year-;old girl. One scientist has stated that the average intelligence of the people of America is that of a boy of thirteen years—-and English scientists state that that is over estimated!” The in- • yestigators made a simple test, that of repetition of figures, with a second elapsing between each. A two-year-old child could memorise no more than two, while a genius managed ten. When about the fourth figure was spoken by th© teacher, the first figure disappeared, and so on. • Another test was the definition of articles. A child of two or three years would define a football with the Words “kick it.” A child of nine years would say, “It is a thing made of leather, and you kick showing th© descriptive ability that went with advanced intelligence. The latter boy described the article, the former boy gave its use. In the case of a picture, a young child would merely pick out things and objects and name them, while an older child would build up a story about the thing* it saw in the picture. “There is a great deal of waste going on to-day through peg* being put into square holes. Most psychologists say that the intelligence •does not develop any more after the age of 16 years. One may gain more knowledge, but the, limits of intelligence are settled before th©, seventeenth year. And this gives us doubts As to whether our system of education is on right lines."