Evening star., 1938-02-17
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The "mind" 1t Is that a
human being has which reasons and
detects associations between things
keeps on growing into adult life at an
almost undiminished rate.
It is still growing when the body has
reached it's full size, and there is little
apparent relationship between the two
growths.
Such are some of the conclusions Of
DR.. Frank N Freeman of the University
of Chicago, Just published by the Child
Development Committee Of the National
Research Council. after the most far
reaching study yet made Of the progress
of intelligence.
It started back in 1921. Just then
Intelligence tests" were very much in
fashion. They had been given to most
of the soldiers in the World War. Su-
perf1cial analysis and unfortunate
phraseology already were leading to some
very bad results-such as pseudo
scientific support for the dangerous vani-
ties Of assumed race and class superiori-
ties. For example. some psychologists
by misinterpretation Of the data an
nounced the finding that the "nordic"
races were superior in intelligence to
those of Southern Europe, that white
men were vastly more intelligent than
Indians, etc. They ignored completely
the historical perspective. Afterward
these conclusions were repudiated, but
even yet few have heard about the
populations, except experts.
One mplication-probably not inten-
tional but due to bad phraseology-was
that the average American was quite
stupid. He or she had the intelligence
of 14-year-old child" Newspaper re-
porters, for example, actually were told
to write down to the 14-year level" The
actual basis for such q statement was
this:
Certain sets Of questions of increasing
difficulty were asked of various age
groups. These questions were supposed
to measure not the extent Of a persons
information on any particular subject,
like a history examination, but rather
ones actual ability at various mental
processes putting things
together, etc. It was found that 7-year-
olds answered more questions than
6-year-olds, on the average, and that
8-year-olds did better than 7-year-olds.
Thus it went up to about IS. II 7-year-
old did as well as the average 8-year-old
he was credited with q mental age Of
8. If q 9-year-old did only Is well
as the average 6-year -old he was credited
with mental age Of 8. II the average Of
the soldiers in the American Army dur
ing the war was no better than the aver
age established for 14-year -olds then
their average mental age was H. To
assume from that that they were stupid
was as sensible as it would be to deduce
that John Jones. aged ~, Is q physical
weakling because he cannot lift heavier
weight than "the average boy Of 49,"
These age standards were based on
averages. The University Of Chicago
group started out on . different basis,
seeking to determine how the intelh-
gence of an individual, rather than Of q
population at large, progressed from
year to year. They selected $50 children
in the university's experimental school.
OF these 219 were boys and $50 girls.
approximately lis were of superior in
telligence, and none was below average
They devised tests such as completion
Of sentences, detection Of analogies be-
tween words, numbers and drawings.
and extent Of vocabulary. The tests were
30 arranged that person presumably
would answer more and more questions
- the inteMeonce incEsased. Just - .