Chapter 6: Psychologists as Testers; Applying Psychology, Ordering Society

complementarity hypothesis

women and men differed in the very nature of their mental traits and capacities; they display complementary but not directly comparable psychological and intellectual strengths

variablity hypothesis

the male of the species always demonstrates more variability than the female across both physical and psychological traits and therefor drives evolutionary progress

indivudual psychology

research by Binet and Henri in which they sought to develop a set of tests of psychological processes that could provide a complete picture of a person’s abilities

Committee on the Psychological Examination Recruits

led by Robert Yerkes; tested the intelligence of army inductees to make recommendations for their placement within the military

Army Alpha

an intelligence test for those who could speak, read, and write English

Army Beta

an intelligence test for those who were illiterate

Committee on Classification of Personnel

led by various psychologists and served as civilian consultants to the army; evaluated trade aptitudes among army personnel and sorted recruits into the specialized tasks they were best suited for

Robert Sessions Woodworth (1869-1962)

developed a written form of the questions routinely used by psychiatrists to assess emotional stability (Woodworth Personal Data Sheet)

psychotechnics

refers to the practice of studying individual differences for “human management purposes”