Alfred Binet
Alfred Binet, born on July 11, 1857, in Nice, France, is best known as a pioneer in the field of intelligence testing. Despite lacking formal training in psychology, Binet's interest in the subject grew after he explored psychological literature, eventually leading him to work at Salpêtrière Hospital. His significant contributions began when he observed the differences in intellectual performance between his two daughters, which informed his understanding of intelligence assessment. In 1905, he, along with his assistant Théodore Simon, developed the Binet-Simon Scale, the first valid test of intellectual ability, designed to identify children in need of special educational support.
This scale utilized a series of increasingly difficult tasks to assess a child's intellectual development and was instrumental in establishing the concepts of mental age and intelligence quotient (IQ). Binet's work not only provided a practical tool for educators but also challenged the notion that intelligence was fixed, emphasizing the potential for educational enhancement. Although his legacy is significant, it is also marked by controversy regarding the potential discriminatory implications of his testing methods. Binet passed away on October 18, 1911, but his foundational contributions continue to influence the understanding of intelligence in contemporary psychology.
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Subject Terms
Alfred Binet
- Date of birth: July 11, 1857
- Place of birth: Nice, France
- Date of death: October 18, 1911
- Place of death: Paris, France
TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Intelligence and intelligence testing
Binet developed the first valid test of intellectual ability.
Life
Alfred Binet is renowned for his contributions to intelligence testing, even though he had no formal education in psychology. After studying law and medicine, Binet gravitated to the discipline when he began reading psychological articles at Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. He worked for six years at Salpêtrière Hospital and published papers on a variety of topics, such as consciousness and hypnosis. However, he left Salpêtrière in near disgrace after his reports that magnetism could produce physical effects on hypnotized patients were shown to be the result of suggestion.
Without a professional position, Binet studied his two young daughters for nearly a year. He published papers highlighting age-related performance differences between the girls. These observations, similar to the later ones made by Jean Piaget, laid the foundation for Binet’s notions concerning intelligence assessment.
In 1903, the French Ministry of Public Instruction appointed Binet to a committee that was tasked with developing a method to distinguish children ready for first-grade instruction from their subnormal age mates who needed special classes. Working with his assistant, Théodore Simon, Binet developed a series of tasks that could be used to assess a child’s intellectual development. Binet reasoned that the age at which a child can perform a task could be used to measure intelligence. For example, a four-year-old child who could not do things typically accomplished by three-year-olds demonstrated subnormal intellectual development. In 1905, the Binet-Simon Scale incorporated thirty tasks or tests arranged in increasing order of difficulty.
Binet tested dozens of children to establish age norms for his tests. A task that could be performed by most children of a given age but not by those a year younger was placed at the older age level. In 1908, Binet published a longer, revised scale arranging tests from age three to thirteen years based on his data collection. Binet’s scale proved useful for the French Ministry of Public Instruction, and he was well-received in other countries.
Other psychologists later introduced the concepts of mental age and intelligence quotient (IQ). Mental age was determined by test performance. For example, a child correctly answering all the age-four items and missing all the age-five items would have a mental age of 4.0 years. IQ was computed by dividing the mental age by chronological age and multiplying this ratio by one hundred.
Binet’s unexpected death from a stroke in 1911 meant he did not live to see intellectual prowess quantified in this way. Still, Binet’s legacy in the field of psychology is vast. With Simon, he is credited with developing the first practical intelligence test, which laid the groundwork for intelligence testing in the twenty-first century. Binet’s introduction of the concept of mental age and his belief that intelligence could be enhanced through education challenged the prevailing idea that intelligence was a fixed concept. He undoubtedly made significant contributions to experiential psychology, though his work is not without controversy. Binet has been accused of using discriminatory practices in his testing that revealed his support of inherent social inequities prevalent in the society contemporary to his work.
Bibliography
Cherry, Kendra. "Alfred Binet and the Binet-Simon Test of Intelligence." Verywell Mind, 31 Oct. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/alfred-binet-biography-2795503. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
Fancher, Raymond E. "Alfred Binet, General Psychologist." Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology. Edited by Gregory A. Kimble and Michael Wertheimer. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1998.
Hothersall, David. History of Psychology. 4th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Nicolas, Serge, et al. "Sick? Or Slow? On the Origins of Intelligence as a Psychological Object." Intelligence, vol. 41, no. 5, 2013, pp. 699–711.
"A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Binet Pioneers Intelligence Testing." PBS, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dh05te.html. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
Wolf, Theta H. Alfred Binet. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1973.