The Stanford revision and extension

  1. [Year III]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Points to parts of body. (3 to 4.)
    2. Nose; eyes; mouth; hair.
    3. Names familiar objects. (3 to 5.)
    4. Key, penny, closed knife, watch, pencil.
    5. Pictures, enumeration or better. (At least 3 objects enumerated in one picture.)
    6. (a) Dutch Home; (b) River Scene; (c) Post-Office.
    7. Gives sex.
    8. Gives last name.
    9. Repeats 6 to 7 syllables. (1 to 3.)
    10. Al. Repeats 3 digits. (1 success in 3 trials. Order correct.)
  2. [Year IV]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Compares lines. (3 trials, no error.)
    2. Discrimination of forms. (Kuhlmann.) (Not over 3 errors.)
    3. Counts 4 pennies. (No error.)
    4. Copies square. (Pencil. 1 to 3.)
    5. Comprehension, 1st degree. (2 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    6. “What must you do”: “When you are sleepy?” “Cold?” “Hungry?”
    7. Repeats 4 digits. (1 to 3. Order correct.) (Stanford addition.)
    8. Al. Repeats 12 to 13 syllables. (1 to 3 absolutely correct, or 2 with 1 error each.)
  3. [Year V]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Comparison of weights. (2 to 3.)
    2. 3–15; 15–3; 3–15.
    3. Colors. (No error.)
    4. Red; yellow; blue; green.
    5. Æsthetic comparison. (No error.)
    6. Definitions, use or better. (4 to 6.)
    7. Chair; horse; fork; doll; pencil; table.
    8. Patience, or divided rectangle. (2 to 3 trials. 1 minute each.)
    9. Three commissions. (No error. Order correct.)
    10. Al. Age.
  4. [Year VI]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Right and left. (No error.)
    2. Right hand; left ear; right eye.
    3. Mutilated pictures. (3 to 4 correct.)
    4. Counts 13 pennies. (1 to 2 trials, without error.)
      1. “If it is raining when you start to school?”
      2. “If you find that your house is on fire?”
      3. “If you are going some place and miss your car?”
    5. Comprehension, 2d degree. (2 to 3.) “What’s the thing for you to do”:
    6. Coins. (3 to 4.)
    7. Nickel; penny; quarter; dime.
    8. Repeats 16 to 18 syllables. (1 to 3 absolutely correct, or 2 with 1 error each.)
    9. Al. Morning or afternoon.
  5. [Year VII]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Fingers. (No error.) Right; left; both.
    2. Pictures, description or better. (Over half of performance description:) Dutch Home; River Scene; Post-Office.
    3. Repeats 5 digits. (1 to 3. Order correct.)
    4. Ties bow-knot. (Model shown. 1 minute.) (Stanford addition.)
    5. Gives differences. (2 to 3.)
    6. Fly and butterfly; stone and egg; wood and glass.
    7. Copies diamond. (Pen. 2 to 3.)
    8. Al. 1. Names days of week. (Order correct. 2 to 3 checks correct.)
    9. Al. 2. Repeats 3 digits backwards. (1 to 3.)
  6. [Year VIII]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Ball and field. (Inferior plan or better.) (Stanford addition.)
    2. Counts 20 to 1. (40 seconds. 1 error allowed.)
    3. Comprehension, 3d degree. (2 to 3.) “What’s the thing for you to do”:
      1. “When you have broken something which belongs to some one else?”
      2. “When you are on your way to school and notice that you are in danger of being tardy?”
      3. “If a playmate hits you without meaning to do it?”
    4. Gives similarities, two things. (2 to 4.) (Stanford addition.)
    5. Wood and coal; apple and peach; iron and silver; ship and automobile.
    6. Definitions superior to use. (2 to 4.)
    7. Balloon; tiger; football; soldier.
    8. Vocabulary, 20 words. (Stanford addition. For list of words used, see record booklet.)
    9. Al. 1. First six coins. (No error.)
    10. Al. 2. Dictation. (“See the little boy.” Easily legible. Pen. 1 minute.)
  7. [Year IX]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Date. (Allow error of 3 days in c, no error in a, b, or d.)
      1. day of week;
      2. month;
      3. day of month;
      4. year.
    2. Weights. (3, 6, 9, 12, 15. Procedure not illustrated. 2 to 3.)
    3. Makes change. (2 to 3. No coins, paper, or pencil.)
    4. 10 − 4; 15 − 12; 25 − 4.
    5. Repeats 4 digits backwards. (1 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    6. Three words. (2 to 3. Oral. 1 sentence or not over 2 coördinate clauses.)
    7. Boy, river, ball; work, money, men; desert, rivers, lakes.
    8. Rhymes. (3 rhymes for two of three words. 1 minute for each part.)
    9. Day; mill; spring.
    10. Al. 1. Months. (15 seconds and 1 error in naming. 2 checks of 3 correct.)
    11. Al. 2. Stamps, gives total value. (Second trial if individual values are known.)
  8. [Year X]. (6 tests, 2 months each.)
    1. Vocabulary, 30 words. (Stanford addition.)
    2. Absurdities. (4 to 5. Warn. Spontaneous correction allowed.) (Four of Binet’s, one Stanford.)
    3. Designs. (1 correct, 1 half correct. Expose 10 seconds.)
    4. Reading and report. (8 memories. 35 seconds and 2 mistakes in reading.) (Binet’s selection.)
    5. Comprehension, 4th degree. (2 to 3. Question may be repeated.)
      1. “What ought you to say when some one asks your opinion about a person you don’t know very well?”
      2. “What ought you to do before undertaking (beginning) something very important?”
      3. “Why should we judge a person more by his actions than by his words?”
    6. Names 60 words. (Illustrate with clouds, dog, chair, happy.)
    7. Al. 1. Repeats 6 digits. (1 to 2. Order correct.) (Stanford addition.)
    8. Al. 2. Repeats 20 to 22 syllables. (1 to 3 correct, or 2 with 1 error each.)
    9. Al. 3. Form board. (Healy-Fernald Puzzle A. 3 times in 5 minutes.)
  9. [Year XII]. (8 tests, 3 months each.)
    1. Vocabulary, 40 words. (Stanford addition.)
    2. Abstract words. (3 to 5.)
    3. Pity; revenge; charity; envy; justice.
    4. Ball and field. (Superior plan.) (Stanford addition.)
    5. Dissected sentences. (2 to 3. 1 minute each.)
    6. Fables. (Score 4; i.e., two correct or the equivalent in half credits.) (Stanford addition.)
    7. Hercules and Wagoner; Maid and Eggs; Fox and Crow; Farmer and Stork; Miller, Son, and Donkey.
    8. Repeats 5 digits backwards. (1 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    9. Pictures, interpretation. (3 to 4. “Explain this picture.”)
    10. Dutch Home; River Scene; Post-Office; Colonial Home.
    11. Gives similarities, three things. (3 to 5.) (Stanford addition.)
    12. Snake, cow, sparrow; book, teacher, newspaper; wool, cotton, leather; knife-blade, penny, piece of wire; rose, potato, tree.
  10. [Year XIV]. (6 tests, 4 months each.)
    1. Vocabulary, 50 words. (Stanford addition.)
    2. Induction test. (Gets rule by 6th folding.) (Stanford addition.)
    3. President and king. (Power; accession; tenure. 2 to 3.)
    4. Problems of fact. (2 to 3.) (Binet’s two and one Stanford addition.)
    5. Arithmetical reasoning. (1 minute each. 2 to 3.) (Adapted from Bonser.)
    6. Clock. (2 to 3. Error must not exceed 3 or 4 minutes.)
    7. 6.22. 8.10. 2.46.
    8. Al. Repeats 7 digits. (1 to 2. Order correct.)
  11. “[Average Adult].” (6 tests, 5 months each.)
    1. Vocabulary, 65 words. (Stanford addition.)
    2. Interpretation of fables. (Score 8.) (Stanford addition.)
    3. Difference between abstract words. (3 real contrasts out of 4.)
    4. Laziness and idleness; evolution and revolution; poverty and misery; character and reputation.
    5. Problem of the enclosed boxes. (3 to 4.) (Stanford addition.)
    6. Repeats 6 digits backwards. (1 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    7. Code, writes “Come quickly.” (2 errors. Omission of dot counts half error. Illustrate with “war” and “spy.”) (From Healy and Fernald.)
    8. Al. 1. Repeats 28 syllables. (1 to 2 absolutely correct.)
    9. Al. 2. Comprehension of physical relations. (2 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    10. Path of cannon ball; weight of fish in water; hitting distant mark.
  12. “[Superior Adult].” (6 tests, 6 months each.)
    1. Vocabulary, 75 words. (Stanford addition.)
    2. Binet’s paper-cutting test. (Draws, folds, and locates holes.)
    3. Repeats 8 digits. (1 to 3. Order correct.) (Stanford addition.)
    4. Repeats thought of passage heard. (1 to 2.) (Binet’s and Wissler’s selections adapted.)
    5. Repeats 7 digits backwards. (1 to 3.) (Stanford addition.)
    6. Ingenuity test. (2 to 3. 5 minutes each.) (Stanford addition.)

Summary of changes.

A comparison of the above list with either the Binet 1908 or 1911 series will reveal many changes. On the whole, it differs somewhat more from the Binet 1911 scale than from that of 1908. Thus, of the 49 tests below the “adult” group in the 1911 scale, 2 are eliminated and 29 are relocated. Of these, 25 are moved downward and 4 upward. The shifts are as follows:—

Down 1 year, 18
Down 2 years, 4
Down 3 years, 2
Down 6 years, 1
Up1 year,3
Up2 years,1

Of the adult group in Binet’s 1911 series 1 is eliminated, 2 are moved up to “superior adult,” and 1 is moved up to 14. Accordingly, of Binet’s entire 54 tests, we have eliminated 3 and relocated 32, leaving only 19 in the positions assigned them by Binet. The 3 eliminated are: repeating 2 digits, resisting suggestion, and “reversed triangle.”

The revision is really more extensive than the above figures would suggest, since minor changes have been made in the scoring of a great many tests in order to make them fit better the locations assigned them. Throughout the scale the procedure and scoring have been worked over and made more definite with the idea of promoting uniformity. This phase of the revision is perhaps more important than the mere relocation of tests. Also, the addition of numerous tests in the upper ranges of the scale affects very considerably the mental ages above the level of 10 or 11 years.

Effects of the revision on the mental ages secured.

The most important effect of the revision is to reduce the mental ages secured in the lower ranges of the scale, and to raise considerably the mental ages above 10 or 11 years. This difference also obtains, though to a somewhat smaller extent, between the Stanford revision and those of Goddard and Kuhlmann.

For example, of 104 adult individuals testing by the Stanford revision between 12 and 14 years, and who were therefore somewhat above the level of feeble-mindedness as that term is usually defined, 50 per cent tested below 12 years by the Goddard revision. That the dull and border-line adults are so much more readily distinguished from the feeble-minded by the Stanford revision than by other Binet series is due as much to the addition of tests in the upper groups as to the relocation of existing tests.