Remarks. The purpose of the test in this year is to find out whether the sight of a familiar object in a picture provokes recognition and calls up the appropriate name.[47] The average child of 3 or 4 years is in what Binet calls “the identification stage”; that is, familiar objects in a picture will be identified but not described, their relations to one another will not be grasped.
In giving the test, always present the pictures in the same order, first Dutch Home, then River Scene, then Post-Office. The order of presentation will no doubt seem to the uninitiated too trivial a matter to insist upon, but a little experience teaches one that an apparently insignificant change in the procedure may exert a considerable influence upon the response. Some pictures tend more strongly than others to provoke a particular type of response. Some lend themselves especially to enumeration, others to description, others to interpretation. The pictures used in the Stanford revision have been selected from a number which have been tried because they are more uniform in this respect than most others in use. However, they are not without their differences, picture b, for example, tending more than the others to provoke description.
There seems to be no disagreement as to the proper location of this test.
III, 4. Giving sex
Procedure. If the subject is a boy, the formula is: “Are you a little boy or a little girl?” If a girl, “Are you a little girl or a little boy?” This variation in the formula is necessary because of the tendency in young children to repeat mechanically the last word of anything that is said to them. If there is no response, say: “Are you a little girl?” (if a boy); or, “Are you a little boy?” (if a girl). If the answer to the last question is “no” (or a shake of the head), we then say: “Well, what are you? Are you a little boy or a little girl?” (or vice versa).
Scoring. The response is satisfactory if it indicates that the child has really made the discrimination, but we must be cautious about accepting any other response than the direct answer, “A little girl,” or, “A little boy.” “Yes” and “no” in response to the second question must be carefully checked up.
Remarks. Binet and Goddard say that 3-year-olds cannot pass this test and that 4-year-olds almost never fail. We can accept the last part of this statement, but not the first part. Nearly all of our 3-year-old subjects succeed with it.
The test probably has nothing to do with sex consciousness, as such. Success in it would seem to depend on the ability to discriminate between familiar class names which are in a certain degree related.
III, 5. Giving the family name
Procedure. The child is asked, “What is your name?” If the answer, as often happens, includes only the first name (Walter, for example), say: “Yes, but what is your other name? Walter what?” If the child is silent, or if he only repeats the first name, say: “Is your name Walter ... ?” (giving a fictitious name, as Jones, Smith, etc.). This question nearly always brings the correct answer if it is known.