Procedure. Show the pairs in order from top to bottom. Say: “Which of these two pictures is the prettiest?” Use both the comparative and the superlative forms of the adjective. Do not use the question, “Which face is the uglier (ugliest)?” unless there is some difficulty in getting the child to respond. It is not permitted, in case of an incorrect response, to give that part of the test again and to allow the child a chance to correct his answer; or, in case this is done, we must consider only the original response in scoring.
Scoring. The test is passed only if all three comparisons are made correctly. Any marked uncertainty is failure. Sometimes the child laughingly designates the ugly picture as the prettier, yet shows by his amused expression that he is probably conscious of its peculiarity or absurdity. In such cases “pretty” seems to be given the meaning of “funny” or “amusing.” Nevertheless, we score this response as failure, since it betokens a rather infantile tolerance of ugliness.
Remarks. From the psychological point of view this is a most interesting test. One might suppose that æsthetic judgment would be relatively independent of intelligence. Certainly no one could have known in advance of experience that intellectual retardation would reveal itself in weakness of the æsthetic sense about as unmistakably as in memory, practical judgment, or the comprehension of language. But such is the case. The development of the æsthetic sense parallels general mental growth rather closely. The imbecile of 4-year intelligence, even though he may have lived forty years, has no more chance of passing this test than any other test in year V. It would be profitable to devise and standardize a set of pictures of the same general type which would measure a less primitive stage of æsthetic development.
The present test was located by Binet in year VI and has been retained in that year in other revisions; but three separate Stanford investigations, as well as the statistics of Winch, Dumville, Brigham, Rowe, and Dougherty, warrant its location in year V.
V, 4. Giving definitions in terms of use
Procedure. Use the words: Chair, horse, fork, doll, pencil, and table. Say: “You have seen a chair. You know what a chair is. Tell me, what is a chair?” And so on with the other words, always in the order in which they are named above.
Occasionally there is difficulty in getting a response, which is sometimes due merely to the child’s unwillingness to express his thoughts in sentences. The earlier tests require only words and phrases. In other cases silence is due to the rather indefinite form of the question. The child could answer, but is not quite sure what is expected of him. Whatever the cause, a little tactful urging is nearly always sufficient to bring a response. In this test we have not found the difficulty of overcoming silence nearly as great as others have stated it to be. In consecutive tests of 150 5- and 6-year-old children we encountered unbreakable silence with 8 words out of the total 900 (150 × 6). This is less than 1 per cent. But tactful encouragement is sometimes necessary, and it is best to take the precaution of not giving the test until rapport has been well established.
The urging should take the following form: “I’m sure you know what a ... is. You have seen a .... Now, tell me, what is a ... ?” That is, we merely repeat the question with a word of encouragement and in a coaxing tone of voice. It would not at all do to introduce other questions, like, “What does a ... look like?” or, “What is a ... for?” “What do people do with a ... ?”
Sometimes, instead of attempting a definition (of doll, for example), the child begins to talk in a more or less irrelevant way, as “I have a great big doll. Auntie gave it to me for Christmas,” etc. In such cases we repeat the question and say, “Yes, but tell me; what is a doll?” This is usually sufficient to bring the little chatter-box back to the task.
Unless it is absolutely necessary to give the child lavish encouragement, it is best to withhold approval or disapproval until the test has been finished. If the first response is a poor one and we pronounce it “fine” or “very good,” we tempt the child to persist in his low-grade type of definition. By withholding comment until the last word has been defined, we give greater play to spontaneity and initiative.