Remarks. The ball-and-field problem may be called a test of practical judgment. Unlike a majority of the other tests, it gives the subject a chance to show how well he can meet the demands of a real, rather than an imagined, situation. Tests like this, involving practical adjustments, are valuable in rounding out the scale, which, as left by Binet, placed rather excessive emphasis on abstract reasoning and the comprehension of language. The test requires little time and always arouses the child’s interest.
Our analysis of the responses of nearly 1500 subjects shows that improvement with increasing mental age is steady and fairly rapid. Occasionally, however, one meets a high-grade performance with children of 6 or 7 years, and a low-grade performance with adults of average intelligence. Like all the other tests of the scale, it is unreliable when used alone.
VIII, 2. Counting backwards from 20 to 1
Procedure. Say to the child: “You can count backwards, can you not? I want you to count backwards for me from 20 to 1. Go ahead.” In the great majority of cases this is sufficient; the child comprehends the task and begins. If he does not comprehend, and is silent, or starts in, perhaps, to count forwards from 1 or 20, say: “No; I want you to count backwards from 20 to 1, like this: 20–19–18, and clear on down to 1. Now, go ahead.”
Insist upon the child trying it even though he asserts he cannot do it. In many such cases an effort is crowned with success. Say nothing about hurrying, as this confuses some subjects. Prompting is not permissible.
Scoring. The test is passed if the child counts from 20 to 1 in not over forty seconds and with not more than a single error (one omission or one transposition). Errors which the child spontaneously corrects are not counted as errors.
Remarks. The statistics on this test agree remarkably well. It is plainly too easy for year IX, and no one has found it easy enough for year VII. The main lack of uniformity has been in the adherence to a time limit. Binet required that the task be completed in twenty seconds, and Goddard and most others adhere rather strictly to this rule. Kuhlmann, however, allows thirty seconds if there is no error and twenty seconds if one error is committed. We agree with Bobertag that owing to the nature of this test we should not be pedantic about the time. While a majority of children who are able to count backwards do the task in twenty seconds, there are some intelligent but deliberate subjects who require as much as thirty-five or forty seconds. If the counting is done with assurance and without stumbling, there is no reason why we should not allow even forty seconds. Beyond this, however, our generosity should not go, because of the chance it would give for the use of special devices such as counting forwards each time to the next number wanted.
It may be said that counting backwards is a test of schooling, and to a certain extent this is true. It is reasonable to suppose that special training would enable the child to pass the test a little earlier than he would otherwise be able to do, though it is doubtful whether many children below 7 years of age have had enough of such training to influence the performance very materially. On the other hand, when the child has reached an intelligence level of 8 or at most 9 years, he is ordinarily able to count from 20 to 1 whether he has ever tried it before or not.
What psychological factors are involved in this test? It presupposes, in the first place, the ability to count from 1 to 20. But this alone does not guarantee success in counting backwards. Something more is required than a mere rote memory for the number names in their order from 1 up to 20. The quantitative relationships of the numbers must also be apprehended if the task is to be performed smoothly without a great deal of special training. In addition to being reasonably secure in his knowledge of the number relationships involved, the child must be able to give sustained attention until the task is completed. His mental processes must be dominated by the guiding idea, “count backwards.” Associations which do not harmonize with this aim, or which fail to further it, must be inhibited. Even momentary relaxation of attention means a loss of directive force in the guiding idea and the dominance of better known associations which may be suggested by the task, but are out of harmony with it. Thus, if a child momentarily loses sight of the end after counting backwards successfully from 20 to 14, he is likely to be overpowered by the law of habit and begin counting forwards, 14–15–16–17, etc. We may regard the test, therefore, as a test of attention, or prolonged thought control. The ability to exercise unbroken vigilance for a period of twenty or thirty seconds is rarely found below the level of 7- or 8-year intelligence.