Creator of intelligence tests: Who is Alfred Binet?

(1857-1911) French psychologist. He is the creator of intelligence tests and made important contributions to the assessment of individual differences. He was born on May 4, 1857, in Nice. He died in Paris on 8 October 1911. His father was a doctor and his mother was a painter. He took his interest in observing concrete phenomena from the medical tradition in his family, and his interest in art from his mother. He was interested in the psychological aspects of painting and literature at some point in his life, and he also wrote some successful theater plays. He attended high school in Nice and Paris, studied law, and at the age of twenty he passed the first examination for a doctorate in law. Around this time he began to take an interest in psychology and never worked as a lawyer. He started to study psychology on his own, as he could make a living from his family income.

Binet's interest in psychology began in 1877 when he met T Ribot, one of the important philosophers of the day. The 1870s-1880s were the years when the foundations of scientific psychology were laid in France. Hippolyte Taine, one of the pioneers of this movement, took the first steps with his work called Intelligence in 1870 and stated that, unlike the German psychologist Wundt, cognitive functions cannot be separated from all psychological functions. Ribot, following in the footsteps of Teine, argued that psychology should get rid of the influence of philosophy, as in England and Germany, and take the natural sciences as an example. Binet became more interested in psychology as a result of Ribot's suggestion and wrote his first paper on experimental psychology in 1880.

In those years, the most intensive research studies on psychology and psychiatry in France were carried out at the Salpetriere Hospital under the management of the famous psychiatrist Charcot. Binet joined Charcot's circle in 1882 and began working on psychopathology. Charcot founded the first Society for Physiological Psychology in 1885, and the first international Congress of Psychology was held under his presidency in 1889.

It was in this environment that Binet, with his colleague Fere, began to work and publish, especially on hypnosis and animal magnetism. During this period, La psychologie du raisonnement (“The Psychology of Reasoning”), together with Fere, published such books as Animal Magnetism (“Animal Magnetism”), On Double Consciousness (“Double Consciousness”), Les Alterations de la Personalite (“Personality Changes”). While this period was fruitful, it did not yield fully successful results for Binet. In the excitement of developing new concepts, young Binet made some experiments that did not comply with scientific rules and published their results in the books listed above. In particular, he fell into scientific error in the claim that magnets have effects on the behavior and emotions of individuals.

This view was previously put forward by his teacher Charcot. As a result of Delboeuf's criticisms, the experienced researcher admitted his mistake on this issue. These publications, which are the products of Binet's youth, still occupy an important place among the works of the period. Binet later accused Charcot of turning a blind eye to his students' mistakes.

While working at Salpetriere, Binet began studying biology in the laboratory of his father-in-law, Ballrani, a professor of histology. As a result of these studies, he received his doctorate in natural sciences at the age of thirty-seven.

Ribot was appointed as the head of the experimental psychology chair established at the Sorbonne in 1889, and the physiologist Beaunis was appointed as the head of the physiological psychology laboratory. Beaunis invited Binet to work together, and Binet left Salpetriere in 1891 to move to the Sorbonne. After Beaunis' retirement in 1895, he was appointed director of the laboratory and held this position until his death. In the same year, he began publishing the journal L'Annee Psychologique ("The Yearbook of Psychology").

He compiled his works, which laid the foundations of the concept of the "age of intelligence", one of his most important discoveries, in his book Etüde experimentale de l'intelligence ("Experimental Study of Intelligence") in 1903.

As a result of his observations on Binet's children, he started to see intelligence as a feature that is reflected in all behaviors of the individual and argued that this feature, which is found even in young children, can be measured through questions that require complex evaluations. Continuing his studies in this direction, Binet also pioneered Piaget by arguing that children's use of logic develops gradually.

In an article published with his colleague Henri in 1896, Binet mentioned a project to develop a series of tests to evaluate ten different personal functions but did not conclude it. According to Binet, the most important problem in this regard is that cognitive functions such as memory, comprehension, and attention cannot be measured one by one; each individual reflects the same basic holistic, cognitive process. Although the result was unsuccessful, these studies between 1896 and 1904 were preparatory stages for Binet's later discovery.

The turning point in Binet's development was the intelligence test he developed in 1905. Binet started to conceptualize intelligence not as a process consisting of individual abilities, but as a general ability that is reflected in the entire behavior of the individual but has not yet been successful in developing a scale that evaluates this general ability. He needed some other clues to make this final breakthrough and realize his breakthrough in the world of psychology.

In those years, it was discussed in Paris that mentally retarded children, who could not benefit from the educational opportunities offered by the state, should receive an appropriate education in separate classes. According to a proposal submitted to the Ministry of Education in 1904 by the association's commission to examine the mentally retarded, a child should undergo a medical evaluation before being excluded from education, special education classes should be opened for those who are found to be educable retarded, and such an example class should be in a school close to Salpetriere. should have been started. This proposal of the association to the ministry was received positively, and Binet was appointed to the ministry's commission to develop an objective method of measuring retardation.

The test published by Binet and Simon in 1905 was a preliminary study, and a method for obtaining a total score had not yet been specified. In the test developed in 1908, the concept of the "intelligence age" was used for the first time. The questions that children of all ages between 3 and 12 were expected to answer correctly were determined. The questions, the number of which was increased to 58, were clustered according to the answers expected from each age group. Accordingly, the evaluator could determine the age matching the set of questions that a child answered correctly as the intellectual age of that child. This test became the first objective and applicable intelligence assessment tool in the world. Binet published an even more advanced version of the test in 1911.

In addition to making a great contribution to the science of psychology with the intelligence test he developed, Binet also played an important role in the fields of biometrics and psychometrics.

As a result, Binet has done a wide variety of original studies on individual differences, developed a groundbreaking new test in the world of psychology, and contributed to the recognition of psychology as a science with his publications.