MEASURING INTELLIGENCE

Evening Star, Issue 23526, 15 March 1940, Page 9

MEASURING INTELLIGENCE

SOCIAL VALUE TO COMMUNITY VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE ASSOCIATION MEETS A talk on the measurement of human traits given by Mr H. Boyes occupied most of the time of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association last night. There was a good attendance at the meeting, at which Mr ,J. L. Salmond presided. Before the arrival of the chief speaker, the guidance officers, Mr T. Conly .and Miss L, . Vial, gave tiieir reports for the preceding period. In presenting his report Mr T. Conly commented pp JJk© placement of crippled children, which he said was a very difficult * problem. A,t the, present moment ho had a crippled, hoy for whom he was trying to obtain a situation. Employers were chary about taking him. He was unable to ride a bicycle, and he could not get quickly about, the , steep streets of Dunedin. However, he was a very deserving case. Mr Conly explained later that employers generally , were very sympathetic, and 23 crippled children had been placed last year. _ However, the particular boy he had in mind should he given office work, and that was what he was trying to find. At the end of .the school year an interesting apd.,, risky experiment was made in introducing the vocational address system in one .of. Dunedin’s intermediate , schools. It was very difficult to ask a headmaster- to turn his school over to a stranger once a fortnight, and risky in that the speaker might present his occupation in the most favourable .light. ..However, it had turned put, to be extremely successful, ihe speakers bringing to the hoys the story of what each occupation required from its followers. Broadcasting had been thought of, blit in that case there was. j always the, difficulty that no one might be listening. In the school talks there was a compulsory audience of th» right kind. FUND AM ENtAU PSYC HOLOGI I'CAL TRAITS. “ One could make a list' enumerating ■ some thousand!!.;of human. traits.. lam going to deal solely with psychological traits, and these can be classified only by, the observation of human beings/ said Mr Boyes, opening his address. Once traits had been observed an attempt could be made .to measure them, and after they had been measured the results could be defined. One of the most satisfactory definitions of intelligence was, “ that trait which could be measured by intelligence tests.”> Intelligence could not ©ally be defined until it was' measured. There were three fundamental traits—intelligence, temperament, and disposition. Intelligence could be regarded as a power supply, which required other attributes before it could be used, just as the power from Waipori needed electric lamps or heating points before it could bo used. The power supply of intelligence could be regarded as fairly constant, but the other attributes varied in individuals, and showed as musical ability, mechanical ability, etc._ We used temperamental classification when we spoke of a person being optimistic or pessimistic or " grouchy.” The third trait was the bodily emotions, which had a glandular basis. Mr Boyes detailed the various of these three main traits, and described the methods used to-day to measure them. In the field of intelligence considerable work had been done, and the results of this work could he used, but in the case of temperament and disposition this was not yet true. At one time the speaker had hoped that intelligence tests ( measuring) would prove a great guide to social problems, but now he realised that it would be only a partial solution until a measure had been evolved for temperament and disposition .

While a certain distance had heen gone in the measurement of fundamental traits, we had not yet got to the point where we could he definite and say that a certain child would ho suitable for a, certain nosition. As yet. only su"o r estlons could he made as to the child’s likelihood of success. As yet, intelligence tests could be used only in connection with a teacher’s report. “ T hone the day may come.” concluded Mr Boyes. “ when we may he able to take a child, test him,_ and recommend him for any particular job.”