James McKeen Cattell - Mental Tests

Mental Tests

Cattell’s research on individual differences played a significant role in introducing and emphasizing the experimental technique and importance of methodology in experimentation in America. Regarding the beginnings of his mental tests, in Leipzig, Cattell independently began to measure “simple mental processes” Between 1883 and 1886, Cattell published nine articles discussing human reaction time rates and individual differences. As professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Cattell administered a battery of ten tests to student volunteers, and for the first time introduced the term “mental tests” as a general term for his set of tests which included measures of sensation, using weights to determine just-noticeable differences, reaction time, human memory span, and rate of movement. When Cattell moved to Columbia University, the battery of tests became compulsory for all freshmen. Cattell believed that his mental tests were measuring intelligence; however, in 1901 Clark Wissler, a student of Cattell, demonstrated that there was no statistical relationship between scores on Cattell's tests and academic performance. The tests were finally rendered irrelevant with the development of Alfred Binet’s intelligence measurements.