Type (5), inability to respond.
REMARKS. The fable test, or the "test of generalization," as it may aptly be named, was used by the writer in a study of the intellectual processes of bright and dull boys in 1905,[71] and was further standardized by the writer and Mr. Childs in 1911.[72] It has proved its worth in a number of investigations. It has been necessary, however, to simplify the rather elaborate method of scoring which was proposed in 1911, not because of any logical fault of the method, but because of the difficulty in teaching examiners to use the system correctly. The method explained above is somewhat coa.r.s.er, but it has the advantage of being much easier to learn.
[71] "Genius and Stupidity," in _Pedagogical Seminary_, vol. xiii, pp. 307-73.
[72] "A Tentative Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence," _Journal of Educational Psychology_ (1912).
The generalization test presents for interpretation situations which are closely paralleled in the everyday social experience of human beings. It tests the subject"s ability to understand motives underlying acts or att.i.tudes. It gives a clue to the status of the social consciousness.
This is highly important in the diagnosis of the upper range of mental defectiveness. The criterion of the subnormal"s fitness for life outside an inst.i.tution is his ability to understand social relations and to adjust himself to them. Failure of a subnormal to meet this criterion may lead him to break common conventions, and to appear disrespectful, sulky, stubborn, or in some other way queer and exceptional. He is likely to be misunderstood, because he so easily misunderstands others.
The skein of human motives is too complex for his limited intelligence to untangle.
Ethnological studies have shown in an interesting way the social origin of the moral judgment. The rect.i.tude of the moral life, therefore, depends on the accuracy of the social judgment. It would be interesting to know what proportion of offenders have transgressed moral codes because of continued failure to grasp the essential lessons presented by human situations.
For the intelligent child even the common incidents of life carry an endless succession of lessons in right conduct. On the average school playground not an hour pa.s.ses without some happening which is fraught with a moral hint to those who have intelligence enough to generalize the situation. A boy plays unfairly and is barred from the game. One bullies his weaker companion and arouses the anger and scorn of all his fellows. Another vents his braggadocio and feels at once the withering scorn of those who listen. Laziness, selfishness, meanness, dishonesty, ingrat.i.tude, inconstancy, inordinate pride, and the countless other faults all have their social penalties. The child of normal intelligence sees the point, draws the appropriate lesson and (provided emotions and will are also normal) applies it more or less effectively as a guide to his own conduct. To the feeble-minded child, all but lacking in the power of abstraction and generalization, the situation conveys no such lesson. It is but a muddle of concrete events without general significance; or even if its meaning is vaguely apprehended, the powers of inhibition are insufficient to guarantee that right action will follow.
It is for this reason that the generalization test is so valuable in the mental examinations of delinquents. It presents a moral situation, imagined, to be sure, but none the less real to the individual of normal comprehension. It tells us quickly whether the subject tested is able to see beyond the incidents of the given situation and to grasp their wider relations--whether he is able to generalize the concrete.
The following responses made by feeble-minded delinquents from 16 to 21 years of age demonstrate sufficiently their inability to comprehend the moral situation:--
_Hercules and the Wagoner._ "Teaches you to look where you are going." "Not to help any one who is stuck in the mud." "Not to whip oxen." "Teaches that Hercules was mean." "Teaches us to carry a stick along to pry the wheels out."
_The Fox and the Crow._ "Not to sing when eating." "To keep away from strangers." "To swallow it before you sing." "Not to be stingy." "Not to listen to evil." "The fox was wiser than the crow." "Not to be selfish with food." "Not to do two things at once." "To hang on to what you"ve got."
_The Farmer and the Stork._ "Teaches the stork to look where he steps." "Not to be cruel like the farmer." "Not to tell lies."
"Not to b.u.t.t into other people"s things." "To be kind to birds."
"Teaches us how to get rid of troublesome people." "Never go with anything else."
The following are the responses of an 18-year-old delinquent (intelligence level 10 years) to the five fables:--
_Maid and Eggs._ "She was thinking about getting the dress and spilled the milk. Teaches selfishness."
_Hercules and the Wagoner._ "He wanted to help the oxen out."
_Fox and Crow._ "Guess that"s where the fox got his name--"Old Foxy." Don"t teach us anything."
_Farmer and Stork._ "Try and help the stork out of the field."
_Miller, Son, and Donkey._ "They was all big fools and mean to the donkey."
One does not require very profound psychological insight to see that a person of this degree of comprehension is not promising material for moral education. His weakness in the ability to generalize a moral situation is not due to lack of instruction, but is inherent in the nature of his mental processes, all of which have the infantile quality of average 9- or 10-year intelligence. Well-instructed normal children of 10 years ordinarily succeed no better. The ability to draw the correct lesson from a social situation is little developed below the mental level of 12 or 13 years.
The test is also valuable because it throws light on the subject"s ability to appreciate the finer shades of meaning. The mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded often show marked inferiority in this respect. They sense, perhaps, in a general way the trend of the story, but they fail to comprehend much that to us seems clearly expressed. They do not get what is left for the reader to infer, because they are insensible to the thought fringes. It is these which give meaning to the fable. The dull subject may be able to image the objects and activities described, but taken in the rough such imagery gets him nowhere.
Finally, the test is almost free from the danger of coaching. The subject who has been given a number of fables along with twenty-five or thirty other tests can as a rule give only hazy and inaccurate testimony as to what he has been put through. Moreover, we have found that, even if a subject has previously heard a fable, that fact does not materially increase his chances of giving a correct interpretation. If the situation depicted in the fable is beyond the subject"s power of comprehension even explicit instruction has little effect upon the quality of the response.
Incidentally, this observation raises the question whether the use of proverbs, mottoes, fables, poetry, etc., in the moral instruction of children may not often be futile because the material is not fitted to the child"s power of comprehension. Much of the school"s instruction in history and literature has a moral purpose, but there is reason to suspect that in this field schools often make precocious attempts in "generalizing" exercises.
XII, 6. REPEATING FIVE DIGITS REVERSED
The series are 3-1-8-7-9; 6-9-4-8-2; 5-2-9-6-1.
PROCEDURE and SCORING. Exactly as in years VII and IX.[73]
[73] See discussion, p. 207 _ff._
XII, 7. INTERPRETATION OF PICTURES
PROCEDURE. Use the same pictures as in III, 1, and VII, 2, and the additional picture _d_. Present in the same order. The formula to begin with is identical with that in VII, 2: "_Tell me what this picture is about. What is this a picture of?_" This formula is chosen because it does not suggest specifically either description or interpretation, and is therefore adapted to show the child"s spontaneous or natural mode of apperception. However, in case, this formula fails to bring spontaneous interpretation for three of the four pictures, we then return to those pictures on which the subject has failed and give a second trial with the formula: "_Explain this picture_." A good many subjects who failed to interpret the pictures spontaneously do so without difficulty when the more specific formula is used.
If the response is so brief as to be difficult to cla.s.sify, the subject should be urged to amplify by some such injunction as "_Go ahead_," or "_Explain what you mean_."
One more caution. It is necessary to refrain from voicing a single word of commendation or approval until all the pictures have been responded to. A moment"s thought will reveal the absolute necessity of adhering to this rule. Often a subject will begin by giving an inferior type of response (description, say) to the first picture, but with the second picture adjusts better to the task and responds satisfactorily. If in such a case the first (unsatisfactory) response were greeted with an approving "That"s fine, you are doing splendidly," the likelihood of any improvement taking place as the test proceeds would be greatly lessened.
SCORING. _Three pictures out of four_ must be satisfactorily interpreted. "Satisfactorily" means that the interpretation given should be reasonably plausible; not necessarily the exact one the artist had in mind, yet not absurd. The following cla.s.sified responses will serve as a fairly secure guide for scoring:--
(a) _Dutch Home_
_Satisfactory._ "Child has spilled something and is getting a scolding." "The baby has hurt herself and the mother is comforting her." "The baby is crying because she is hungry and the mother has nothing to give her." "The little girl has been naughty and is about to be punished." "The baby is crying because she does not like her dinner." "There"s bread on the table and the mother won"t let the little girl have it and so she is crying." "The baby is begging for something and is crying because her mamma won"t give it to her." "It"s a poor family.
The father is dead and they don"t have enough to eat."
_Unsatisfactory._ "The baby is crying and the mother is looking at her" (description). "It"s in Holland, and there"s a little girl crying, and a mamma, and there"s a dish on the table"
(mainly description). "The mother is teaching the child to walk"
(absurd interpretation).
(b) _River Scene_
_Satisfactory._ "Man and lady eloping to get married and an Indian to row for them." "I think it represents a honeymoon trip." "In frontier days and a man and his wife have been captured by the Indians." "It"s a perilous journey and they have engaged the Indian to row for them."
_Unsatisfactory._ "They are shooting the rapids." "An Indian rowing a man and his wife down the river" (mainly description).
"A storm at sea" (absurd interpretation). "Indians have rescued a couple from a shipwreck." "They have been up the river and are riding down the rapids."
The following responses are somewhat doubtful, but should probably be scored _minus_: "People going out hunting and have Indian for a guide." "The man has rescued the woman from the Indians." "It"s a camping trip."
(c) _Post-Office_
_Satisfactory._ "It"s a lot of old farmers. They have come to the post-office to get the paper, which only comes once a week, and they are all happy." "There"s something funny in the paper about one of the men and they are all laughing about it." "They are reading about the price of eggs, and they look very happy so I guess the price has gone up." "It"s a bunch of country politicians reading the election news."
_Unsatisfactory._ "A man has just come out of the post-office and is reading to his friends." "It"s a little country town and they are looking at the paper." "A man is reading the paper and the others are looking on and laughing." "Some men are reading a paper and laughing, and the other man has brought some eggs to market, and it"s in a little country town." (All the above are mainly description.)
Responses like the following are somewhat better, but hardly satisfactory: "They are reading something funny in the paper."
"They are reading the ads." "They are laughing about something in the newspaper," etc.
(d) _Colonial Home_
_Satisfactory._ "They are lovers and have quarreled." "The man has to go away for a long time, maybe to war, and she is afraid he won"t return." "He has proposed and she has rejected him, and she is crying because she hated to disappoint him." "The woman is crying because her husband is angry and leaving her." "The man is a messenger and has brought the woman bad news."