Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and DevelopmentHollingworth, Leta Stetter
Science
Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development
Hollingworth, Leta Stetter
Gifted children; Stanford-Binet Test
This is neither the time nor the place for discussion of the
techniques of mental measurement, but rather for the discussion
of results. What, first, do we know about the selection of children
who stand in the upper ranges of intelligence? Facts of much
importance have been established since 1905.
In the first place, we have proved that children who rate in
the top one per cent of the juvenile population in respect to
"judgment," as Binet called it, also possess much more often
than others those additional qualities which thinkers have most
frequently named as desirable in leaders. There is a strong
probability that a child who rates as only one in a hundred
for intelligence will also be endowed in superior degree with
"integrity, independence, originality, creative imagination,
vitality, forcefulness, warmth, poise, and stability."
These characteristics are identical with those set forth by
Harvard College as the additional traits desired in boys,
already proved by tests to be highly intelligent, who are to
receive National Scholarships. I believe no one would wish
to delete from the list any trait thus stipulated. I would,
however, add to it audacity, capacity for nonconformity, love
of beauty, and cold courage, as traits to cherish in leaders,
although these are often uncongenial to teachers in the elementary
school, and possibly to other educators.
We find all these qualities in superior measure among highly
intelligent children, according to the ratings of those who
know them. If one would call for a mathematical statement of the
likelihood of finding these traits in combination with high
intelligence, we could give it. I may say that the correlation
coefficients hover around .50. This means that in selecting
any child testing far up in the top one per cent--say at 160 IQ
or above (100 IQ being par)--there is far more than an even
chance of having thus automatically selected a tall, healthy,
fine-looking, honest, and courageous child, with a great love
of adventure and of beauty in his makeup. With a correlation
so far from unity as .50, however, we cannot be at all certain
of such a happy combination. We shall find a minority of cases
where fine judgment is combined with an unstable temper, a crippled
body, an ugly face, a ruthless disregard for others, malign
chicanery, cowardice. (I would say there cannot be a very high
intelligence without the love of beauty.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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