Measure Your Mind: The Mentimeter and How to Use ItTrabue, Marion Rex
Science
Measure Your Mind: The Mentimeter and How to Use It
Trabue, Marion Rex
Educational tests and measurements; Intelligence tests; Psychological tests
The present test is almost entirely new, both in its form and in its
content. The nearest approach to this particular test was made by Dr.
Agnes L. Rogers at the suggestion of Professor Thorndike, when she
prepared a list of six problems of which the following is a good sample:
“P is larger than Q, R is smaller than Q, therefore P is ........ R.”
The blank is to be filled in. It will be observed that the present
Mentimeter differs from Doctor Rogers’s test in that names of familiar
persons or objects are used in place of the capital letters and that
four conclusions are stated from which the subject is to select the
proper one, rather than leaving to the subject the formulation of his
own conclusion.
Because of its newness, it will be impossible to state here just what is
measured by this test, but certainly the ability to read and understand
the words is one factor, and the ability to think clearly about the
logical implications of these words is another very important element
making for success. The ability to see the relations between the words
is probably as near to what may be called “logical ability” or
“reasoning” as to any other popularly recognized “mental qualification.”
Although Doctor Rogers found a coefficient of correlation of .65 between
her form of the logical reasoning test and a composite measure of
mathematical ability, the present Mentimeter is so different that its
true value can only be indicated by the comparisons which its users will
be able to make between their results and the most accurate measures
obtainable of special ability.
This test will probably have very little usefulness in commercial or
industrial fields, although it may be very helpful for a professional
group such as lawyers, educators, etc., in the selection of clerical or
professional assistants. In the public schools, it is quite certain that
it should not be used below the high school grades. Even in the high
school, it is probable that only those with very great ability in
handling abstract ideas and symbols of ideas will be able to make a high
score.
The subject matter of those statements which appear in the test is such
as would not be found in ordinary life and has very little value in
itself. As an entertainment feature, this test will not be successful
except among a very specially selected group of people who believe
themselves to be extraordinarily keen intellectually. It might be held
in reserve as a special “stunt” for any persons who seem to think that
they have demonstrated their “high-brow” qualities by making high scores
in other tests. Shortening the time limit from five minutes to three
minutes would further add to the consternation of such persons.
_Directions for Giving the Test._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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