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 third test was a cancellation test. The subject was requested to
cross out, with a pencil, every 7. The fourth was a simple “Easy
Directions” test. The fifth was a number-checking test, in which the
subject was asked to place a check opposite every group which contained
both a 7 and a 1. The sixth test was a tapping test, in which the
subject was required to push down, as rapidly as possible, a telegraph
key to which was attached a counter. The number of recorded thrusts over
a period of one minute constituted a record for that performance. The
seventh test was an accuracy test. This was given with the aid of a
brass plate with nine holes, graduated in size from ½ inch to ⅛ inch in
diameter. The subject was asked to take a brass-pointed pencil and
insert it into each hole, beginning with the largest and continuing
through the smaller ones, until the pointer touched the brass side of
one of them. The brass-pointed pencil was wired in circuit with the
brass plate containing the holes so that, whenever the brass point
touched the side of the hole or any part of the brass plate, an electric
contact was made which produced a click in a telephone receiver which
the subject held to her ear. At the start of the test, the subject was
instructed to put the brass pencil into each hole in succession until
she heard a click in her ear, when she was to start all over again. The
speed of the subject’s movements was controlled by a metronome, so as to
allow thirty trials per minute. This test occupied from two to three
minutes.
The eighth test was a steadiness test. This consisted of two brass bars
about twelve inches long, set so as to form a long, horizontal V. The
subject was asked to take the brass pointer and pass it along between
these two bars. The farther she went, the narrower became the space
between the bars. As soon as the brass pointer touched one of the bars
it produced a click in the telephone receiver. The point at which this
brass pointer touched was then read on a scale on the lower bar. Each
subject was given fifteen trials and the last ten were averaged and
constituted the subject’s average.
These eight tests were given to seventy-three girls, fifty-two of whom
were inspectors and twenty-one gaugers. The scores in the tests were
compared with the average daily work of the girls. This average was
obtained by recording the number of pounds of shells inspected by the
girls and the number of hours required for the work. It was found that
the inspectors who inspected the largest number of shells in a given
time attained the largest scores in the tests, thereby indicating the
value of the tests in determining whether an applicant for work as an
inspector had the mental capacity for the work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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