Army General Classification Test

Last updated

The Army General Classification Test (AGCT) has a long history that runs parallel with research and means for attempting the assessment of intelligence or other abilities. [1]

Contents

World War I and World War II created the need for this type of testing and provided a large body of test subjects. The early emphasis (World War I) was on determining the level of literacy (Alpha test) among a heterogeneous group. Illiterates were given another test (Army Beta); some enrollees were interviewed. Subsequent testing targeted aptitude in order to better fill roles, such as those provided by officers who obtained commissions from other than the United States military academies, or to meet the need for increasingly complicated skills that came along with technological progress, especially after World War II. [2]

As with other measurement attempts, the AGCT ran into controversy during the era of the Vietnam War.[ clarification needed ] [3] [4] Yet, the requirement did not abate, leading to improvements in the application and use of the standard testing methodology.

The modern variant of this test is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) that was first administered in 1960. [5]

Many high IQ societies, such as Mensa and Intertel, can map their entrance requirements to early AGCT scores. [6] [7] The AGCT was of interest to researchers because of the breadth of the test taker sample (1.75 million men took the original test).

The Army Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests

The first intelligence tests were created during World War I to screen the thousands of soldiers being recruited by the United States military. [8]

Robert Yerkes and a committee of six representatives developed two intelligence tests; the Army Alpha test and the Army Beta test to help the United States military screen incoming soldiers for "intellectual deficiencies, psychopathic tendencies, nervous intangibility, and inadequate self-control". [9] The Alpha test was a verbal test for literate recruits and was divided into eight test categories, which included: following oral directions, arithmetical problems, practical judgments, synonyms and antonyms, disarranged sentences, number series completion, analogies and information, [10] whereas the Beta test was a nonverbal test used for testing illiterate or non-English speaking recruits. The Beta test did not require those being tested to use written language, but rather the examinees completed tasks by using visual aids. [11] The Beta Intelligence test was divided into seven subtests, which included: "Test 1- assessed the ability of army recruits to trace the path of a maze; Test 2- assessed the ability of cube analysis; Test 3-assessed the ability of pattern analysis using an X-O series; Test 4- assessed the ability of coding digits with symbols; Test 5- assessed the ability of number checking; Test 6-assessed the ability of pictorial completion; and Test 7- assessed the ability of geometrical construction".

Overall, the Army Alpha and the Army Beta tests were designed to find the mental age of military recruits and to assess incoming recruits for success in the US Military by testing one's ability to understand language, to perform reasoning with semantic and quantitative relationships, to make practical judgments, to infer rules and regulations, and to recall general information. [12] The Army Alpha and the Army Beta tests have been criticized for being biased and for not predicting the actual success of incoming soldiers. [9]

Criticism

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence quotient</span> Score from a test designed to assess intelligence

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardised tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenzquotient, his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Yerkes</span> American psychologist (1876–1956)

Robert Mearns Yerkes was an American psychologist, ethologist, eugenicist and primatologist best known for his work in intelligence testing and in the field of comparative psychology.

The Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales is an individually administered intelligence test that was revised from the original Binet–Simon Scale by Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon. It is in its fifth edition (SB5), which was released in 2003.

An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Outstanding aptitude can be considered "talent". Aptitude is inborn potential to perform certain kinds of activities, whether physical or mental, and whether developed or undeveloped. Aptitude is often contrasted with skills and abilities, which are developed through learning. The mass term ability refers to components of competence acquired through a combination of both aptitude and skills.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents.

A large body of research indicates that IQ and similar measures vary between individuals and between certain groups, and that they correlate with socially important outcomes such as educational achievement, employment, crime, poverty and socioeconomic status.

The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) is a nationally normed, and individually administered battery of cognitive and achievement tests. Into its second edition (DAS-II), the test can be administered to children ages 2 years 6 months to 17 years 11 months across a range of developmental levels.

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) is a clinical instrument for assessing cognitive development. Its construction incorporates several recent developments in both psychological theory and statistical methodology. The test was developed by Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen L. Kaufman in 1983 and revised in 2004. The test has been translated and adopted for many countries, such as the Japanese version of the K-ABC by the Japanese psychologists Tatsuya Matsubara, Kazuhiro Fujita, Hisao Maekawa, and Toshinori Ishikuma.

The Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT) was created by Raymond Cattell in 1949 as an attempt to measure cognitive abilities devoid of sociocultural and environmental influences. Scholars have subsequently concluded that the attempt to construct measures of cognitive abilities devoid of the influences of experiential and cultural conditioning is a challenging one. Cattell proposed that general intelligence (g) comprises both fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc). Whereas Gf is biologically and constitutionally based, Gc is the actual level of a person's cognitive functioning, based on the augmentation of Gf through sociocultural and experiential learning.

The Otis–Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT), published by the successor of Harcourt Assessment—Pearson Education, Inc., a subsidiary of Pearson PLC—is, according to the publisher, a test of abstract thinking and reasoning ability of children pre-K to 18. The Otis-Lennon is group-administered, multiple choice, taken with pencil and paper, measures verbal, quantitative, and spatial reasoning ability. The test yields verbal and nonverbal scores, from which a total score is derived, called a School Ability Index (SAI). The SAI is a normalized standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. With the exception of pre-K, the test is administered in groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IQ classification</span> Categorisation of peoples intelligence based on IQ

IQ classification is the practice of categorizing human intelligence, as measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, into categories such as "superior" or "average".

The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) is a nonverbal measure of general ability designed by Jack A. Naglieri and published by Pearson Education. The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test - Individual Form was first published in 1998. Two versions were published in 2007 and 2008, respectively. This includes the group administered Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test - Second Edition and the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test - Online version. The most current version is NNAT3. Like all nonverbal ability tests, the NNAT is intended to assess cognitive ability independently of linguistic and cultural background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military psychology</span> Specialized field in psychological science

Military psychology is a specialization within psychology that applies psychological science to promote the readiness of military members, organizations, and operations. Military psychologists provide support to the military in many ways, including through direct clinical care, consultation to military commanders, teaching others and supporting military training, and through research relevant to military operations and personnel. Military psychology as a field has been growing since the early 20th century, evidence that the demands and needs for psychological clinical and operational application is continuing to grow steadily. There are many stressors associated with military service, including exposure to high-risk training and combat. As such, psychologists are critical support components that assist military leaders in designing appropriate training programs, providing oversight to those programs, and assisting military members as they navigate the challenges of military training and their new lifestyle. Military psychology covers a wide range of fields throughout the military including operational, tactical, and occupational psychology. Gender differences between military-trained personnel who seek mental health assistance have been extensively studied. Specific examples include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with combat, or guilt and family/partner difficulties accompanying extended or frequent deployments due to separation. Clinical providers in military psychology are often focused on the treatment of stress, fatigue, and other personal readiness issues. Previous wars such as the Korean war, Vietnam war, and WW 2 provide great insight to the workings and practices of military psychology and how the practices have changed and assisted the military over the years.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to human intelligence:

According to Paul Muchinsky in his textbook Psychology Applied to Work, "mechanical aptitude tests require a person to recognize which mechanical principle is suggested by a test item." The underlying concepts measured by these items include sounds and heat conduction, velocity, gravity, and force.

The Army Alpha is a group-administered test developed by Robert Yerkes and six others in order to evaluate the many U.S. military recruits during World War I. It was first introduced in 1917 due to a demand for a systematic method of evaluating the intellectual and emotional functioning of soldiers. The test measured "verbal ability, numerical ability, ability to follow directions, and knowledge of information". Scores on the Army Alpha were used to determine a soldier's capability of serving, his job classification, and his potential for a leadership position. Soldiers who were illiterate or foreign speaking would take the Army Beta, the nonverbal equivalent of the exam.

The Army Beta 1917 is the non-verbal complement of the Army Alpha—a group-administered test developed by Robert Yerkes and six other committee members to evaluate some 1.5 million military recruits in the United States during World War I. The Army used it to evaluate illiterate, unschooled, and non-English speaking army recruits. It has been recognized as an archetype of future cognitive ability tests. The time to administer the test was 50 to 60 minutes and was generally administered to 100–200 men in a group. The Army discontinued the test after World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intertel</span> Second-oldest high-IQ society in the world

Intertel is a high-IQ society founded in 1966, that is open to those who have scored at or above the 99th percentile on one of various standardized tests of intelligence. It has been identified as one of the notable high-IQ societies established since the late 1960s with admissions requirements that are stricter and more exclusive than Mensa.

The relationship between intelligence and education is one that scientists have been studying for years.

Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880–1952) was an applied and industrial psychologist who made significant contributions to intelligence testing. A pioneer in applied psychology, Bingham got his start in experimental psychology, receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago under James R. Angell. Bingham went from Dartmouth in 1915 to organize the Division of Applied Psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. When war came to the United States, Bingham was recruited by Robert Yerkes as a member of a small group that developed the Army Alpha and Beta tests. During World War I Bingham served as executive secretary of the committee on classification of personnel in the U.S. Army, and later in the war served as lieutenant colonel in the Personnel Branch of the Army General Staff. From 1940 to 1947 Bingham was chief psychologist of the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department, serving as consultant or advisor to the Surgeon General, the Army General Staff, and the Secretary of Defense. Walter Bingham's contribution on the army classification methods paved the development of the field of industrial psychology. Bingham carried out editorial responsibilities for several journals and was the author of over 200 articles and books. His "Aptitude and Aptitude Testing" (1937/1942) is a classic in the field.

References

  1. ↑ Paul F. Ballantyne, Psychology, Society, and Ability Testing (1859-2002): Transformative alternatives to Mental Darwinism and Interactionism "Chapter 4, Rise of Group Ability Testing ... (1918–1932)'
  2. ↑ Paul F. Ballantyne, Psychology, Society, and Ability Testing (1859-2002): Transformative alternatives to Mental Darwinism and Interactionism "Chapter 5, From Training Programs to World War II Testing ... (1933–1946)"
  3. ↑ Morris J. MacGregor, Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces 1940–1965. United States Army Center of Military History.
  4. ↑ Paul F. Ballantyne, Psychology, Society, and Ability Testing (1859-2002): Transformative alternatives to Mental Darwinism and Interactionism "Chapter 7, Questioning the Ideology of Testing ... (1964–1981)"
  5. ↑ USMEPCOM Your Future Begins Now, Testing Archived March 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ American MENSA Qualifying Test Scores Archived August 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "Intertel - Join us". www.intertel-iq.org. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
  8. ↑ "A Brief History of the SAT". Frontline. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Carson, John (June 1993). "Alpha Army, Army Brass, and the Search for Army Intelligence". Isis. 84 (2): 278–309. doi:10.1086/356463. S2CID   143928356.
  10. ↑ Gould, S. J. "A nation of morons". Mark Holah. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  11. ↑ Ernest R Hilgard, Ernest R (1965). "Robert M. Yerkes Biography". National Academy of Sciences: 1–43.
  12. ↑ "Pioneers in Standardized Testing". Issues in Science and Technology. 19 (9): 1–5. 2002.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.