'Army Mental Tests' Summary

Robert Mearns Yerkes's book Army Mental Tests is a seminal work in the field of psychometrics. It is a comprehensive account of the development and use of mental tests in the United States Army during World War I. Yerkes, a leading psychologist at the time, was tasked with developing tests that could be used to screen millions of recruits and identify those who were best suited for different roles in the military.

Yerkes's work on the Army mental tests program was groundbreaking and had a profound impact on the field of psychology. The tests that he developed were the first standardized intelligence tests to be used on a large scale. The results of the testing program provided valuable insights into the distribution of intelligence in the population and the relationship between intelligence and other factors such as education, occupation, and race.

One of the most important findings of the Army mental tests program was that intelligence is not evenly distributed in the population. Yerkes found that there is a wide range of intelligence levels, with some people being much more intelligent than others. He also found that intelligence is positively correlated with education and occupation. In other words, people who have more education and higher-paying jobs tend to be more intelligent.

Yerkes's findings on the relationship between intelligence and race were particularly controversial. He found that white recruits on average scored higher on the intelligence tests than black recruits. However, Yerkes was cautious in interpreting these findings. He noted that the black recruits were more likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds and to have less education than the white recruits. He concluded that the differences in test scores were likely due to environmental factors rather than innate racial differences in intelligence.

Despite the controversy, Yerkes's work on the Army mental tests program had a lasting impact on the field of psychology. His work helped to establish psychometrics as a scientific discipline and to develop many of the tools and techniques that are still used by psychologists today.

Essence and Spirit of the Book

The essence of Yerkes's book is the belief that psychology can be used to solve real-world problems. Yerkes was a pioneer in the field of psychometrics and he believed that mental tests could be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the military. He was also a strong advocate for using psychology to improve the lives of ordinary people.

The spirit of Yerkes's book is captured in his following statement:

"The psychological examination of the Army recruits was the largest single psychological experiment ever undertaken. It was a gigantic experiment, but it was a carefully planned and controlled experiment. It was conducted under the most favorable conditions, with the cooperation of the War Department and the Army officers. The results of the experiment are of the greatest importance to psychology and to the Army."

Conclusion

Army Mental Tests is a landmark work in the field of psychology. It is a comprehensive and well-written account of the development and use of mental tests in the United States Army during World War I. Yerkes's work on the Army mental tests program had a profound impact on the field of psychology and his work is still relevant today.