The diagnostic value of group tests as determined by the qualitative differences between normal and feeble-minded children

Abstract

63 feeble-minded and 63 normal children were used in the experiment. The latter were selected from a public school, were graded as normal by their teachers, were at grade for their chronological age and were selected to be at the same mental age as the feeble-minded group. Four primary group tests of general intelligence were given and a composite mental age obtained from the average of the mental ages on the 4 tests. The median mental age for the feeble-minded group was 7 years, 3 months; for the control group, 7 years, 4 months; the median I. Q.'s for the two groups were 56 and 99 respectively. The feeble-minded children varied more than the normal children in the tests in every case; they fell far below the normal in the directions test, in the counting tests, and in tests involving development of interest; they tended to excel in those tests involving experience rather than new situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)