Historical foundation Psychometrics

1 historical foundation

1.1 victorian stream
1.2 german stream
1.3 20th century

historical foundation

psychological testing has come 2 streams of thought: first, darwin, galton, , cattell on measurement of individual differences, , second, herbart, weber, fechner, , wundt , psychophysical measurements of similar construct. second set of individuals , research has led development of experimental psychology, , standardized testing.

victorian stream

charles darwin inspiration behind sir francis galton led creation of psychometrics. in 1859, darwin published book origin of species , pertained individual differences in animals. book discussed how individual members in species differ , how possess characteristics more adaptive , successful or less adaptive , less successful. adaptive , successful ones survive , give way next generation, or more adaptive , successful. idea, studied in animals, led galton s interest , study of human beings , how differ 1 another, , more importantly, how measure differences.

galton wrote book entitled hereditary genius different characteristics people possess , how characteristics make them more fit others. today these differences, such sensory , motor functioning (reaction time, visual acuity, , physical strength) important domains of scientific psychology. of theoretical , applied work in psychometrics undertaken in attempt measure intelligence. galton, referred father of psychometrics, devised , included mental tests among anthropometric measures. james mckeen cattell, considered pioneer of psychometrics went on extend galton s work. cattell coined term mental test, , responsible research , knowledge led development of modern tests. (kaplan & saccuzzo, 2010)

german stream

the origin of psychometrics has connections related field of psychophysics. around same time darwin, galton, , cattell making discoveries, herbart interested in unlocking mysteries of human consciousness through scientific method. (kaplan & saccuzzo, 2010) herbart responsible creating mathematical models of mind, influential in educational practices in years come.

e.h. weber built upon herbart s work , tried prove existence of psychological threshold, saying minimum stimulus necessary activate sensory system. after weber, g.t. fechner expanded upon knowledge gleaned herbart , weber, devise law strength of sensation grows logarithm of stimulus intensity. follower of weber , fechner, wilhelm wundt credited founding science of psychology. wundt s influence paved way others develop psychological testing.

20th century

the psychometrician l. l. thurstone, founder , first president of psychometric society in 1936, developed , applied theoretical approach measurement referred law of comparative judgment, approach has close connections psychophysical theory of ernst heinrich weber , gustav fechner. in addition, spearman , thurstone both made important contributions theory , application of factor analysis, statistical method developed , used extensively in psychometrics. in late 1950s, leopold szondi made historical , epistemological assessment of impact of statistical thinking onto psychology during previous few decades: in last decades, psychological thinking has been suppressed , removed, , replaced statistical thinking. precisely here see cancer of testology , testomania of today.

more recently, psychometric theory has been applied in measurement of personality, attitudes, , beliefs, , academic achievement. measurement of these unobservable phenomena difficult, , of research , accumulated science in discipline has been developed in attempt define , quantify such phenomena. critics, including practitioners in physical sciences , social activists, have argued such definition , quantification impossibly difficult, , such measurements misused, such psychometric personality tests used in employment procedures:

example, employer wanting role requiring consistent attention repetitive detail not want give job creative , gets bored easily.

figures made significant contributions psychometrics include karl pearson, henry f. kaiser, carl brigham, l. l. thurstone, anne anastasi, georg rasch, eugene galanter, johnson o connor, frederic m. lord, ledyard r tucker, arthur jensen, , david andrich.