http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1603298

A manual of individual mental tests and testing

"Investigation of the mental capacities of human beings may rationally be considered a matter of prime importance for the individual and for civilization. To any objections that the procedure suggested in this manual is impracticable, requiring too much time or costing too much, there are sound enough answers. Mental powers are so numerous and diverse that short examinations are not likely to reveal them; inaccuracy of psychological diagnosis and prognosis results in positive harm to the individual and hinders the development of scientific psychology. The cost of as thorough testing and interpretation as can be made in the interest of better educational and social adjustments is very slight as compared to the expenditure that is undertaken by way of society's treatment of the individual in schools and, in the exceptional cases, by courts, institutions, and agencies that care for children. The human individual is certainly worth the cost of every scientific attempt at bettering his development and conditions of life. As it is, study of mental aptitudes and capacities takes a place in importance far below that of investigation of the working possibilities of a machine - the diagnosis of why the family automobile is not doing its best is willingly paid for when a similar study of the child's potentialities is not even recognized as a possibility"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Open All Close All