no. i.] PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 9 



Several of the committees originally appointed by the council of the American Psychological 

 Association were subsequently accepted as subcommittees of the committee on psychology of the 

 National Research Council. 



After the meeting of the National Research Council which the president of the American 

 Psychological Association attended in Washington, and at which he made a brief statement 

 concerning the possible service of psychology to the military organizations, a circular letter was 

 addressed to the members of the American Psychological Association in which their cooperation 

 with the Government in the interest of national defense was suggested. It was indicated that 

 psychological laboratories might be made available and that offers of personal service would 

 materially assist the council in formulating and furthering plans for the development of national 

 service. 



During the last week in April, in pursuance of the suggestions of the council of the American 

 Psychological Association, the president, acting as chairman of the committee on methods for the 

 psychological examining of recruits, prepared for transmission to the proper military authorities 

 a plan for the examining of recruits, in which the function of the psychologist in dealing with 

 intellectual deficiency and psychopathic tendencies, and his limitation, as an assistant of the 

 military medical examiner, to the purely psychological aspects of the work was emphasized. A 

 definite proposal for the administration of the work of examining in the camps was made. 

 Since the details of this proposal differ considerably from the plan that was finally adopted it is 

 unnecessary to give them here. 



Early in May this plan was submitted to the chairman of the National Research Council, 

 who in turn referred it to the chairman of the committee on medicine and hygiene of the council, 

 Dr. Victor C. Vaughan. With Dr. Vaughan's support and cooperation the plan was promptly 

 placed before the Surgeon General of the Army. 



The evident necessity for developing methods of psychological examining especially adapted 

 to military needs stimulated the chairman of the committee on methods of examining recruits 

 to seek such financial aid as should render possible the organizing of an active committee for 

 this special task. About the middle of May this need and opportunity were brought to the at- 

 tention of the committee on provision for the feeble-minded (Philadelphia), whose secretary, Mr. 

 Joseph P. Byers, immediately presented the matter to his board. It was promptly voted by this 

 organization to offer the committee on methods facilities for work at The Training School, 

 Vineland, N. J., and to meet the expenses of the work to an amount not to exceed $500. This 

 sum was later increased to $700. On the basis of this offer of assistance, a committee, consisting 

 of Messrs. Bingham, Goddard, Haines, Terman, Wells, Whipple, and Yerkes, was assembled at 

 The Training School, Vineland, N. J., on May 28. It remained in session until June 9 when it 

 adjourned for two weeks to make trial of methods which had been devised. 



During the first two weeks it was decided to arrange a method of examining recruits in 

 groups of 25 to 50, as an initial psychological survey. The group method, as finally agreed upon 

 and printed for preliminary trial, consists of 10 different measurements. 



From June 10 to 23 the various members of the committee conducted examinations by the 

 above method in several parts of the country. In all, about 400 examinations were made, chiefly 

 upon United States marines and candidates in officers' training camps. These measurements 

 were analyzed by the committee and used as a basis for revision and the devising of methods 

 of scoring. 



On June 25 the committee resumed its sessions at Vineland and continued its work until 

 Saturday, July 7, when it adjourned, on the completion of tentative methods of group and in- 

 dividual examining. At this time the committee had in press five forms of group examination 

 record blanks ; an individual examination record blank, which provides special forms of measure- 

 ment for illiterates, those who have difficulty with the English language, those who exhibit 

 irregularities suggestive of psychopathic condition, those who are intellectually subnormal or 

 inferior, and, finally, those who are distinctly supernormal ; an examiners' guide, which contains 

 directions for the conduct of examinations ; and various types of special record sheet. 



Before its adjournment the committee, through a joint committee of psychiatrists and 

 psychologists, consisting of Drs. Copp, Meyer, Williams, Terman, Haines (Bingham, alternate), 

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