CHAPTER 12. 



PERFORMANCE IN INTELLIGENCE EXAMINATIONS AS RELATED TO MILITARY EFFICIENCY. 



Section 1. — Examination alpha. 



The amount of weight that should be placed upon intelligence ratings, as determined by- 

 psychological examination, in the selection of men for military duty, depends upon the degree 

 to which examination ratings are prognostic of military value. The present chapter discusses 

 the relation of performance in examinations alpha and beta to military efficiency, as such effi- 

 ciency is estimated by company commanders. 



The data come from four camps — Kearny, Travis, Meade, and Custer. The following 

 descriptions of the material from these sources show that differences in the methods of obtaining 

 data must be taken into account in the final summary of results. 



(a) In Camp Kearny company commanders of certain organizations were asked to select 

 approximately equal numbers of men from each of three classes defined as follows: 



(1) The most successful enlisted men of the organization, preferably noncommissioned officers; (2) men of average 

 ability in the work of the command, neither exceptionally good nor exceptionally poor; (3) the least successful men in 

 the work of the command, of definitely less than average ability, but also clearly not utter failures; men just "getting 

 by." 



The individual cards of the men thus selected in the One hundred and fifty-eighth Infantry 

 only have been used. There were 85 cases in class 1 ; 68 cases in class 2 ; and 50 cases in class 3. 

 As a matter of fact all of the men in class (1) who were defined to be "preferably noncommis- 

 sioned officers" were either corporals or sergeants. Only one corporal was placed in class (2). 



(6) In Camp Travis the company and battery commanders in the Nineteenth Infantry and 

 Fifty-second, Fifty-third, and Fifty-fourth Field Artillery were asked by the Psychological Ex- 

 amining Board to designate the 10 poorest privates and the 10 best privates in their respective 

 units. These men were examined according to the regular procedure with the result that many 

 of the "poorest" privates were given examination beta, and in some cases were recalled for indi- 

 vidual examination. The individual examinations, however, were not sufficiently numerous 

 to justify inclusion in this investigation. There are 885 noncommissioned officers included, 

 400 cases of "best" privates, and 240 cases of "poorest" privates. 



(c) At Camp Meade the Seventeenth Infantry was examined by means of alpha and beta 

 in the usual way, and the distribution of letter grades for this regiment was determined. Before 

 the results of the psychological examination were reported, company commanders were asked 

 to rate their men. The following is the form of request for a group of 75 men : 



We ask you to grade them according to their military efficiency, which means practical soldier value to the Army, 

 all things considered. In estimating military efficiency keep in mind such points as judgment, discipline, comrade- 

 ship, and initiative. Give your best man the grade of 1; give the 10 next best men the grade of 2; give your three 

 poorest men the grade of 5; give the second poorest group, composed of 11 men, the grade of 4; give all the others (50 

 men) the grade of 3. 



The definite numbers of men to be placed in each class were obtained by prorating the 

 numbers of men actually found from psychological examination in each of the letter grade 

 groups (treating C + , C, and C— as one group). 



(<Z) The data from Camp Custer consist of 48 alpha records and 78 beta records of miscel- 

 laneous individuals reported by company commanders as of "low military value." 



(e) In addition to these specially selected groups the alpha and beta records of 984 unse- 

 lected recruits have been used as a standard group for purposes of comparison. 



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