RECORDS OF MEETINGS 371 



Miss Lillian Walton, Inmividiai. Diii-erpjxces in .TrniciAL 



Capacity. 



Max G. Schlapp, So]\[k ETioLfKiicAi. Factors of Men- 



tal Deficiency. 



H. A. Ruger, Si:.\ I)[KKi:uENCi:s ix the Solution 



oE ^Iechanical Puzzles. 



Summary of Papers 



Miss De Young said: Various psychnlouists lia\e attempied to prove 

 the existence of definite relations between different mental abilities. The 

 problem suggested itself: Is there sucli a thing as general ingenuity? 

 Our definite purpose was to select tests having a common element, inge- 

 nuity; and to find whether in such a series ability to solve one problem 

 necessarily means ability to solve another. 



By ingenuity we mean the use of judgment, logical thought, selection 

 from a mass of material suggested by the problem, and a skill and quick- 

 ness in manipulating and forming new combinations of possible means 

 for solution. 



We presented nme problems to a group of 25 Barnard students. They 

 were in order: (1) a mathematical problem; (2) a test for forming 

 words from the letters in the word "psychiatry" for which five minutes 

 were allowed; (3) a test, which for convenience we called the "limerick," 

 adding two lines of poetry to complete two lines presented; (4) ten syllo- 

 gisms to be marked either valid or invalid; (5) an original poem of from 

 four to six lines; (6) the absurdity test, or the marking of the absurd 

 sentences in a list; (7) directions; (8) mechanical puzzle, and (9) a 

 puzzle for which thirty minutes was the time limit. 



For each individual the score for mathematics consisted of two col- 

 unms, the time and correctness or incorrectness of the solution ; for test 2 

 the number of words formed ; for tests 3 and 5, both the time and order 

 of merit of the poetry; for the syllogisms, the time and the per cent, of 

 ■correct judgments ; for the absurdity and directions the time and number 

 of errors ; for the mechanical puzzle only the time, and for the ingenuity, 

 either the time, or if not solved within thirty minutes, the failure. 



In every single column the order of merit of the 25 subjects was deter- 

 mined. AYhere the test consisted of two columns, the order of merit of 

 each individual was averaged so that every test had only one column de- 

 termining the order of merit of the subject in that ability. The differ- 

 ences in merit for each individual were obtained by comparing each test 

 with every other test. 



