BINET-SIMON TESTS ON ZULUS. 



By Stephen Gottheil Rich, M.A. 



The results reported in this paper were gathered by Mr. 

 H. Redfern Loades, then of Durban, and now of Uitenhaije, and 

 the present writer, in May and Novemiber, 191 6. The actual 

 testing is mainly Mr. Loade's work, but the collation of results is 

 mine. The conclusions are in the main mine, and do not repre- 

 sent adequately Mr. Loades' views. 



We undertook this work without knowledge of the work then 

 ill hand by Lispector C. T. Loram, Ph.D., which was so interest- 

 ing a feature of the meetings at Maritzburg- in 1916. We had the 

 pleasure of seeing some of Dr. Loram's results before they were 

 read at Maritzburg, and were benefitted by a comparison of aims 

 and methods. 



Those who are familiar with mental tests know of the scale 

 oi tests elaborated by Binet. of Paris, some dozen years ago, and 

 later improved by Simon. Cioddard. an American, has pro- 

 duced the standard version of them for English-speaking sub- 

 jects. We have taken the 191 1 Goddard revision as our start- 

 ing i)oint. As in the case of Binet and all his co-workers, we 

 have not tried to secure results of value for comparative psychol- 

 ogy cif different races, but have kept within the limitations set by 

 our method. Our results, based as they are on relatively few 

 subjects, should not be taken as in the least degree final, but rather 

 as a starting point for more thorough work. I hope to have the 

 l^rivilege of presenting further results in 1918. 



The specific aim of the Binet-Simon system of tests is to 

 provide means for the detection of cases of arrested and pre- 

 cocious mental development. It is a means for identifying the 

 various psychological groups, and nothing more. The method 

 consists of giving the subjects questions to ask and problems to 

 solve, which have proved correct for the normal person of each 

 age. The person who solves all the problems set ifor a child 

 of ten years, and who is unable to do those for a child of eleven, 

 is thus assigned the " mental age " of ten years. If the person is 

 fifteen years old he shoAvs a retardation df five years; if he is 

 nine he shows an advance of one year. 



Our material was chosen from the students of the Amanzim- 

 toti Institute and the Adams Practising School, both situated at 

 Adams Mission Station, Natal. Our material ranged from 6.2 

 to 22 years in age. We chose, out of the 170 pupils at our 

 command, those that appeared to us and their teachers as most 

 typical. 



One valid objection to our tests is that the subjects were 

 not living under typical native conditions, but all had more or less 

 influence from European teachers. This we hojie to correct by 

 extending our tests to " raw "" natives in the future.* 



* See The Pedagogical Sciniiiary. September, 1017, pp. 373-383. for 

 detailed schedules of our results, for the pictures used, etc. 



