PSYCHOLOGY 359 



a process to examine soldiers individually and that consequently 

 the only feasible procedure was examination by large groups. 

 Group methods were therefore prepared and methods of in- 

 dividual examining were arranged to supplement as necessary 

 the use of the group methods. The methods finally adopted 

 and used throughout the army differ in many respects from 

 those originally prepared and recommended. They may be 

 described very briefly as follows : 



There are four principal systems or stages in the examina- 

 tion. First comes the procedure of segregation, by means of 

 which the original group, which may, if examining rooms per- 

 mit, include as many as five hundred men, is split into two 

 sub-groups: (a) the literates, men who can speak and read 

 English fairly well, and (b) the illiterates, men who are rela- 

 tively unfamiliar with the English language. These two 

 groups must necessarily be treated somewhat differently, there- 

 fore the literates are given a group examination known as 

 Alpha, which consists of eight markedly different tests. This 

 examination, although it requires almost no writing on the 

 part of the subject, does demand facility in using written and 

 oral instructions. The illiterate group is given an examina- 

 tion know as Beta, which is in effect Alpha translated into 

 pictorial form. In this examination pantomime and demon- 

 stration supplant written and oral instructions. 



Each group examination requires approximately fifty min- 

 utes. Subjects who fail in Alpha are ordinarily given oppor- 

 tunity to improve their ratings by taking Beta, and subjects 

 who fail in Beta are given individual examination in order that 

 they may be more accurately and justly rated than in the group 

 examination alone. 



Any particular individual may have to take one, two or 

 three of these types of examination. Thus, for example, a man 

 of low grade literacy who happens to get into examination 

 Alpha may also have to take Beta and some form of individual 

 examination. 



