528 



Popular Science Monthly 



The Simple Form-Board Test 



Tests of this kind do not involve the use of language and are valuable in 

 examining foreigners. The face test in the illustration was devised by Dr. 

 Knox. The prisoner is«trying to place the nose piece where the eye belongs. 

 This test is very simple since each piece of wood has a design of a part 

 of the face drawn on one side of it and only one arrangement is possible 



shown to be suffering from some degree of 

 mental abnormality. 



Many of these cases would have escaped 

 the detection of the casual observer. The 

 symptoms 

 were not 

 marked, and 

 only by care- 

 ful examina- 

 tion was the 

 real nature of 

 the maladies 

 brought out. 

 Many of the 

 cases were 

 hopeful. That 

 is, prompt 

 and energetic 

 treatment 

 would have 

 cured them, 

 so that fur- 

 ther criminal 

 practises 

 would have 

 been pre- 

 vented. 



It must not be assumed that all criminals 

 are abnormal mentally. Some, in fact, de- 

 liberately enter upon a career of crime 

 just as any person might choose a profession. 

 Still, lack of education, bad companionship, 

 unfavorable home and neighborhood en- 

 vironment play a most important part in 

 the life of a normal criminal. All repeated 

 offenders show a certain amount of judg- 

 ment-error. They do not learn or do not 

 want to learn that "it pays to be good." 

 Real reformative measures often help. To 

 stigmatize an individual for life is unfair 

 as well as useless. If a criminal is unsound 

 mentally he should be treated, segregated 

 or both. If he is sound mentally his case 

 should be studied as an individual and a 

 sincere attempt made to reach "the man 

 inside." After such an eliminative process 

 only a comparatively small residual will 

 remain for whom the outlook is hopeless. 

 A beginning has been made in all these 

 fields, but much still remains to be done. 



How the Criminal Is Tested 



To classify the criminal population was 

 the work of the New York Psychopathic 

 Laboratory. It was proved beyond ques- 

 tion that moral deviation is frequently 

 associated with, and caused by, mental de- 

 fectiveness or derangement. 



It is not an easy matter to detect feeble- 



mindedness, nor even insanity, especially 

 when characteristic signs or symptoms are 

 not marked or are absent. Numerous tests 

 are necessary. A single test alone is not 

 significant. It 

 was found at 

 the Labora- 

 tory that an 

 investigation 

 of the home 

 conditions, 

 hereditary 

 traits, and 

 even study of 

 other mem- 

 bers of the 

 prisoner's 

 family, often 

 revealed 

 most valu- 

 able data. 



Mental 

 tests are of 

 two main 

 kinds — so - 

 called Tests 

 of Intelli- 

 gence and so-called Form-Board Tests or 

 "Tests of Doing." In the first named the 

 use of language is involved and the subject 

 answers a list of questions given, follows 

 written directions, etc. The most valuable 

 of these have been "standardized" — that is, 

 after experimenting upon hundreds of nor- 

 mal subjects of average intellect a deter- 

 mination of the normal response has been 

 made. The replies of any given subject are 

 then compared with this normal standard 

 and so a suggestive grading as to normality 

 and subnormality can be made. In the 

 Form-Board tests the results are interpreted 

 in similar fashion. They are especially 

 valuable in that the use of language is 

 largely eliminated. In most of these the 

 subject places irregularly shaped pieces of 

 wood in a frame — only one arrangement 

 being possible for a successful performance. 

 This by no means covers the whole sub- 

 ject of mental testing. Many other tests 

 are in general use and the scoring is often 

 difficult. The great value of psychological 

 tests rests in the fact that in this way 

 complicated mental processes are to a cer- 

 tain degree objectified and thereby the 

 personal equation and subjective interpre- 

 tation on the part of the examiner is 

 minimized. Often numerous procedures 

 and tests that call for special abilities or 

 intelligence reactions are necessary. 



