OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 87 



subcommittees that the psychological literature relating to 

 military problems was not of great practical importance in 

 connection with the emergency, because most of the tasks 

 presented to or discovered by the committee demanded en- 

 gineering of the pioneer sort. 



2. Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits. 

 — This committee of the Psychological Association was ac- 

 cepted as a subcommittee of the Psychology Committee of the 

 Research Council in November, 1917. It was organized in 

 May, 1917, with the following membership: Walter V. Bing- 

 ham, Herbert H. Goddard, Thomas H. Haines, Lewis M. 

 Terman, F. Lyman Wells, Guy M. Whipple, and Robert M. 

 Yerkes, chairman.^ 



During June, July, and August of 1917, the committee 

 prepared and directed the trial of group and Individual pro- 

 cedures for psychological examination of recruits. Subse- 

 quently, various members of the committee- made indispen- 

 sable contributions by assisting with the revision of the meth- 

 ods. 



The final meeting of this committee was held on June 17, 

 1918, on which date it was called in conference by the chair- 

 man of the Psychology Committee of the Research Council 

 to consider the scientific utilization of methods and results of 

 mental testing in the army. At this conference, It was de- 

 cided to attempt to preserve for subsequent careful analysis 

 and statistical study at least 200,000 of the original records 

 of psychological examinations of recruits. At the same time, 

 the committee carefully considered and formulated for the 

 guidance of the Division of Psychology, Medical Department 

 of the Army, advice concerning the revision and utilization 

 of methods of examining. 



The methods prepared for the army by this committee, 

 consisting of a procedure for the examination of large groups 

 of subjects and also a series of tests for individual examina- 

 tion, were accepted by the Medical Department of the Army 



^ The committee was assisted in its early work on methods by N. J. Melville, E. A. 

 Doll, and members of the Department of Psychological Research of the School for the 

 Feeble-minded, Vineland, N. J. 



* Notably, Bingham, Haines, Terman, and Whipple. 



