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The American Army Tests
I.
Following the declaration of war on Germany in 1917, the United States found itself in a peculiar situation: it possessed no standing army, and creating one quickly required overcoming significant and unusual obstacles.
When the population was first mobilized, the recruits were complete unknowns to the military authorities—unlike in other countries, where, as is well known, the nature of military service allows for a reasonably accurate assessment of soldiers from the outset. Added to this, for the U.S.A., was the fact that a substantial portion of the citizenry was of immigrant descent. These immigrants represented a wide array of ethnic and racial backgrounds (white Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Malays, Slavs); the native-born population was equally diverse (Blacks, Native Americans, and many individuals of mixed heritage). Consequently, the American recruits displayed a motley mix of aptitudes and educational backgrounds. How could one make sense of this diversity? How could each individual be assigned to the branch of service and military rank best suited to him?
The Americans adopted a bold and ambitious approach. Immediately after declaring war on Germany, they established a military psychological service—an initiative that remains unique to this day. Leading American psychologists were asked to propose methods for testing the intelligence of nearly two million people in a very short time. A commission of prominent experts (the Psychology Committee) was appointed and convened numerous sub-committees to study the relevant issues. In addition, a National Research Council was founded, and a special psychology division was established within the Army Medical Department, tasked with developing methods for intelligence testing. These three bodies jointly formulated proposals, which they first submitted to the Surgeon General for approval. Preliminary trials followed, involving the testing of 80,000 enlisted men and 5,000 officers. Based on the results obtained, these tests were officially introduced in December 1917. They continued throughout the remainder of the World War, covering a total of 1,727,000 men, including 41,000 officers.
The U.S. Army tests were administered in two ways. There was a test for soldiers who were literate in English (the so-called Alpha test) and another for illiterates—who made up thirty percent of all recruits—known as the Beta test. The majority were tested in groups; only 80,000 individual tests were conducted. The test for the literate took forty to fifty minutes, while the test for illiterates took fifty to sixty minutes. Those who failed this exam were subjected to a special individual test lasting fifteen to sixteen minutes.
The tasks used for the examination were very carefully devised. It is interesting to note that particular emphasis was placed on solving them as quickly as possible. Eight tasks were presented, each composed of a series of sub-tasks; these were printed in a special booklet that had to be handed in immediately after completion. The areas tested included: the ability to carry out orders, rapid calculation, common sense, logical reasoning, linguistic-logical aptitude, and general knowledge gained through an interest in social, economic, and political life (e.g., by reading newspapers). The tasks were straightforward. The arithmetic problem, for instance, read: "If six men take three days to dig a trench six meters long, how many men are needed to dig the trench in half a day?" However, the majority of the tests took a distinctive form. Along with each question, several possible answers were provided—only one of which was correct—and the examinee had to underline the correct one. For example, the question might be: "Why do we need stoves?" This was followed by the answers: "Because they look good," "Because they provide good heat," and "Because they are black." So, the phrase “warm thoroughly” had to be underlined. Or consider the other tasks: The larynx is located in the head, the throat, the abdomen, or the shoulder. Newton is highly renowned in science, politics, literature, or warfare. · Glass insulators are used to fasten telegraph wires because glass prevents the pole from burning out, or because glass is cheap and attractive, etc. In each instance, the correct answer had to be underlined.
When testing illiterates, the task was first drawn on the blackboard, and a demonstrator showed the examinees an example. They were then given similar examples on pre-printed forms where they, in turn, had to enter the solutions. The primary focus was on testing: the ability to orient oneself in a given situation (e.g., a maze was drawn in which one had to mark the path to the exit with a pencil); spatial visualization skills; the so-called “substitution ability” (e.g., replacing digits with simple symbols, such as replacing a 3 with a plus sign or a 2 with an N); and the ability to distinguish between the same and the different, as well as to spot what was missing and fill it in.
Although these tasks might appear “very easy,” the assessment of the solutions was extremely strict, and a scoring system was devised to ensure the greatest possible objectivity. Results were evaluated using a “point-score method,” and depending on the score achieved, examinees were assigned to one of five or eight groups: A, B, C4C, C–D, or D–E. It turned out that Group A (the outstanding performers) comprised only four to five percent of all those tested. These were individuals with the potential to become officers.
Group B, accounting for roughly eight to ten percent, was suitable for roles as either non-commissioned officers or officers.
II.
Group C+ (good average, comprising fifteen to eighteen percent of cases) was also suitable for non-commissioned officer roles.
Group C (average, 25 percent of cases) was designated for recruitment as non-commissioned officers.
Group C–D (below average, about twenty percent of cases) consisted of good soldiers who performed satisfactorily in routine tasks.
Group D (poor, fifteen percent) comprised passable soldiers who learned slowly and showed little initiative.
Group D–E (very poor) could only be used for labor units; they possessed an intelligence level below that of ten-year-old children.
The initial result of the testing was the discharge of 80,000 recruits as completely unsuitable (mentally deficient); 10,000 were assigned to labor service, and nearly as many to replacement battalions. The original purpose of the tests had actually been to weed out soldiers who were intellectually inferior or exhibited psychopathic traits—thereby relieving the burden on military doctors—but, as so often happens in life (the law of the "heterogony of ends"), numerous other objectives were subsequently pursued, such as:
identifying individuals with superior mental abilities so they could be transferred to officer training schools;
assigning individuals with specific skills to specific duty stations; and identifying and recruiting people with special aptitudes, for instance for intelligence work or as observers.
However, the most psychologically interesting objective was to compose companies or regiments that were as similar as possible regarding the intelligence of their members—ensuring, in other words, that "no regiment was dumber than another" and that the number of intelligent personnel was equal across all regiments. This facilitated uniform training.
What practical results were actually achieved through these tests? We have already mentioned the screening out of the mentally unfit. The competence of American soldiers was proven in the field, surpassing the expectations of those who had harbored serious doubts about troops assembled so hastily. Practical experience confirmed the theoretical assumptions. The Americans were so convinced by the results of the aforementioned testing that they analyzed them in terms of ethnic and racial composition and used them as a basis for establishing immigration quotas. If Anglo-Saxons were allocated the largest immigration quota, it was because that group had achieved the best scores in the army tests.
The tests conducted by the American army examined intelligence as a key factor in military aptitude. They did not include an assessment of character, as American psychologists held the conviction that positive character traits are found far more frequently in intelligent people than in unintelligent ones. An intelligent person can compel himself to obey through discipline once he recognizes that such discipline is necessary. He will also fight bravely, realizing that cowardice on his part could seriously jeopardize his nation's victory. Furthermore, he is more likely to seize the initiative and emerge as a leader.
*
Twenty-two years have passed since the army tests of 1917. While the science of character has not made major strides during this time, it has certainly made some progress; our concepts regarding intelligence have evolved, and we now know that individuals with the same level of intelligence do not necessarily possess the same degree of military aptitude. Consequently, it is necessary today to modify and supplement these tests.
However, this observation does not alter the fact that the American army tests hold immense practical and scientific significance; they represent a milestone in the development of applied psychology. They provided compelling proof that experimental psychology is capable of fulfilling practical tasks—and specifically of serving national defense—by making it possible to replace years of accumulated experience with a brief assessment of recruits. As a result, other nations adopted these tests for similar purposes, modifying them to varying degrees to suit their own specific needs. Moreover, many of the tasks employed at that time are still used today—partly to assess the intelligence of children and adolescents and partly to evaluate vocational aptitude—thereby forming a permanent part of the testing materials available to us. The American army tests were not the first attempt to harness psychological science for military purposes. Since the outbreak of the war in 1914, military aviators and drivers in France, England, and Italy had been assessed for their professional aptitude; thus, psychology began to "militarize" itself during that period.
For their part, the American army tests gave this movement a powerful impetus. Shortly after the peace treaty, the psychological laboratory of the Reich Ministry of War was established in Berlin, and today approximately 250 psychologists work within the German military. A journal dedicated specifically to military psychology appears in Romania, and in Spain, a psychological unit for testing enlisted personnel was active throughout the period when the Popular Front government held Madrid. However, the practicing psychologist today must guard "professional secrets"; much information remains merely "whispered knowledge," awaiting publication in an era when "eternal peace" among mankind has finally arrived. The bold experiment undertaken by American psychologists raises some concerns for a Swiss colleague. In America, the endeavor described was possible only because great importance had long been attached to experimental psychology, which was cultivated there far more extensively than in Europe. America possessed not only talented minds rich in ideas but—crucially—systematically trained experimental psychologists capable of producing high-quality professional work. At some Swiss universities, by contrast, experimental psychology is not cultivated at all, and the field itself is not among the compulsory examination subjects. Yet, should the need arise, such neglect could have very adverse consequences.
Franziska Baumgarten-Tramer