THe Developement Mental ct L’Intelligence
REVIEWS
By Henri Pieron.
Felix Alcan, Paris, 1929, XII+ 95 pp. This small volume includes four lectures presented by Pieron at the University of Barcelona, embodying a sketchy presentation of the highlights of mental development and of problems of mental measurement. The first lecture is devoted to a discussion of stages of mental development, starting with a brief description of the native behavior endowment of the child. From this, the author proceeds to a description of other stages of development; to a consideration of the relationship between physical growth and mental development; of physiological factors in growth; stages of affective development, and related topics of significance in individual development. In the second chapter, including the second of his lectures, a discussion of individual differences in development serves as an introduction to a description of the work of Binet and others in setting up norms of development for the various age levels and in preparing tests for determining the extent to which a child has developed in relation to these norms. Elements of error in measurement, variability at different age levels, the age at which development ceases, and similar questions are referred to by the author in the course of this discussion.
The first part of the third chapter is given over to pointing out the advantages of determining early the level and rate of intellectual development of children. The remainder of this chapter, and practically the whole of the fourth and final chapter in this little volume, include a critical discussion of the concepts of general intelligence, the nature and significance of the I.Q., the weaknesses of standard scales used in the measurement of intelligence, etc. Particular stress is laid upon the importance of avoiding global evaluations on the basis of an I.Q. and upon the need of analytic studies of individual traits by means of profile and related methods.
This small volume by Pieron seems to embody all that can be expected in a sketchy presentation of mental development and of problems of mental measurement. It is sketchy without being incomplete, and critical without being destructive. One can even enjoy the sly digs at American investigators, and can excuse the slighting of more important American investigators in the field of mental testing in the interest of less important French and other Latin studies as a perhaps necessary procedure in the dissemination of French culture in the nearby Latin countries of Europe. Morris S. Viteles
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