a note on the validity of a test of social intelligence

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A NOTE ON THE VALIDITY OF A TEST OF SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE M. EUSTACE BROOM Stale Teachers College, San Diego, California The Associated Press reports for December 29, 1927, were quoted in the San Diego, California, Union (on December 30) as follows: The man with the high abstract intelligence gets the Phi Beta Kappa key, but the man with the high social intelligence gets the votes or the business as the case may be. There are three kinds of intelligence, Dr F. A Moss of George Washington University disclosed in a paper read before the American Psychological Association today,—abstract intelligence, which makes research workers and savants; social intelligence, which makes good politicians and business men; and mechanical intelligence, of which he said Henry Ford was an outstanding example Tests for high social intelligence are the latest development in com- mercial adaptations of psychology. Dr Moss told of one New York department store that has abandoned the ordinary intelligence tests and submits all prospective salespeople to "social intelligence" tests. Persons passing these tests with high ratings are said to be the ones most likely to develop into good sales people. . . . The "Social Intelligence Test" developed by Dr. Moss and his associates 1 has been given to 258 entering students (largely freshmen) in the San Diego State Teachers College. The findings for this test and for the Thorndike Intelligence Ex- amination, Series of 1925-1929, for these 258 students are given in table 1 If we accept the Thorndike Intelligence Examination as a criterion, the 258 students are a fairly representative body in 1 Published by the Center for Psychological Research, Washington, D. C. 426

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Page 1: A note on the validity of a test of social intelligence

A NOTE ON THE VALIDITY OF A TEST OF SOCIALINTELLIGENCE

M. EUSTACE BROOM

Stale Teachers College, San Diego, California

The Associated Press reports for December 29, 1927, werequoted in the San Diego, California, Union (on December 30)as follows:

The man with the high abstract intelligence gets the Phi Beta Kappakey, but the man with the high social intelligence gets the votes or thebusiness as the case may be.

There are three kinds of intelligence, Dr F. A Moss of GeorgeWashington University disclosed in a paper read before the AmericanPsychological Association today,—abstract intelligence, which makesresearch workers and savants; social intelligence, which makes goodpoliticians and business men; and mechanical intelligence, of which hesaid Henry Ford was an outstanding example

Tests for high social intelligence are the latest development in com-mercial adaptations of psychology. Dr Moss told of one New Yorkdepartment store that has abandoned the ordinary intelligence testsand submits all prospective salespeople to "social intelligence" tests.Persons passing these tests with high ratings are said to be the onesmost likely to develop into good sales people. . . .

The "Social Intelligence Test" developed by Dr. Moss andhis associates1 has been given to 258 entering students (largelyfreshmen) in the San Diego State Teachers College. Thefindings for this test and for the Thorndike Intelligence Ex-amination, Series of 1925-1929, for these 258 students aregiven in table 1

If we accept the Thorndike Intelligence Examination as acriterion, the 258 students are a fairly representative body in

1 Published by the Center for Psychological Research, Washington,D. C.

426

Page 2: A note on the validity of a test of social intelligence

VALIDITY OF TEST OF SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE 427

this college; 49.22 per cent of the group reached or exceededthe college mean for the Thorndike Intelligence ExaminationHowever, the chances are about 93 in 100 that the true dif-ference in scores (I e , the difference between the true scores)

is greater than zero, since is 1 43. Since a rinding ofS.D(dlff)

3 means practically complete reliability, we know that 1.43is about 48 per cent of what it should be in order to insure adifference always greater than zero 2 Variability (spread) inthe distribution of the scores of the 258 students is almostexactly that for the whole college group, 1233 cases.

TABLE 1

TEST

Thorndike .Thorndike . . . .Moss (norm)Moss.

1

4

ss6S

aEp

,233*258

,181258

a

SCO

B

gs5Sa

10087 5

91

MEAN

6160

(Md ) 9898

83

0

SHCM

0 300 64

0 68

dCO

1515

16

4626

31

?0a

&

0

c

2525

16

0231

44

* State Teachers College standard scores.

It is the purpose of this report to emphasize one measure ofvalidity of the test of social intelligence. Validity is one ofthe most important of the characteristics of a standardizedtest. McCall3 says that it is the most fundamental traitValidity may be defined as the correspondence between theability measured by the test and the ability as elsewhere ob-jectively denned and measured. "When a test really measureswhat it purports to measure and consistently measures thissame something throughout the entire range of the test, it isa valid test."3

2 Garrett, Henry E. "Statistics in Psychology and Education "New York, Longmans, Green and Company, 1926, pages 128-133.

3 McCall, W A "How to Measure in Education " New York,The Macmillan Company, 1923. Page 195.

Page 3: A note on the validity of a test of social intelligence

428 M. ETTSTACE BROOM

It is obvious that two tests which purport to measure twodifferent variables should yield high correspondence only bychance if each is a valid measure of the variable which itpurports to measure. It is possible to illustrate this state-ment with validity coefficients given for tests of mechanicalaptitude (mechanical intelligence, if we use the term as wouldDr. Moss). In equal age groups the correlation betweenmechanical aptitude as measured by the Stenquist Mechan-ical Assembly Test and general intelligence is only about posi-tive 0.20.4 MacQuarrie claims for his "Test of MechanicalAbility" correlation of positive 0.22 with general intelligence.4

The coefficient of correlation (Pearson r) for the paired scoresobtained by using the Moss and Thorndike tests with the 258entering students was 0.560, probable error 0.029. The coeffi-cient of alienation, which measures the absence of relationbetween two variables in the same way that the coefficient ofcorrelation measures the presence of relation, was 0.828. Inorder to discover the degree of correspondence between the twovariables measured by these two tests (Moss and Thorndike)as they really are without regard to imperfections in measure-ment, the coefficient of correlation was corrected approximatelyfor attenuationB The coefficient obtained was positive 0.644.

In view of the normality of the group tested and the exist-ence of marked correlation between the paired scores for thetwo tests, it follows that the two tests must measure the samevariable or variables to some degree at least. It might mean,of course, that social and abstract intelligence are so closelyallied that it is unprofitable to attempt to discriminate betweenthem. The two tests validate each other rather well, a condi-tion which is undesirable when by definition we should expect"negative" results (as with the mechanical aptitude tests)rather than marked positive findings.

4 Symonds, Percival M. "Measurement in Secondary Education "New York, The Macmillan Company, 1927, pages 385 and 387.

6 Garrett, Henry E. Loc cit., page 213, formula 48 Reliabilitycoefficients as announced by the test authors were used.