Psy 525 - Fundamentals of Research Methodology Paper

History of Psychological Assessment Paper

PSYCH/525 Measurements and Statistics

Professor Thomas G. Snider, Ph.D.

University of Phoenix

May 27, 2013

History of Psychological Assessment Paper 1

Initial creation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

SAT Meaning

The Scholastic Aptitude Test is a standardized test that will measure a student's basic math, writing skills, and critical reading. Most universities and colleges require a student to take the SAT before applying for the university or college because this standardized test is important factor in the admission process. The Scholarship Aptitude Test (SAT) is composed of three main sections which is graded on a scale of 200-800 and the final score is the sum of the sections (600-2400).

History of the SAT

During World War One Robert Yerkes was the leader of the new IQ testing movement, persuading the U.S. Army to allow him to test the Army recruits for intelligence. This IQ test was known as the Army Alpha and first mass administered IQ test. Yerkes hired an assistant Carl Brigham to help assistant him with Army Alpha IQ test. After World War One Brigham began adapting the Army Alpha IQ test for use as a college admissions test and was first administers to college applicants in 1926.

In 1933 president of Harvard James Bryant Conant developed a new scholarship program for academically gifted boys who are not from eastern boarding schools, Conant and his Dean of Harvard Chauncey created task of finding test to evaluate candidates for these scholarships. Chauncey met Brigham, and the two recommended to Conant the Army Alpha IQ test known as the SAT should be conducted. Conant agrees to this because he fees that the IQ test will measure the pure intelligence, regardless of the quality of the student's high school education. In 1938 Chauncey had a meeting with the members of the College Board to advise the board that the SAT needs to be used as a uniform examination, but only for scholarship applicants. In 1942 the SAT becomes official and became the scholarship application for students admission process into college. In 1944 Chauncey administrated the SAT to more than 30,000

History of Psychological Assessment Paper 2

Initial creation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

students all over the country in one day. In 1948 the Educational Testing Service was charted, and the SAT was on its way to becoming the basic college service for millions of students.

The Inventor of the SAT

The SAT was invented in the 1920s-the product of a growing desire by American educators, led by Harvard president James Bryant Conant, to open their universities to the best students across the country. The American educators were searching for ways to satisfy his or her quest for intelligence, and this is where Carl Brigham came into play. In 1922 Princeton psychologist Carl Brigham created the SAT, and in 1922 he concluded his invention by writing his book, A Study of American Intelligence. In his book he explained that American intelligence is declining and will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial mixture becomes more extensive and this is why he feels that the SAT needs to be created. Brigham creates the SAT so that the test would be able to pick out the smart, white males, and put them in recognized institutions.

Brigham motives were to be able and select the intelligent American individuals apart from the diversity. Brigham believed that the decline of American intelligence was because of to the acceleration of the rate of racial admixture. This leads to Brigham to create the SAT test to segregate "American intelligence" from racial mixture. Brigham wanted to be able and pick apart the intelligent white Americans before racial mixture made it harder.

Known Names for the SAT

The SAT has been used since the test first introduction in 1901 and was known as the Scholastic Achievement Test and was meant to measure the level achieved by students seeking college admission. In 1941 the test was used mainly by colleges and universities in the northeastern United States. In 1941, after considerable development, the nonprofit College

History of Psychological Assessment Paper 3

Initial creation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

Board changed the name to the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The success of SAT coaching schools, such as Kaplan and the Princeton Review, forced the College Board to change the name again. In 1990, the name changed to Scholastic Assessment Test because a test