Making up intelligence scales: De Sanctis’s and Binet’s tests, 1905 and after.

Abstract

Sante De Sanctis (1862-1935) and Alfred Binet (1857-1911), the latter in collaboration with Théodore Simon (1873-1960), introduced their intelligence tests to the scientific community at the Fifth International Congress of Psychology, held in Rome in 1905 on April 26-30. The cultural and political contexts within which De Sanctis and Binet developed their respective intelligence tests showed certain similarities. Nevertheless, De Sanctis's intelligence test and Binet's test did differ in certain respects. The objective of this article is to understand the differences and similarities between the Parisian and the Roman contexts in relation to mental testing, and to investigate the theoretical-methodological contributions of each. In addition, the article analyzes the "diversity" of De Sanctis's context and test, which did not influence the international psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).