Piaget's Different Intelligence Test: From IQ Tests to Operatory Intelligence

Abstract

A signature event in the history of psychology occurred in 1919 when Jean Piaget was asked to standardize Cyril Burt’s tests of intelligence on Parisian children. Impressed by the errors students made, Piaget studied the underlying reasoning process of these children. This led to Piaget ‘s new méthode clinique for studying the intelligence of children and its development. But why was there a need for such standardization? How did Burt’s intelligence test differ from Binet’s version? How did Burt’s version pave the way for Piaget’s very different kind of intelligence test—from I.Q. tests to tests of operatory intelligence? I examine the history of this series of events pointing out the difference between Binet’s version and Burt’s version, how they differed from Piaget’s similar questions and how the standardization of Burt’s intelligence tests paved the way for Piaget’s different type of intelligence test, a test of operatory intelligence.