The Validity Of The Intelligence Quotient

The facts presented above argue strongly for the validity of the I Q as an

expression of a child's intelligence status. This follows necessarily from the

similar nature of the distributions at the various ages. The inference is that a

child's I Q, as measured by this scale, remains relatively constant. Re-tests of

the same children at intervals of two to five years support the

inference. Children of superior intelligence do not eem to deteriorate

as they get older, nor dull children to develop average intelligence.

Knowing a child's I Q, we can predict with a fair degree of accuracy the

course of his later development.



The mental age of a subject is meaningless if considered apart from

chronological age. It is only the ratio of retardation or acceleration

to chronological age (that is, the I Q) which has significance.



It follows also that if the I Q is a valid expression of intelligence,

as it seems to be, then the Binet-Simon "age-grade method" becomes

transformed automatically into a "point-scale method," if one wants to

use it that way. As such it is superior to any other point scale that

has been proposed, because it includes a larger number of tests and its

points have definite meaning.