Psychological Test: A Brief History on How it all Begun

            Around 5,000 years ago, on the country where the Confucian classics and the system of merits and intellect were supposed to be the standard for acquiring a position in the realm. The Chinese first to engineer a systematic though rudimentary form of the first psychological testing, the civil service examination. At its earliest form where it was use for selection process for civil servants to the mapping of brains of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the scientific curiosity over the behavior and the reaction to a stimulus of an individual and the unimaginable tales of trauma and horrors of the Great War, that push the discipline to become a new form of field in science, the psychology. Its roots seem already a long way yet the grand entry of the discipline and become part of the greater body of science is only less than three generations old. From the superficial psychological testing during the ancient times to the objectivity of trying to measure the intellect or the behavior of an individual and how intelligence brought controversy for many generations and the development of a more culturally sensitive psychological testing. This paper aims to describe the development of psychological testing which continuously evolving craft at present

        The history of psychological testing begun in China on the year 2000BCE to be use as a form of selecting the most deserving civil servant. It is called the civil service examination which is the legacy of the Chinese civilization although the nature of the exam is far different from the psychological testing uses today.

        The emphasize of the civil service doesn’t incorporates the fundamental nature of modern psychological testing for its purpose only guarantees the subject knowledge to the civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and geography. 

Wilhelm Wundt

Its superficial in comparison to the works of the 18th century psychologist that serves to be the foundation of the modern psychological testing. The psychological testing has started and flourish during the 18th century where it was founded on laboratories in Germany and Britain. Although the focus of the studies being conducted where not on the standard measurement of intelligence but the defects of human mind. For example, the German physician Hubert von Grashey developed an instruments to identify the brain injured patients by showing the patients words, symbols, or pictures through a slot in a sheet of paper that was moving slowly over the stimuli. Grashey found that many patients could recognize stimuli in their totality but could not identify them when shown through the moving slot. In 1823AD, the journal of Phrenology studies the human abilities and capabilities in relation to the characteristics of the skull although there is no conclusive evidence that shows correlation to human aptitude but it paved way to the discovery of the localized concentrations of brain fiber that press outward on the skull.

The early 19th century psychology highlights on diagnosing disorder of the mind and relationship between body structure and biological factor try to explain the correlation to human behavior. On the late 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century marks a start of psychology as from a pseudo-science to a more objective driven fields on explaining human behavior and personalities and doesn’t rely or dependent on the physiological aspect. The works of William Wundt who founded the first experimental psychology and the psycho-analytic perspective of Freud and his contemporaries which heavily relies on introspection and the structure of human consciousness rather on the physiology. The novel ideas of trying to explore and understand human psyche, although pre-mature and somehow into its pre-conception stage, I considered as the beginning of the real psychology as a science.

As a young science, considering that this field is susceptible to change and development. The historic events on the early 20th century until the middle of the latter, starts the haste development of psychology. The growing demands on the implications of terrors and shocks of war brought this discipline into a priority field of science. During the two great wars, World War I and the deadliest conflict in human history, World War II becomes a catalyst for Psychology to manifest its importance as a science. The works of Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon or famously known as the Binet-Simon, a 30 item Intelligence test that is designed to categorize school children in Paris which is largely recognized as the era of the measurement which will later be revised and improve by Weschler in 1937. This instrument although its purpose has to assess the intelligence and the aptitude of children and adults were later being use in group evaluation for the purpose of classifying the soldiers. Although its nature seems discriminatory, where the fighters where designated base on their ability to read and their intellect. These tests narrowly identify the army into two categories, the Army Alpha, who has reading capabilities and Army Beta which are illiterate. It was believing that those considered as illiterate were being draft to be an expendable part of the army. Although the idea behind the group intelligence test is by essence discriminatory, it brings a new era to psychology where it was used to a mass volume of respondents.

The First Personality Happened during World War I

The post war period kicks off the use of assessment instruments is a mass scale to determine the Intelligence of an individual. It also gave birth to the over-emphasize measuring of intelligence, to the complex assessment of personality as a whole. Intelligence is now seen not only on the mental capacity or ability to solve problem or how fast a person read or comprehends a thought but a multi discipline assessment of an individual’s attitude, aptitude, emotional awareness and its multiple intelligence such as spatial, kinesthetic, logical and others. As an evolving craft that is capable of being use in any facets of society, psychological testing is now part of our daily lives. From the day we enter school to our first employment until the day we are in our retirement, the psychological assessment will stay.

Psychological testing has already evolved and improve from its pre-conception, the Chinese civil service examination to the understanding the correlation of biological factors and physiology to human behavior to a more dependent field of psychology in explaining the human psyche. But the psychological assessment has long way to go even and issues and controversies must be settled. The likelihood that the assessment can be utilize as a form of discrimination or classifying a person based on their aptitude just like what happened in World War I. Even if the intention is to identify the person’s aptitude or intellectual capabilities, the psychological test must be in line with discerning an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Historical background and roots of psychology and the people who contribute on the disciplines should be celebrated and the paper doesn’t identify the latter with pessimistic views about their contributions. By looking back from the past, we can work out on diagnosing the issues and concern of this field.

As the world becomes closer and closer and boundary less, it enters a new phase of technological as well as globalization. Never in the history of mankind, the nations of the world already becoming as one. It aims to unify the countries into one single body to work cooperatively towards one goal. Although it may sound like a good thing and growth of prosperity among nations, but the standard of psychological test was being utilize are based on the western perspective. This over emphasize on the Western views in assessment can be identify by the historical causality that the discipline has shape through the years.  Even if we use the same method and the standard the world establishes, the cultural bias will invalidate the assessment. All the nations should be well aware of this cultural bias and address the problem seriously.

As the world enters a new phase due to the covid19 pandemic, and the consequential effects of it on the mental health of individual. Let us learn from the history and adapt a new means of assessing individual’s capabilities and aptitude. The past seemingly far from the present condition yet the essence of the psychological testing, its discriminatory characteristics, bias western cultural point of view and the over-emphasize on the intellect are some or I’m just scratching the surface, the issues that this craft confronting. The past can be a tool on trying to seek for the ramification of old habits and subjectivity on the part of this assessment. There is more to resolve, and by a short glimpse to the past, and to identify a strange habit in the familiar.

The history of psychological testing, from its earliest form to the present. As one of the newest members of scientific discipline, the psychological assessment has still flawed to remunerate. By all means of diagnosing the problem, understanding what went wrong is part of the development this discipline experiences. History is not just a memory but a reflection of the present. It gives us a good glimpse on how the testing evolve from the changing needs of time and the issues that trace back from the beginning. This paper has no solution, but a recommendation.