Alpha and Beta Testing

A large amount of psychologist find it to be true that, the differences of an individual are primarily because of factors of the genetics and that employing aptitude assessing ; humanity can systematically raise a superior group of people. The Alpha and Beta assessment was carried out by the psychologist Robert Yerkes during WWI. The purpose for this test was to assess the instinctive intelligence which was unaffected by culture and educational opportunities. This author will attempt to cover the historical roots of the Alpha, Beta testing during the first war, along with the impact and the advances it has made in the growth of psychological assessing in to the new millennium. These tests were used as procedures of assessment for the U. S. Army during WWI in 1917. The U. S. Army needed a way to settle on what kind of innovative preparation recruits will be given. Along with other psychologist, Robert Yerkes cooperates with each other to forms two different kind of assessment which will later be named Army Alpha and Army Beta. The first test (Alpha) was utilized to measure learned soldiers while the other test (Beta) was utilized to measure soldiers who did not speak English, were not literate and had a lower IQ. These two assessments were at the time accepted as models for ensuing group managed cognitive aptitude assessments. During the period of the World War I, about half a million soldiers were given the assessments in order to recognize those who were competent enough to serve, to be able to categorize them into certain military jobs, and to decide on those who seemed to be contenders for positions of leadership. Industries, businesses and education recognized potential value for psychological testing after the war. By the year 1974, the Alpha and Beta test was reported to be administered to nearly two million military applicants and high school students, making it the largest volume employment test in the United States. According to Fancher,

References: Fancer, R. E. (1985). The intelligent men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Haney, Walt., Madaus, George F., & Lyons, Robert. (1993). the fractured marketplace for standard testing. Retrieved July 10, 2009, from http://www.officialasvab.com/index.htm