Intelligence Testing During World War I

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Intelligence Testing During World War I

The president of the American Psychological Association (APA), Robert Yerkes, during
World War I convinced the U.S. Army to use intelligence testing to match recruits with the right military job due to the need to categorize rapidly the millions of men drafted into the army. Hence, two distinct intelligence tests, as developed by Yerkes with other psychologists, were given to the draftees; Army Alpha tests for those able to read English and Army Beta tests for those illiterate in English. Subsequently, the numerical scores of the Alpha and Beta tests were translated to letters grades ranging from A to E. The A group included the high officer type, while the B group included men of less superior

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