Experimental studies of mental defectives : a critique of the Binet-Simon tests and a contribution to the psychology of epilepsy.

  • Wallin, J. E. Wallace (John Edward Wallace), 1876-1969.
Date:
1912
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experimental studies of mental defectives : a critique of the Binet-Simon tests and a contribution to the psychology of epilepsy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    INTRODUCTION. THE BINET-SIMON SCALE AS AN INSTRU- MENT FOR CLASSIFYING MENTAL DEFECTIVES/ The functions of a clinical psychologist in an insti- tution for defectives, in a public school system, in a university, in a psychiatric institute, or in a juvenile court, are twofold: first, that of theoretical inves- tigation, or the increase of knowledge under con- trolled and verifiable conditions. This is essentially the work of the research psychologist or of pure science, so-called; second, that of practical applica- tion, or the utilization of the truths discovered in the educational, vocational, recreational, hygienic, med- ical and custodial treatment of the sufferers. This is the work of the consulting psychologist as distin- guished from the pure researcher, and constitutes the sphere of orthogenesis,^ mental hygiene, or ap- plied clinical psychology. While the line of demarca- tion between these two aims should not be made too fast and hard, logically the work of investigation in an infant science should take chronological prece- dence to the work of consultation, as, indeed, science logically must precede true art. The art of righting defectives cannot rise above the empirical until it is *This cbapter has been adapted, by permission, from a paper read before the St. Louis meeting of the National Association for the Study of Epilepsy, and printed in: the Transactions of the Association for 1911, Vol. VIII, pp. 29f. *In its twofold aspect of orttiophrienlcs and orthosomatics, A» ex«^ plained elsewhere: J. E. Wallace Wallin, Individual and Group Effi- ciency, Psychological Bulletin, 9: 1912, October. 8