The Army Alpha is a group-administered test developed by Robert Yerkes and six others in order to evaluate the many U.S. military recruits during World War I. It was first introduced in 1917 due to a demand for a systematic method of evaluating the intellectual and emotional functioning of soldiers. The test measured "verbal ability, numerical ability, ability to follow directions, and knowledge of information". Scores on the Army Alpha were used to determine a soldier's capability of serving, his job classification, and his potential for a leadership position. Soldiers who were illiterate or foreign speaking would take the Army Beta, the nonverbal equivalent of the exam.
Army Beta
The development of the beta test and of the performance test for the examination of the foreign speaking and illiterate presented special problems. The use of demonstration charts and mime to convey the instructions to the persons being examined proved successful. The new type of the test in the beta, using geometrical designs, mutilated pictures, etc., required different principles in its construction. The individual performance tests also involved additional and peculiar standards of construction and evaluation.
The important purpose of these supplementary tests was, of course, to give to those handicapped by language difficulties a real opportunity to show their ability. In addition, two definite aims were planned in the use of all forms of testing: first, to point out the feeble-minded and those incapable of military service because of mental deficiency; and second, to find those of unusual or special ability. The arrangement of each test, in both group and individual examinations, was therefore checked against the sources of men in institutions for the feeble-minded. If no score had meant low mentality, the first task would have been solved; but it had been shown that literacy was an important factor in the alpha test. The beta test practically eliminated this factor and was thus a step further in selecting those of low intelligence. To prove conclusively that a man was weak-minded and not merely indifferent or malingering, the performance test was added.
The individual examinations as finally used in the U.S. Army were, therefore, primarily checks on the group examinations. No person was reported as feeble-minded until a detailed individual psychological examination had been made. Many cases of mental disorder were discovered and referred to the psychiatrists for examination. Disciplinary cases referred to the psychologists were always given individual examinations, as were referred cases of men having difficulty with drill or those who failed to improve in the YMCA schools and elsewhere. Both the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests were discontinued after World War I.
Relationship of scores and errors
In any psychological aptitude test, the person scoring the test has to take into consideration any error that the examinee will possibly make while taking the test. C. R. Atwell did a small study on the relationship of scores and errors based on the results of administration of the "Army Alpha".
C. R. Atwell wrote, "The number of errors made by a subject on a test should be indicative of his approach to the test, whether he works in a hurriedly and rashly or slowly and cautiously. Considered alone, however, the number of errors is a relatively meaningless figure, since more errors would be expected with lower scores. If for a given score wide deviations occur in the number of errors, the error score of a subject should be of value in giving additional information about him".
Purpose Yerkes outlined seven purposes for administering the "Army Alpha" test: "Classify soldiers according to their mental ability, thus supplementing personnel records of occupational qualifications and assisting with assignment in the Army Supply a mental rating for each soldier which shall assist personnel officers in building organizations of equal or of appropriate strength Assist in regimental, company and medical officers by careful examination and report on men who are not responding satisfactorily to training, or are otherwise troublesome Assist officers of development battalion with classification, grading, training, and ultimate assignment of men Assist in discovering men of superior mental ability who should be selected for officers' training camps, for promotion, or for assignment to special tasks Assist in discovering and properly placing men of marked special skill, as for example, observers or scouts for intelligence service Assist in discovering men who are mentally inferior and who in accordance with degree of defectiveness should be recommended for discharge, development battalions, labor organizations or regular military training"
Methods and results The administration of the "Army Alpha" was carried out in the following manner: The obviously illiterate were segregated from the literate Administration of the "Army Alpha" (for literates). The time of the test was 40 to 50 minutes and there were 100 to 200 men in a group. Administration of the "Army Beta" (for illiterates and men who failed the "Army Alpha"). The time of the test was 50 to 60 minutes and there were up to 60 men in a group. Men who failed the "Army Beta" were subject to individual examinations. Literates who failed the "Army Alpha" and "Army Beta" are given the Stanford–Binet and/or the Point-Scale, depending on the subject. Illiterates who failed the "Army Beta" were given a Performance Test
On November 11, 1918, the psychological personnel consisted of about 120 officers and 350 enlisted men. Over five hundred additional clerks were used in the examining service in the 35 different camps in which psychological examining had been established. The army intelligence examination had been given to 1,726,966 men; of these 41,000 were officers. Approximately 83,000 individual examinations had been given. Over 7,800 men had been recommended for immediate discharge; 10,014 had been recommended for labor battalions or other service organizations; 9,487 had been recommended for development battalions for further observation and preliminary training. Nearly 30 percent of the 1,556,011 men for whom statistics are available were found to be unable to "read and understand newspapers and write letters home", and were given a special examination prepared for illiterates, the Army Beta.
The methods originally prepared for use in the Army were subjected to repeated revisions, in the light of results, for increase in reliability and military value. The procedure finally adopted and used throughout the Army consists of two chief types of examination: the group examination and the individual examination. The former was necessitated by the demand for speed of examination and report, the latter by the desire for reliability and fairness to the individual.
Men were examined in groups as large as five hundred. Every man was supplied with a pencil and an examination blank. He then, under military discipline, follows directions to the best of his ability. The examination required approximately fifty minutes. It demands almost no writing since responses were indicated by underscoring, crossing out, or checking. The examination papers were quickly scored by means of stencils, and mental ratings recorded for prompt report. To avoid, within reasonable limits, the risk of coaching, several duplicate forms of the examination had been made available. Each test of examination alpha consisted of a number of parts arranged in order of difficulty low to high. It was therefore possible for low-grade subjects to make a start on each test, and, at the same time, practically impossible for highly intelligent subjects to complete the tests within the time allowed. The test were varied in character and undoubtedly sample the most important types of intellectual process.
Structure The general procedure of examining, which was developed to meet military requirements, is briefly describable as follows: A group of draftees, the size of which is determined by the seating capacity of examining room (it varied from one hundred to five hundred men) is reported to the psychological examining building for mental testing. The first essential step is the segregation of illiterates. This is accomplished by having all men who cannot read and write their own letters and those who have not proceeded beyond the fifth grade in school step out of the original group. The remaining men are sent to the alpha room. Naturally, among them there are likely to be several who will subsequently have to take the Army Beta examination. The illiterates are sent directly to the Army Beta room.
Men who fail in the alpha were sent to the Army Beta in order that injustice by reason of relative unfamiliarity with English may be avoided. Men who fail in Army Beta are referred for individual examination by means of what may appear to be the most suitable and altogether appropriate procedure among the varied methods available. This reference for careful individual examination is yet another attempt to avoid injustice either by reason of linguistic handicap or accidents incident to group examining.
The "Army Alpha" is divided into 8 tests. There are also five forms of the test—forms 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and the questions asked are ordered in ascending difficulty. Army recruits were asked to answer the questions as quickly as possible. They tested arithmetic, "common sense", vocabulary, word order, number patterns, analogies, and sentence completion.
Grading The Army Beta yield numerical scores or intelligence scores which for practical military purposes are translated into letter grades.
The several intelligence letter grades used in the Army, with their score-equivalents and appropriate definitions are presented here: GradeIntelligenceScore (alpha)Score (beta)% of totalDescriptionAVery superior135–212100–1184% to 5%Men of marked intellectuality. They are of high officer type when they are also endowed with leadership and other necessary qualities.BSuperior105–13490–998% to 10%Less exceptional than "A". Many men of the commissioned officer type and a large amount of non-commissioned officer material.C+High average75–10480–8915% to 18%A large amount of non-commissioned officer material with occasionally a man whose leadership and power to command fit him for commissioned rank.CAverage45–7465–79About 25%Excellent private type with a certain amount of fair non-commissioned officer material.C−Low average25–4445–64About 20%Below average intelligence, but usually good privates and satisfactory in work of a routine nature.DInferior15–2420–44About 15%Likely to be fair soldiers, but usually slow in learning and rarely go above the rank of private.Short on initiative and so need more than the usual amount of supervision. Many are illiterate or foreign.D−Very inferior0–140–19 — Very inferior in intelligence but considered fit for regular service.EVery inferior0–140–19 — Men whose mental inferiority justifies their recommendation for development battalion, special service organization, rejection, or discharge.
The majority of "D−" and "E" men are below ten years in "mental age".
History