Alterations of Personality

Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, is best known for his applied research on intelligence. He initially worked on pathological psychology, which was the major psychological specialty in France at the time, writing on such topics as hysteria. In 1891, however, he turned to experimental psychology and established it as a subdiscipline of psychology. In 1905, at Binet's suggestion, the Ministry of Education considered setting up special classes for mentally abnormal children. In order to determine which children would be unable to profit from normal instruction, Binet and Theodore Simon proposed a series of 30 intelligence tests. The tests were immediately successful and assured Binet's fame. Lewis M. Terman made a subsequent refinement of the tests. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is still in use today. Binet was one of the originators of the questionnaire method. He also studied the psychology of arithmetic prodigies and chess players and pioneered the study of small groups. Binet died in 1911.