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Article 1: Richards, B. (October 1988). Lightner Witmer and the project of psychotechnology. History of the Human Sciences, 1(2), 201-219.

Abstract: The period from the 1880s to the 1920s saw the mapping-out of many of the basic co-ordinates of psychology, within which the discipline continues to develop. A number of major traditions of psychological theory and research (particularly experimental psychology, psychoanalysis, psychometrics, and behaviourism) were established during this period. Large areas of what one might call ’psychotechnology’ also originated at the same time, e.g. practices in the name of professional psychology in the fields of education, mental disorder and handicap, crime and delinquency, and advertising.’ This period can also be seen as that of the installation of many of the structures and practices of social administration which have since been an integral part of life in most parts of the industrialized capitalist world, e.g. the universalization of education, social work in its various forms, and the mental health services. In short, it is the formative period of welfare capitalism, and during it certain social movements were instrumental in calling forth and giving shape to the new apparatuses of welfare, e.g. eugenics, the child study movement, the concern with national efficiency and the mental hygiene movement. Many of the ways in which these movements informed and were informed by the emergence of psychotechnologies are well documented, e.g. the relationship between eugenics and psychometrics.
These wider social developments are obviously a crucial part of the context within which the history of psychology is to be understood. Another part of that context is examined by occupational sociology, namely the domain of intra- and inter-professional relations. Here we have to consider, amongst other things, the processes of negotiation, confrontation, and attrition by which are defined the boundaries between adjacent occupational groups and their conceptual and institutional terrains. The following discussion of early clinical psychology will indicate aspects of the relationships between an emergent psychotechnology and some of these contextual forces. Particular attention will be paid to the work of Lightner Witmer (the first to use the term ’clinical psychology’ systematically), whose ideas about the nature and objectives of his work are of particular interest for understanding the development of psychotechnology.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. The article refers to Witmer as “a pioneer of community-orientated intervention.” What examples from the article and/or book demonstrate this?
    

Article 2: Goldstein, S. (2013). The Science of Intelligence Testing: Commentary on the Evolving Nature of Interpretations of the Wechsler Scales. Journal of psychoeducational assessment, 31(2), 132-137.

Abstract: Intelligence has been defined in multiple ways throughout history. In the last 100 years a psychometric approach to define the concept of intelligence has come to dominate the concept. This Commentary provides a brief overview of the history and concepts of intelligence with an emphasis on intellectual assessment. Particular focus is placed on the last 20 years reflecting substantial improvements in the quality of intellectual measures. An argument is made that although confirmatory factor analysis is one way to interpret and understand the Wechsler Scales, another way is to begin with a clearly articulated theory of intellect and to create an instrument designed and validated to fit that theory. Although application of a confirmatory factor analysis to the Wechsler Scales can generate alternate or additional factors that may be interpreted in light of other theories of intelligence such as Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC), the opinion is offered that the articles in this issue of JPA offer compelling data that Wechsler’s vision was and is still vibrant and valuable.
 

Article 3: Buchanan, R. (April 1997). Ink Blots or Profile Plots: The Rorschach versus the MMPI as the Right Tool for a Science-Based Profession. Science, technology, & human values, 22(2), 168-206.

Abstract: When a strange new test of perceptual style called the Rorschach reached the New World in the 1920s, it became almost immediately popular. Developed as a psychoanalytic "X ray" of the psyche, it succeeded because American psychologists wanted and needed it to do so, and to do so as that kind of test. Over a decade later, the MMPI was constructed as a more orthodox personality inventory geared to traditional psychiatric categories. While this medical legacy was soon removed or obscured, success was more gradual. After the war, clinical psychologists adopted a professional identity independent of psychiatry. Their personality assessment tools, and what counted as success, came to reflect a reclaimed disciplinary genealogy. Standardized mappings and rule-by-numbers tended to displace a trust in experience and expert Judgment. In this context, "proper" Rorschach use came to be seen as indulgent or sadly mistaken. Supporters of the MMPI were, in contrast, able to claim both science and efficiency on their side and colonized the field. The history of these tests clearly illustrates the process of coproduction, of how the right tool can become very wrong as networks dissipate and professional time goes by.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. This article is all about how many people believe the MMPI is a better assessment of personality than the Rorschach test. Can you think of any reasons why the Rorschach might be better than the MMPI?