wer correlation with intelligence than most of the
other tests of the scale. Many bright children of 10-year intelligence
adopt the trial-and-error method and have little success, while retarded
older children of only 8-year intelligence sometimes succeed. Age, apart
from intelligence, seems to play an important part in determining the
nature of the performance. A favorable feature of the test, however, is
the fact that it makes no demand on language ability and that it brings
into play an aspect of intelligence which is relatively neglected by the
remainder of the scale. For this reason it is at least worth keeping as
an alternative test.

CHAPTER XVII

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YEAR XII

XII, 1. VOCABULARY (FORTY DEFINITIONS, 7200 WORDS)

PROCEDURE and SCORING as in previous vocabulary tests.[68] In this case
forty words must be defined.

[68] See VIII, 6.

XII, 2. DEFINING ABSTRACT WORDS

PROCEDURE. The words to be defined are _pity_, _revenge_, _charity_,
_envy_, and _justice_. The formula is, "_What is pity? What do we mean
by pity?_" and so on with the other words. If the meaning of the
response is not clear, ask the subject to explain what he means. If the
definition is in terms of the word itself, as "Pity means to pity
someone," "Revenge is to take revenge," etc., it is then necessary to
say: "_Yes, but what does it mean to pity some one?_" or, "_What does it
mean to take revenge?_" etc. Only supplementary questions of this kind
are permissible.

SCORING. The test is passed if _three of the five_ words are
satisfactorily defined. The definition need not be strictly logical nor
the language elegant. It is sufficient if the definition shows that the
meaning of the word is known. Definitions which define by means of an
illustration are acceptable. The following are samples of satisfactory
and unsatisfactory responses:--

(a) _Pity_

_Satisfactory._ "To be sorry for some one." "To feel
compassion." "To have sympathy for a person." "To feel bad for
some one." "It means you help a person out and don't like to
have him suffer." "To have a feeling for people when they are
treated wrong." "If anybody gets hurt real bad you pity them."
"It's when you feel sorry for a tramp and give him something to
eat." "If some one is in trouble and you know how it feels to be
in that condition, you pity him." "You see something that's
wrong and have your feeling aroused."

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