Alfred Binet created the first IQ test to identify students needing educational help. Binet’s IQ test led to the concept of mental age, comparing a child’s intelligence to the average of their peers.

French psychologist Alfred Binet (1859-1911) took a different tack than most psychologists of his day: he was interested in the workings of the normal mind rather than the pathology of mental illness.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American In France in the 1860s, a teenage boy took ...

Intelligence tests are among the most influential - but also controversial - innovations of the 20th century. Alfred Binet set out with the best of intentions to determine how to place children in the ...