orld War II the need for improved methods of personnel selection led to the expansion of large-scale programs involving multiple methods of personality assessment. Following the war, training programs in clinical psychology were systematically supported by U.S. government funding, to ensure availability of mental-health services to returning war veterans. As part of these services, psychological testing flourished, reaching an estimated several million Americans each year. Since the late 1960s increased awareness and criticism from both the public and professional sectors have led to greater efforts to establish legal controls and more explicit safeguards against misuse of testing materials.Intelligence TestsThe first intelligence tests were short-answer exams designed to predict which students might need special attention to succeed in school. Because intelligence tests were used to make important decisions about people's lives, it was almost inevitable that they would become controversial. Today, intelligence tests are widely used in education, business, government, and the military. However, psychologists continue to debate what the tests actually measure and how test results should be used.Early TestsInterest in measuring individual differences in mental ability began in the late 19th century, Sir Frances Galton, a British scientist, was among the first to investigate these differences. In his book Hereditary Genius (1869), he compared the accomplishments of people from different generations of prominent English families. No formal measures of intelligence existed at the time, so Galton evaluated each of his subjects on their fame as judged by encyclopedia entries, honors, awards, and similar indicators. He concluded that eminence of the kind he measured ran in families and so had a hereditary component. Believing that some human abilities derived from hereditary factors, Galton founded the eugenics movement, which sought to improve...
