A Timeline of Psychological Testing
philosophers. One of these philosophers,
 2200 B.C.E. Proficiency testing begins in
China. The Emperor evaluates public
officials every third year.
 1800 B.C.E. Babylonians develop
astrology in order to interact with the gods
and predict the future. Greeks later
redefine astrology to predict and describe
personality.
 500 B.C.E. Pythagoras begins practicing
physiognomy to evaluate personality.
 400 B.C.E. Hippocrates introduces
Humorology to the field of medicine for the
treatment of physical and mental illness.
 400 B.C.E. Plato suggests people should
find employment that is consistent with
their abilities.
 175 B.C.E. Claudius Galenus designs
experiments to show that it is the brain
and the not the heart that is the seat of
intellect.
 500 A.D. With the start of the Middle
Ages, science takes a backseat to faith
and superstition and the history of
psychological testing is temporarily halted.
 1200 A.D. Interest in individual differences
emerges as people begin to question
whether those in “league with satan” did
so voluntarily or involuntarily. Trials for
witchery and sorcery were common.
 1265 A.D. Thomas Acquinas asserts that
the notion of the human immortal soul
should be replaced by the notion of a
human capacity to think and reason.
 1550 A.D. The Renaissance witnesses a
rebirth in philosophy and an appreciation
for science.
 1698 A.D. Juan Huarte publishes The
Tyral of Wits, the first book to propose a
discipline of assessment.
 1770 A.D. The cause of philosophy and
sciences advances with the writings of
French, German, and English
Rene Descartes, proposes the mind-body
question.
 1823 A.D. The Journal of Phrenology is
founded to further the study of human
abilities and human talents. Although
proven unfounded by experimentation,
phrenology proposed that human qualities
are localized in concentrations of brain
fiber that press outward on the skull.
 1869 A.D. Sir Francis Galton publishes a
study of heredity and genius which
pioneered a statistical technique that Karl
Pearson would later call correlation.
 1879 A.D. In Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm
Wundt founds the first experimental
psychology laboratory.
Wundt’s structuralism relies heavily on a
tool of assessment called introspection
whereby subjects try to describe their
conscious experience of a stimulus.
 1895 A.D. American psychologist James
McKeen Cattell helped launch the
beginning of mental testing. Cattell
eventually founds Psychological
Corporation, a company with the goal of
“useful applications of psychology.”
 1900 A.D. Sigmund Freud
publishes The Interpretation of
Dreams which goes on to influence
approaches to understanding personality
for the next 50 years.
 1905 A.D. Alfred Binet and Theodore
Simon publish a 30-item scale of
intelligence designed to help classify
schoolchildren in Paris schools. The
development of the Binet-Simon
Intelligence Scale is largely recognized as
launching a new era in measurement.
 1908 A.D. Frank Parsons opens the
Vocational Bureau of Boston begins
offering career guidance to young adults.
 1914 A.D. World War I brings about a  1955 A.D. The first version of the
boom in psychological testing as Wechsler Adult Intelligence Tests was
thousands of American recruits are published.
screened for intellectual and emotional  1962 A.D. Katherine Briggs and Isabel
functioning. Briggs Meyers publish the Meyers Briggs
 1919 A.D. Robert Woodworth publishes Type Indicator (MBTI).
the Personal Data Sheet to help identify  1962 A.D. Warren T. Norman publishes
Army recruits susceptible to ‘shell shock.’ his first article over the Big Five
 1921 A.D. Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Personality Factors.
Rorschach publishes his famous  1970 A.D. John L. Holland publishes the
monograph, Psychodiagnostics, which first version of the Self Directed Search
would lead to the development of the (SDS) for consumer use. The inventory
Rorschach Inkblot Test. was intended to help individuals identify
 1926 A.D. The Scholastic Aptitude Test careers that are congruent with their
(SAT) is developed and administered for personalities.
the first time.
 1927 A.D. Carl Spearman publishes a
two-factor theory of intelligence in which
he postulates the existence of a general
intellectual ability factor and specific
components of that general ability.
 1938 A.D. Mental tests have reached the
status of big business. According to
the 1938 Mental Measurements
Yearbook, at least 4,000 psychological
tests are in print.
 1939 A.D. David Wechsler introduces the
Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale
which was designed to measure adult
intelligence. Today, multiple versions of
these tests are in publication and are the
most popular instruments used to
measure the intelligence of children and
adults.
 1943 A.D. Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory was published.
 1949 A.D. The first version to the
Wechsler Intelligence Tests for children
was published.
 1949 A.D. The 16PF Questionnaire, 1st
Edition is released for public use.