Musical Aptitude Testing: From James McKeenGattell to Garl Emil Seashore

Jere T. Humphreys

AbstractThe.PYqPgse of this artide is to describe the iinks betrareen late nineteenth-centuryP:y:.holgFcal research and the,early musical aptitude research of Carl EmiI Seashot"liilOti-7949)- The primary link was the music-related research of the leader of the *"t t"t-tJitit nmovement during the 1890s, Columbia University psychologist James McKeen C"tt"fi(185eD44). Gerrran psydrologist wilhelm wuriai iirstmctEd Cattelt in the Germanscientific t1{i.tion, and EStglish researcher Francis Galton encouraged Cattell's rur""t.h *individual differences and introduced him to statistical methods. Suring the 1890s, Gtt"Uconducted a longitudinal study, the hlpothesis for which was thai tests of sensorvdiscrimination ability, induding mtisicat discrimination, would correlate ;ti.tundergraduates' acadeuric gra$g_s.

-After his study failed to produce the expected results,

the mental tqting movesrent followed Alfred Bindt and Victor Henri of Fran'ce, "na GEefrtumed to other activities. However, in the meantime, Cattell influenced'rrta"y "th;;imp-oltant_gsychologlsts, induding Edward W. Scripture, Ctd Seashore's doctoral'm"r,totat Yale University, and eventually Seashore iiimseU. Despite the mentai t"rtit emovement's shift to Binet and Henri's cognitive.tlpe testing,' Seashore continued hiEconservative, sensory approach to the testing of musical aptitudE.

hen psychologist Carl Emil Seashore (1,86G1,949) began the two decades ofresearch that led to the development of his famous tesii of rnusical aptitude,l hedrew uPon beliefs and research methods then prevalent in the field ofdrew_ upon- feliefs and research methods then prevarent in field of

psychologT. Y*y of those beliefs and methods were examined in a previous article.2 ThePurPose of this ?tti.l. is to describe the remaining major links berween late nineteenth-century music-related psych_ological research and Slashore's early work: the music-relatedresearch of James McKeen Cattell (7860-19U), the leader of the i:rental testine movementduring the 1890s.3

Cattell (7850-19U), the leader of the hental testing movement

In the 189Os,-European and Arnerican researchers in the new field of scientific,empirical,- laboratory-based psychology (as opposed p-hilosophical "armchair" psycholory)focused their researgh on. sensory perception, the

-fust of the new psychoiogy's tti""."great topjcs."{ At about the sami time, American psychotogists assumei the i6idership

in 3ent1l jgst$g research, which w.as part of the- new psychology. Carl Seashorlundertook his doctoral studies in the first half of the 1890s, I ieriod lhat coincided withthe birth of sensory psychology and mental testing research in the United States. Notlong thereafter, he-applied-the methods of scienfifii psychology and mental testing to hisresearch on musical aptitude.

Perception Research. Speculation about sens-ory perception beg"n in Ancient Greece. Empiricai

research on the same began 4"ti"g the Renaisslnce, including studies of the leastdiscernible differences.in^mu{I?I p,itch. Theoretical and empirical-perception research byErnst Heinrich Weber (779-*7878), Gustav Theodor Fechner liAOt-tee4, Fler*.on Ludwi!Ferdinand von Helmholtz (7827-7894), and other physicists led to a fusion olphilosophiPl speculadon and physiological research- oh sensation, which in turnS.gncibtle{:fry{qUf to_ th" emdrgelc-e of the field of modern psycholory. wilhelmWundt (1832-7920) of the University- of Leipzig, the world's first iarirous psycholosist,borrowed testilg ideas and research methois hom these early rese_archeri "i a n"fi"adevelop the subfields of experirnental psychology and psychophysics.s

Research Sfudres in Music Eduetion Number 10, June 1998

Cambridge University researcher Francis Galton (1822-1911) borrowed sensorvp"I:?Fo" research methods from Wundt and others. An adherent of the long-standingbelief that all knowledge is obtained through the five senses, Galton was also influencedby Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) theory of evolution, the natural selection properties ofwhich irnplied.individual differences. befween peoplq5 the widespre-ad UeUef in facuitypsychology, whose adherents held that sensory faculties correspond to faculties of thebrain; the emergence of atomistic chemistry, which encouraged psychologists to study the"psychologicai-elements," ol senses; and the development of the concept of the no.mil, o,rlndom, distribution curye.7

Evenfually, Galton hypothesized that "a measure of sensory acuiry would providea crude measure of aperson's.level of inteiligence," and that mental ability is nornillly, orrandomly, disEibuted.o He also carne to believe that mental abilities are related to Lachother, which led him to develop the rudiments of statistical conelation.e Unlike Wundt,who attempted to identify traits corunon to all (or most) people, Galton used Wundt'smethods to measure individual differences in mental abiliry. Galton's research, whichbegan in the 1870s, induded tests of musical discrimination and perception.ro

James GattellLeadership of the mental testing movement passed from Galton in the 1880s to

James Cattell in the 1890s. Cattell graduated from Lafayette College in Easton,Pennsylvania, where his father was president, in 1880. For the next several years, hedivided his time between completing a master's degree at Lafayette, working on a Ph.D.in psychology under Wundt (granted in 1885), studying with Galton at Cambridge, andseveral other activities. One of those activities was a graduate fellowship af JohnsHopkins University (1882-83), where he and fellow graduate students (two of whom wereJohn Dewey and Joseph Jastrow) helped G. Stanley Hdl (1844-7924) establish one of thefirst American psychological laboratories.lr He went to the University of Pennsylvania inthe late 1880s, where he opened a psychological laboratory and held the first universityfactrlty position in pqychologlt in the United States. After moving to Columbia Universityin 1891, he provided -leadership to the new experirnental psycholog'y movement for th-enext twenty-six years.''

Cattell see-ms to have b"Efr. his sensory perception studies while at JohnsHopkins in 1883.'" He continued at least one of those experiments in Wundt'shb6ratory.lr He also seems to have developed his keen interest in experimentalapparatus at Leipzig, induding those for music research:

We have in the [Wundt's] laboratory two excellent pieces of apparatus for testing thepower of distinguighing notes. The one is an organ anangement, whidr gives the notes atintervals of four vibrations from 32 to 1024 tHz.l . . . The other apparatus is a set of tuningforks made u? byKonig [slcJ, in Paris. Pairs of tuning forks are takm, one always gives thesame note, the other (by means of weights) can be so regulated as to give a note a littlelower or higher. Experiments on this subiect are being made by-three groups of shrdents .. . In one case, memory of notes is being especially investigated.rs

Similarly, in 1888, Cattell described "[c]areful experiments, not yet published," that had'been carried on for several years past in the Leipsic [srcJ laboratory" on the leastperceptible differences in loudness and pitdr, and on the perception of musical intervals.t6

Cattell also s€€Itls to have first become interested in individud differences duringhis time with Hdl at ]ohns Hopkins.tt He took that interest with him to Leipzig, wher6Wundt, himself uninterested in individual differences,rt dlowed C-attell to writsa paperon the zubiect as early as 1885.re

Cattell's interest in individual differences intensified during his intermittent workwith Galton at Cambridge over s_gveral years. For example, his letters from C-ambridge tellof his "association experiments,"- which he employed in his mental testing efforts.

Cattell studied extensively with Wundt, the early ieader in the psychologicalmeasurement of sensory perception, and Galton, the pioneering mental td-stLr andthee-aly.leader in the measurement of individual differences in sensory perception. The factthat both men incorp_orated tests of musrcal perception in their reieirch ippears to haveinfluenced Cattell to do the same.

Cattell the Mental TesterAt the University of Pennsylvania, his first full-time position, Cattell gathered for

the lbor1tory "a valuable collection of Koenig's [src] apparatus for the studi of hearing

and the elements of music . . ."2'r Soon therjafter, in ibgO, he published # *U.f" i"'!Britis\ journal that scholars believe was the first time the term "mental test" appeared inprint." In this artide, a watershed in the history of mental measuremenlP Cattelldescribed a series of ten tests then in use at Pennsylvania. None of the ten tests involvedmusic, although one measured "Reaction-time for Sound." However, Cattell listed anadditional fifty tests still under development, "which I iook on as the more important inorder that attention may be drawn to them, and co-operation secured in choosing the bestseries of tests and the most acctrrate and convenient methods." Some of th"ese weremusic tests.2a

Upon- his arrival at Columbia, he established the departrnent of psychology anddeveloped what became known as the "Freshrnan Tests," *fricfr he adririnisterei'to atleast fifty volunteer freshmen each year beginning in 1893. Cattell held great hope forthese tests, which he predicted would corelate with each other and irith acardemicgrades. In an 1896 artide, Cattell and a collaborator described their research methods insome detail and -provided preliminary,results from what may have been the firstpredictive study of academic success. Only two tests related to music. For one, a test ofl"1lt g (o{ !gnes), the researchers simply divided subjects from each year into "normal,""subnormal," and "abnormal" categories. The other music test measurid the "acclrracv

ofthe perception of pitch." After subjects hgqd-a pitch (F below middle C) played on amonochord, they attempted to match the pitch by adjusting the instrument's 6ridge.5

After several more years -of data collection, one of Cattell's graduate stud.ents,Clark Wissler, reported more results from the study, induding data collected from u r*.Unumber of fernale students from Barnard College. Wissler correlated the test scores witheach other and -with. senior. grade-point averages using the technique of statisticalcorrelation that had been discovered by Galton and developed by- Galton's youngassociate, IGrl Pearson. %

Most of the instruments in the battery were tests of sensory discrimination. Inaddition to the pitch perception test described above, Wissler discussed a music-relatedtest of "Rhythm

-and Percepfion of Time" that measured subjects' abilities to continuejapping a.steady_beat on.a telegraph.key fifty times after hearing a stimulus of ten tappedbeats, and two "Ir,agery" questions that required written responies.t

On.fhg pitch pe:ception test, the "average error" (rnonochord bridge distance fromthe "correct" placement) was 7.2 centimeters for freshmen and 3.7 centimJters for seniors.Wissler conduded that wornen were superior to men and seniors were superior tofreshrnen on that test, with a "certainty of results" of p <.01 in each case.r He iound nostatistically significant differences in pitch perception between freshmen from differentveats.!

Unfortunately, with one excepticn, Wissler did not report correlation coefficientsftwee1-thg pitdr perception test and the other variables. The exception was a coefficientof r = .01 between Pit+ perception and reaction time (N = 100).

-In general, he found

only chance intercorrelations between the physical and mental tesis, and moderateintercorrelations betrseen grades for-specific coutses. Most disappointing of all, he foundonly drance correlations between individual tests taken as freshirLn and-overall grad.es asseniors. Among other things, Wissler complained about the inadeq-uacy of

Research Strdles in Music Eduation Number 10, June 1998

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undergradultg gf3des a-c.^a representative measure of students' abilities to handle "lifetasks," which he d.eemed ''exceedingly

complex," He concluded that Cattell'" phy;;; ""dmental tests promised littie "from a practical point of view."s

Other Mental TestersEuropean researchers were beginning to conduct similar studies of mental

functions in the 1890s.31 In the United States, where most of the work occurred, FrankBoas (1858-19!2) related school children's test scores to their mental alertness as estimatedby teachersl.f.oseph Jastrow (1,863-1.94).developed fifteen tests for college students; andilTgt A. Gilbert (b. ?-d. ?) studied the mental and physical deveiopment of schooichildren. Like Cattell and Wissler, Boas and Gilbert found only chairce relation;hit;between test scores and teacher ratings.3z

More important than any of these mental testing efforts was the work of AlfredBinet (7857'1911) and Victor Henri (1,872-7940) in France and Hugo Miinsterberg (1gd3-1915) in the United States. These researdrers experimented with a iadically differlni voeof mental test based- on- cogni{ve fulctioling iather than sensory perc6ption.s CaitlUseems to have recognized as early as 1895 the irnportance of these n-ew tests:

of a seictly PfFhological draracter. For the psychotogist these are, of course, the mostinteresting and important. But we are at present concerned with anthropometric work, andmeasurements of the body and of the smses corne as completely within our scope as thehigher rnental processes.-

Indeed, the mental testing movernent soon followed Binet and Henri's lead.Probably for that reason, Cattell, like Galton before him, turned to other interests.$ Heeveltu{I became embittered, -in part because "his major conFibution to experimentalpsycho_logy . . . [was] thoroughly discredited and replaced by the . . . tests of AlfredBinet.""

Cattell and SeashoreSeveral pieces of evidence suggest that Cattell influenced Carl Seashore's work on

musical aptitude_ testing. First, as a founding member and fourth president of theAmerican -Psygholoqtcal Associa6on,-founding editor of the Ameriun loutrul of Psyctutogy,founding head of the psychology departsnent at a leading university (Colum6ia), andleader of the menld testing movement during the 1890s, James Cattell was an extremelyprominent psychologist.

Second, C,attell was a professional friend of Edward Wheeler Scripture (78il-1945), Seashore's doctoral mentor at Yale University who himseU had taken his doctorateunder Wundt in 1891. Scripture was a highly productive researcher, but because of hisdisagreeable personality, he "was largely estranged from his generation of Americanpsychologsts," except for Cattell, his "best friend among the American psychologists."tIn addition to the personal relationship betr'veen Cattell and Scripture, -both Scripture andSeashore adopted "an approach [ke Cattell's" to the sfudy of sensation.s

A final set of dues to the link between CatteU and Seashore resides in the JamesMcKeen Cattell Collection held by the Library of Congress. The author located more thanseventy pieces of personai correspondence between the two rren, the earliest dating from7g9,. f . .8 '

Seashore's doctoral dissertation, whidr he completed in 1895, was about neithermental testing nor music. Instead, his interest in mental testing rnay have come indirectlyfrom the prominent Cattell, whose artide on the Columbia 'Freshmart Tests" appearedafter Seashore compl^eted his dissertation but before he published his first artidli on amusic-related study.o C-attell's work with music tests pr6UaUty appealed to Seashore, aformer singrng school student, dtutch o.lganist and droir director, and college glee dubdirector from an amateur musical farnily."

Nttmber 10, June 1998 Research Sludies in Music Eduetion

GonclusionsCattell learned from Wundt about the long German tradi6on of perception

research, with its "precision, accuracy,_9t4".,_and-repioducibilify of data and findings."o,He may have becorne interested in individual differences undei Hall. Under Galto;, hedey.elope{ his_interest in the measurement of sensory perception differences befweenindividuals. In addition, Gdton's concepts about slatisticai conelation undoubtedlyformed the basis for-Cattelll: !,ypott"ses about relationships between mental ability aniacademic grades (and other "life tasks").

Despite the failure of Cattell's tests, his work "was of great importance as it wasthe first attempt to apply the 'new psvcholoerv' to problems o7 indivijual diffprencpc "sattempt to apply the 'new psychology' to problems oJ individual differences."s

tless, he experienced difficultv in selectins valid. rneasurah'le denenrtpnrNevertheless, he experienced difficulry in selecting valid, measurable dependentvariables, a problem that continues to pliague todav's music education researchj'c F{icvariables, a problem that continues to plague today's music education researchers. Hismain problem, however, was his presumably false hypothesis about shone relationshiosFait problem, -hgrygver, was his presumabty f*: hypothesis about strong relationshipsLolr^too- aanlal ahi l i f r r --J -^--^- ' -^-^^-I^- -L: l : r . +ibetrareen mental ability and sensory percepHon abilty.

It is not surprissg that Seashore and many other American psychologistsfollowed Cattell and not Binet, because the latter's most important work aplearea a-fe*yeaf. liater. Horvever, most American researchers eventuilly joined Binai in definingintelligencg as cognitive functioning_ ab{t}t not as sensory perception abiliry. Bicontrast, Seashore's tests rernained largely in the sensory

-peiceptibn realm, ind hL

aPpe.us to have followed several other early mental testing researChers when he added(tg-"al m:nlgry_to his list of important "psychological processes," something that Cattelldid not do.* However, Binet and other mainstream mental testing researders dropped"sensation, attention, perception, association, and memory" from their test batferiesaround 79C4.46

Seashore retained his 1890s belief about yet another issue: that a series of mentaltgsts could not-yield a- single sJgle that-represents general musical (or intellectual) ability.That was Cattell's position and Binet's, but subsequent American testing researchers wenton to develop the concept of the intelligence quotient and other unitary measures ofmental ability. On that issue, at least, Seashore's conservatism aligned his work withcurrent thinking, which has now returned to that position.

lmplications for Music EducationCattell, the leading sensory mental tester of the 1890s, formally tested his first

complete b3ttery in the 1890s. Seashore, the leading sensory musical tester, formallytested his first complete battery in the 1.910s, sorne twenty years later. Binet and Henripublished their first battery of cognitive't1pe tests in 1904, only a few years after Cattell'ssensory tests failed to predict academic achievement. Other researchers furtherdeveloped the French tests in the first decade of the twentieth century, and havecontinued to develop them to this day.

By-contrast, the field of music waited until 1955 for the appearance of a weli-constructed test that corresponded to the second generation of

-inte[igence tests.{7

Researdrers now question the validity of this second generation of tests, both ofintelligence alld of musical aptitude. Both tlpes of tests piedict performance on school-related tasks,s but not necess-arily on "life hiks."

Two central historical questions remain. First, why did Seashore, unlike Cattell,not abandon the effort after his tests failed to demonstrati predictive validity? ln otherwords, wiy did Seashore remain committed to sensory measures when

-his (mostly

American) counterpattt T other fields shifted from tests of sensory perception to tests ofreasoning and judgment?

- It was partly a matter H4tg, Seashore having received his doctoral training andb"gt. his research Progmm during the crucial few years between Cattell's-boldhypothesis about relationships between sensory skills and mental ability and the failure of

Researci Sfudrbs in Music Eduetion Number 10, June 1998

his statistical correlations to support tfat hypothesis. By the tirne failure was reported,Seashore may have already committed himseif to his iife-long agenda. After all, Binetand Henri's "key artide"-in which they ''argued for mental testing based not on sensoryand motor functions but on the psychological processes thought to be involved i;intelligence . . ."4e--appeared in 1895, the year Seashore received hii doctorate.

It is aiso probable that Seashore believed that musical abilify really is based largelyon sensory abilify, and therefore is somehow different from other mental abilitiei.Regardless, years later, Seashore explained that he had "drifted gradually into the field ofpsychology of music primarily for two reasons: first, rny love of music and realioation ofgreat possibilities in an unworked field; and, secondly," because his fust research interest,vision, plagysd its research subjects with eye fatigue, a probiem that did not trouble auralresearchers.*

The second question is: Since Seashore did not turn to other types of tests, whydid other music researchers not do so either? Almost frorn the beginning, critics chargedthat Seashore's battery was sensory and atomistic, but no one, induding his mostprominent critic, Columbia University psychologist James Mursell (1893-1963),stconducted extensive, rigorous research on the tests or developed alternative tneasures.The lack of research-oriented graduate baining in music education undoubtedlyhampered the profession's efforts to test the validity of Seashore's battery thoroughly andto keep pace with new developments in the rnentai testing and research worldsgenerafly.s2 in addition, Seashore himself-with his Yate Ph.D. ii tne "scientific" field ofpsychology, his deanship at the University of Iowa and presidency of the AmericanPsychological Association, and his tireless research efforts and prolific publication record--brought considerable prestige to the field of rnusical aptitude testing.

Indeed, unlike most other earlier sensory rnental testing researchers, Seashorenever changed his mind about the sensory nattrre of mental (musical) aptitude, althougheventually he tacitly acknowledged the- possibility of other types of "musicol capacit5r"when he wrote, in 1930, that his six published measures "furnish a tarly good index tomusic capacity on the sensory side."s3

-Given his professional pres6ge andtliat of the field

of psychology, and in the absence of strong evidence against his clairns or of alternativeapproaches to musical aptitude testing, Seashore's tests stood nearly alone for a longtime.

An implication of this historicd research is that the field of music education canbenefit from the research of prominent individuals from outside the field. Wundt, Galton,Cattell, and Seashore developed some of the concepts and research methods and toolsstill in use today. Each rnade large intellectual "leaps of faith" and each worked diligentlyto test his hlpotheses. Each rendered the field a great service, directly or indirectly. Inparticular, this story of James Cattell and Carl Seashore suggests that music educatorsshould consider carefully the contributions and prestige brought by those from outsidethe field. Seashore himself mentioned that he had been "more or less iustlv the butt ofcriticism from the musical profession." Hottrever, he "lsg wrote that:

ln the field of diagnosing musical talent, I have had a rather e)ctraordinary following, butunfortunately much of it a gullible and non-critical type on the part of people who wouldtake an isolated element in my procedure and handle it as if it covered the wholesituation.sClearly, it is incumbent upon music educators to decide which contributions to

embrace, which to disregard, and whidr to use as building blocks for the next generationof ideas.

Notes1 Cart E. Seashore , Seaslwe Measures of Musicat Talent (New York: The Psychological Corporation,

1919).Z |ere -1.. Humphreys, ?:ecurs_ors of. Musicai Aptitu-de Testing: From_ the Greeks through the

Work of Francis Gdton," Jounul of Rexmch in Music Educatbn 41. (Winter 1993): 3i.5-27.3 Ea*it G. Boring, A^History of Eryrimmtat Psyclology, 2d ed. (New York: Appleton Century-

Crofts, 1950), 559.4 The other tr,\to "great topics,".learning and motivation, did not emerge until a few years later.

Humphreys, "Precursors," 323�.5 lbid., gr|rr.5 Ch"tl"s Darrrin, in his Tte Desent of lvlan ard Selection in Relation to Sex,2d ed. (New york:

American Publishers Corporation,1874), had.argued that sensitivity to pitch is importantin the naturaf .qelectiol process because "the vocal organs wer-e primariiy usdd andperfected in relation to the propagation of the species" (589).

7 H,r-phreys, "Preculsors," 31&19.8 lbid., 319. Attenrpts to measure rnental ability had occtr:red at least since the early nineteenth

cgnt:lry: Acco_rdin-g t9 !9t"l* Goodenough, Mqttal Testing lts Histoy, Phnciptes, andAVplicatiotzs (New York Rinehart and Company, 7949),3, the-first major fuork alone thoselines was produced in France and differentiated between rnental d6ficiency and inentaldisease. Jean-Etienne Dominique Esquirol, Des maWies mentales nnsidi ries sous les raVportslnedial hygientque, a ryted.ico-Ugyl, vols. I, -II and atlas (Paris: J. B. Bailligrs, 1838). Galtonknew from this research that idiots and imbeciles frequently exhibit inferior sensory acuity,:9 he hlpothesized a relationship betw-een sensory acuity and intelligence.

-Richaid

Hermstein, I.Q. in tle Mritooacy @oston: Little, Brown, 1973),63.9 Humphreys, "Pr€orrsors," 321. Galton developed his first regression iine from the size of"mother" and "dagghtg"

Pea:. Karl Pearson, The Life, Izttrs and. Labours of Frattcis Galton,vol. IIIA (C-ambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1930), ,5,69-

10 Humphreys, "Preculsors," 379-20.11 Controversy remains over whom shouid be credited with estabiishing the first psvcholoeical

laboratory in the United States: Hall 31 Johns Hopkins in early tB83 or Williain Jarne"s atHanrard University around 1875. The controversy centers on whether 'James' ioom fordmtonstrational erperiments at Hanrard" was really a laboratory. J. McKeen Cattell, "EarlyPsydrological Laboratories," Science 67 (May 79?A): 5tt6.

12 Most biographical accounts state that Cattell went to Pennsylvania in 1888, but he himselfwrote later that he founded the laboratory there in 1887. Ibid., ii45. Published accounts ofC-attell's life differ in many details as to his exact whereabouts at specific times before hisextended stays abroa$ gn-ded in 1-891. Numer_ous personal-letters, piimarily to his parents,suggest_that he traveled frequently letween Leipzig, Cambridge_, and varibus othei placesin the United States and Europg. E:8.: Ir1n !*gl McKeen C-atteli1, Leipzig, lettirs to'Mama and P-apa" tWtli* and Flizabeth CatteUl, Philadelphia, 25 luiy fAe+ and 5December 1894, in James McKeen Cattell Collection,

- Container

'#55, 'Familv

99rypot aence," December 188&March 1903, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress-,Washin$on, DC. The most complete account of Cattell's activities from 18&1888 apiearsin Midrael M. Sokal, &., An Education in Psyclnlogy: lames McIQen Ctttett's Jouriit andIdtns fron Gentuny and Enghnd,1880-1888 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 19t1).

13 [bid.,70, note 3.74 J. McKeen Cattell, 'Ueber die Tragheit der Netzhaut und des Sehcentrums," Philosophislu

,tudi* 3 (1885)i p+]!-l; reprinted as 'The Inertia of the Eye and Brain," 1no trairs.; inJames McK"gr C-aneII,lames Mcl(un &ttell,7860-1.9a14: IvIan of Science, vol. I (Lancaster, irA:The Science Press, 794n,27. (?age citation is to the reprint edition.)

15 flames McKeen CatteUJ, Leipzig,letter to Francis Galton, Cambridge, England,, [n.d. sivenl,quoted in Francis Galton, "On Recent Designs for AnthropomeuiJ hstmments]" fhcIgurnqt of the Antlvopological Institute of Grut Britain and lrelitd 15 (1887): 8. Severai ofC-attell's journal entries anci letters to his parents beginning in 1884 also contain referencesto his involvement with apparatus in Wundt's Leipzig laboratory. E.g., Sokal, Ednu,tion,9&105.

Researcfi Sfirdrbs in Music Eduetion Number 10, June 1998

49

t6 James McKeen Cattell, 'The Psychoiogical Laboratory at Leipsic lsicl," Min"d 13 (January 1888):

43.17 Sokal, Eduution,70, note 3. Although Gdton is u.sualiy regarded as the $9t.jo study individuai

differences'"r,d *us the undisputedly leader of the movement, Hall was edectic andprogressive and, like other psychologt:!.T the,child-stu$l mgvqlent,-eventualiy bT".T.uinteiested in the characteristiis of individual childr_el-. iere. T. _Hump-hreys,

'Th_e Child-Study Movement and Public School Music Education," lournal of Reseatch in Music Educntion33 (Summer 1985): 82'

18 HumphreYs, "Precursors," 319'

79 J. McKeen Catteil, 'ueber.die Zeit der Erke^nnung-yli Benennung vorr Schriftzeichen, Bildemund Farben.;'Pnito*phi*tu Studim 2 (1385): 63F50; translatod_b-y R. S. Woodworth as "On

the Time Required fbr Recognizitrg *d Naming .Itetters and Words, Pictures and Colors,"in Cattell, Cittty, vol. I, I{25. Years later, Cattell gave this revealing account of Wundt'sreactions to his early work on individual differencgs: . . : 5 mY second interview withWundt [probably in i883] I presented an outline of the work I wanted to undertake, which*", tt e'bUjecivl measurement of the time of reactions with sp-eciai reference to individualdifferences. Wundt said that. . . only psydroiogists could be th9 :gPiqcts in psychologicalexperiments. I later bought an! made the apparatus needed and did the work T my..otT,oirrn, without, however] any intemrption in relations that were then becomin-g-SSf{y IMcKeen C"t;ii,-"h Memoryof Wilhe'Im Wundt," Psyclological RcoicTD 28 (May Dzr;: rso.

20 E.g., Jim [James McKeen CatteU], qamb-r-rqg-e., letter to 'Mama..and Papa," Philadelphia, 23"

No.reriber 1893, James McKeen Cattell Collection, Container #55.

zl Jarnes McKeen Catteil, l'!^s.yclgtogy at the University of Pennsylvania," Amniun lourruI of'

PsYclulogY 3 (APril 7890):282'ZZ Jarnes McKeen Catteu, 'Mental Tests and Measurements, Mind 15 (January 1890): 37$80.

?3 Katherine W. Linden and James D. Linden, Modsn Mmtal Measuranent: A Historial P*sVectioe---@oston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968)' 9-10'

24 Caftell, 'Mental Tests," 378. C-attell a_clcnowledg"q hb indebtedness to Galton in that artide,

when ne wroie that Galton had "already gseq some of these tests, and I hope the series

here suggested will meet with his approval" (373' note 1)'

zS J. McKeen Catte1 and Livingston Farrand, "Physical and Mental Measurements of the Students' - -

of columbia universi{r' Prydnlogial R@ie1p 3 (1895):635.

26 Oark Wissler, 'The Correlation of Menal and l_]nysical Tests," Psyclnlogiul Raoieu Monograph----SuVplene:nfs 3 (Whole No' 16) flune 1901)" 7'52'

/7 lbid.,9.zg lbid., 5, 1s17. The present author translated Wissler's archaic statistical terns and symbols to

modern usge.Zg lbid., ZI-ZZ. Wissler did not report exact significance levels for these and most of his other

statisticd tests.30 lbid.,54, 6t-62.31 For more information see Linden and Lindm' 10'gZ Frank Boas, "Antluopological tnvestigations in Schools ;' !{SoWl.Sgniltaty 1 (June 1891): 22S

28; Joseph Jastr_ow, "So_me antt*"opometrigirnd.P.sychologic [sic] Tests on College St'dmts:

A preliminary Survey," An eris;rtrrrr-t o7 Psyclol;gy + (April 1_892), +2n,,; J. Allen gilo"+,,'ResearchelilM;r"t;e Fh#t."t Deielofmmibr Soioot-children," in ftrary-fr*, tt"

Vab Psyc'yjtogtd,l laboratq-y, uoi..I, ed..E. Vt. Scripture (New Haven, CT: Yale Universitypress, uriif?a i

-.,\liJ" Gilt*t-; "R.searctrd upon school Childrm -an{ .co[9g9

Shrdents," ii, U"#tV q Wo-St AA in isyAubg,, v6I. I, qL G99tgt T' W' Patsick and I'

Allen Gilbe1i-(ffi; 'Cityt

St"t" Unirersi-ty- of-iowa, 789n: Ql" .of Gilbert's testing

e)@erinents involved music t L Gtt!.{, 'Txperimeng

on ihe Musical Sensitiveness of

siffiTchtid;, t" srrrd6 frh'tht-yd" nsyaniogtcal l-aboratory, vol- I, ed' E' w' Scripture

CN"* Haven, CT: Yale Univi:rsity Press, 1893)'33 A. Binet and v. Hmri, "L,a psychotogie individuelle," L'grY. psydnlogi4ru 2 (1895): 41165;

excerpts #bt"d'by rtroufu 'n:

ffitc;-T iriiwt in' tilc Hiiory of Psglnlogv' &'Richard I.'?:;;d;; Ed*t' c-i?;t-lcanuriage, MA: Harvarll universitv hess,

Number 10, June 1998 Resarch Sfirdies in Music Ed!@tiolrt

. 1955),.42*33; and lqgo. Mtn{9{e19,. _Vu, individual Psychologie," Cmtralbiatt f.ntoenlceikutzde und psychiabie 14 (1891): 79G98.U Cattell and Farran d., 62g.35 Humphreys, '?recursors," 322.% Michael M. Sokal, 'The Unpublished Autobiography of Jarnes McKeen Cattell," Amriun

PSydwlogbt 36 1yty 7!71): 529. Evidence that -Cattell

never compietely gave up on his'Freshrnan Tests" can be found in a report written n 7922.l. M. Cifteil,"'ffre Firsi year oft" Ptyqhqlogical C_orporation," unpublished report, 1 December 7922, in James McKeenCattell Collection, Container #178, -'Subject File," 189S1936, Manuscipt Division, Libraryof Congress, Washington, DC.

37 Michaei M. Sokal,-'Biographical Approach: The Psychological Career of Edward WheelerScripture," -n Historiograplry of Modan Psyclobgy: Aimi, Resurces, ApVroaclus, ed. JosefBrozek and Ludwig J.-P^ongratz (Ioronto: C. I. Hogrefe, Inc., 19S0); 26,3. Catte[, fore><anrple, praised one of Scriptue's books, Edward WFeeler Scripture, Tla N611p Psttcl162loq:,t(!'I"* York Scribner's, 789n, whqn other psy'chologists cridcized it harshly.- Sokil,'Siographical;' 2ffi7. In addition, Crttell apparently h-lped Scripture become a'fellow oithe American Association for the Advancem-ent oJ_ Sciencg. tEgward Wheeler] Scriphrre,New Haven, CT, lette_r to [ames_McKeenJ Cattell, New York, NY, 7 August 1901, in j"*eiMcKeen Catteli Collection, Container #38, "General Correspondlence," l18/=lg44,llan1sqet Djyslon, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. In i902, Scripture visitedCattell about hisir-ture pians,.just belore he was rdleased by Yaie later that year. Afterearning a rnedical degree in his native Germany and teaching briefly at johni Hopkins,loF.9giptot" and his wife obtained positions ai Columbia, "p-ossibly'with

Catteu's help.;'Sokal, lBiognphical," 269-70.

38 lbid., 250.39 James McKeen Cattell Collection, Container #38. Years later, Cattell and others collaborated

with Seashore to found the no_nprofit Psychoiogical Corporation. Their correspondencecontinued through the 1930s. James McKeen Cattell, New York, NY, variods letters,memoranda, and undated manuscripts, James McKeen Cattell Collection, Container #178.

N One of Seashore's first music-related publications was his "Hearing-ability and DiscriminativeSensibility for Pitch," n Unioasity-of lowa Studies in Psyeltology, iol. II,'ed. G. T. W. patrick([owa Gty: State University of lowa, 1899). His doctoril diss-drtation was 'Measurements ofIllusions and Hallucinations in Normaltife" (Ph.D,. rlics., Yale University, 1895); publishedn St_udies_fron tht Y* Psychobgiul Labratory, vol. III, ed. E. W. Scripture ffeiv Haven,CT: Yale University Press, 1895t. Interestingly, Scriprure beg* to study pitcir perception,but not rnental testin_g W.r se, dgring_seashoiets studlnt yearJat Yale. E.-W. Scrii,nue, 'treMethod of^l.q:F^ Varia6on," in

-"Psydrologcal Notei," Amrian Jourrul of Psycla,Iogy a

(August 1892): sn-U.47 Carl Emil Seashore, "Carl Emil Seashorg" n !, Hstory of Psyclulogy in Autobiograplry, vol.I, ed.

Carl Murchisgn (Wgrrcester, MA: Clark Universi!' Preis, 19jd; reprint, Nie* York: Russell& Russell, L967), ?##,245. (Page citations are to the reprint edition.)

42 Lindm and Linden, 5.43 Sokal,'Unpublished," 629.u CafteU Pay y.9t be pro-ven_corr_ec1- Recently, Deary reported a strong link between intelligence

and auditorl ab+ty. Iq ]. Deary, 'Gteiligerice ind Auditory -piscrimination:

SeparitingProces_sing Speed and Fidelity o-f Stimuius Representation,"'Intelligmce 18 (Marcir lggli:189-273.

45 Philip H. DuBois, A History of Psyclubgtcal Testing (Boston: Atlyn and Bacon, tgTO),2g.M [bid..,46.47 Edwin Gordon, Mlslco!. Mlr,fu Proftte (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965). The'Musical Sensitiviqi/' portion of this test dearly represmts a move a*ay-from sensory

measutement.48 Various -aPqtudg tests,- -including those of musical aptitude, predict achievement in sctrool

music. See Jere T. Huurphreln, William V. May, aira OaviaJ. Nelson, 'Research on MusicEnseurbles," in .Iiltndbok of Rxarch on Music-Teachtng and lzarning, ed. Richard ColweU(New York Schirrrer Books, lg92),651-43.

49 Herrnstein, 55. The'key article" was Binet and Henri, 'La psychologie individuelle."

Research Sfirdles in Music Eduation Number 10, June 1996

51

50

9 l

Seashore, "Seashore," 272. lnterestingly, neither Catteii nor Galton investigated the

relationships betrveen sensory abiiity and musicai aptitude pcr se. Rathel, Galton gatheredantecdoctal data about artistic ability and compared them to exPected statistical values.Humphreys, "Precursors," 322.

Arnong his many writings ab9u1 the Seashore tests is James L, Y_ltt-"_U: The Psychology of SchoolM-usic Teaching (New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 793I), 333-35.

Jere T. Humphreys, "Applications of_-science:'The 4gq oJ. Standardization and fffi:iqlg tl' Music Education," Ttie gutletin of Htstorical fusurch in Music Eduution 9 (January 1988): 17-18.

Seashore, "Seashore," 27T74. Seashore's statement stands in contrast to the reflections of one of

his contemporaries published in the $une year, the prominent mental tester JoseP.h Jastrowof the University of Wisconsin: My interest in the subject goes back -t9 19?3 and before. Inthat early perioi Cattell had emphasized the importance of tests of indices of individualdifferenies. . . . But it remainedior Binet . . . torecognize in ordinary achievements (notmerely in specially arranged sensory, motor, rnemory, and intelligence fir'jctions, such as Ihad ised)'an available-means of grading natural 1p!ru{es. J91eph .Jastrory,_

'Joseph

Jastrow," n e nbtory of Psychology in-Autobiography, yol.I, ed. Carl Murchison (Worcester,irda' O"tL Universiil, Presi, 1950; reprint, New York: Russell & Russell, 1967), 156. (Pagecitation is to the reprint edition.)

Seashore, "Seashore, " 272.v

BibliograPhYBinet, A., and V. Henri. "La psychologie individuelle." L'aynie psyelulo-gt4ue 2 Q895): 417-65.

Excerpts tanslated by Molie D.-Bqryg. }n A !9u19e pook.iT-tlu Uytt y-of Psydology, e.d.Ricfraid J. Hermstein and Edwin G. Boring, 42&33. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress, 1955.

Boas, Frarrk. "Anthropological lnvestigations in Schools." Pedagogiul Snitary 1 (June 1891): 22F.28-

Boring, Edwin G. A Hbtory of ErpanmmUl Psychology. 2d ed. New York Appleton Century-Crofts,1950.

Cattell, J- McKeen. "Early Psychotogical Laboratoies-" Scbttcc 67 $nay 79?3):543-48''The First Year of the Psychologicai Corporation." Unpublished report to the Board of

Directors, 1 Deceurber L922. jarnEs McKearr Cattell Collection, Container #178, "Subiect

File, 189S1936. Manuscipt Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Janus Mckm Cattell, 1.86G1.944: IvIan of Scbnce. Vol. I (Lancaster, PA: The Science Press,794n.Cambridge Bngland.l, to'Mama and Papa" [W_illiarn and Elizabeth Cattell], Philadelphia,

Za Noveniber tigg, E July 1894, 5 Decerirber 7894. Letters in the hand of James McKeenGtt.U. James McKeen

'Cattelt Collection, Container #55, _"Family 9orrespondence,"

December 188&March 1903. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC-(two of these letters are misfiled in the Collection.)

Leipag [Germany], to Francis Galto-n, Cambridge [Engtand], [n.d. .given]. Quoted infmn^cis"Cltton.

"On Recent Designs for Anthropometric Instnrments." Tlre Jottxtul of theAnttropologial lnstitu? of Grut Bitain and Ireland 76 (187):2'9'"In Memory of wilheim wundt." Psyclological Rsoietio 28 (May 1921): 15'59.'Mental Tests and Measurements." Mittd 15 (January 1890): 3F80''The Psychological Laboratory at Leipsic fsicl." Mittd 13 (January 1888): 37'5I-"psychology at the University of Pennsytvania." Anaicctt lurul of PsydubgV 3 (April

1890):281€3."[Jeber die Trigheit der Netzhaut und des Sehcentnrms;' Philosophi.*]u Stgy 3 (1885): 94:fiZ. neprinted"as 'The Inertia of the Eye and Brain." In (no translator) fames McKeenC-rtat-iorr* Mcl(nt &ttell, 786&19t14:'tvlan of Sciere. Vol. I, zffi. Lancaster, PA: The

Science Prss,7947."LJeber die Zeit der Erkennung und Benennung von Sduiftzeichen, Bildem und Farben."pi;tosapniscttc- itnaA 2 (1835): 6S150. Excerpts ianslated by R. S. Woodworth in "On the

Number 10, June 1998 Research Sfudies in Music Eduation

Time Required for Recognizing and Naming Letters and Words, Pictures and Colors." InJames McKeen Cattell. lames Mcl(em CatteII, 786A7944: Man of Scimce. Vol. I, 13-25.Lancaster, PA: The Science Prcss, 1947.

Cattell, J. McKeen, and Livingston Farand. "Physical and Mmtai Measurements of the Students ofColumbia University. P sy clubgiul Rmiat: 3 (1 895) : 618-48.

Darwin, Charles. The Desent of Man and Selection in Rclation to Sex,2d ed. New York: AmericanPublishers Corporation, 787 4.

Deary,Ian J. "lntelligence and Auditory Discrimination: Separating Processing Speed and Fidelity of

Stimulus Representahon." lntelligance 18 (lvlarch 1994): 189-213.DuBois, Philip H. A History of Psyclobgtcal Testing. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1970.

Esquirol, Jean-Etierme Dominique. Des maiadies mentales considi ries sous les rapports mddical,hygienique, et m&l,ico-legal. Vols. I, II and Atlas. Paris: J. B. Bailliere, 1838.

Galton, Francis. "On Recent Designs for Anthropometric Instrurnents." The lournal of tlvAntlropobgical Institute of Great Britain an"d lreland 16 (787):2-9.

Gilbert, J. A. "Experiments on the Musical Sensitiveness of School Children." In Studies from the YakPsydnlogical Laboratory. Vol. I, ed. E. W. Scripture,8U87. New Haven, CT: Yale UniversifyPress, 1893."Reseatches on Mental and Physical Development of School-Children." Studies from tle

Yale Pryclologiul Laboratory- vol. II, ed. E. w. Scripture, 4&100. New Haven, CT: YaleUniversitv Press, 1894."Reseatches upon School Children and College Students." Unionsity of louta Studies in

PsycJulogy. Vol. I, ed. G. T. W. Patrick and- J. Allen Gilbert, 1-3i. iowa City: StateUniversity of lowa, 7897.

Goodenough, Florence L. Mmtal Testing: Its History, Principles, and AVplicafions. New York: Rinehartand Company,1949-

Gordon, Edwin. Musical Aptitude Profile. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955.Herrnstein, Richard I.l.Q. in the Mnitoaacy. Boston: Littie, Brown, 1973.Herrnstein, Richard I., and Edwin G. Boring, eds. A Source Book in tlu History of Psychology.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965.Humphreys, Jere T. "Applications of Science: The Age of Standardization and Efficienry in Music

Education." The Bulletin of Historical Rexardz iri Music Education 9 (January 1988): 1-2L.'The Child-Study Movement and Pubiic School Music Education." lourtul of Rexardt in

Music Education 33 (Summer 1985): 7Y86."Precursors of Musical Aptitude Testing: From the Greeks through the Work of Francis

Galton." lourul of fuxarch in Musb Education 41 (Winter 7993):31.*27.Humphreys,Jere T., William V. May, and David J. Neison. "Research on Music Ensembles." In

Ilzt dbok of Rxtrch on Music Teaching and karning, ed. Richard Colwell, 651-58. New York:Sdtirmer Books, 1992.

Jastrow, Joseph. 'Joseph

Jastrow." In A History of Psydnlogy in Autobiography. Yol. I, ed. CarlMurchison, 73ffi2. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press, 1930; reprint, New York:Russell & Russell, 1951."Sone Anthropornetric and Psychologic [sic] Tests on College Students." Amriun lourrul

of Psychobgy

(Aprit 7892):42U28.Linden, IGtherine W., and James D. Linden. Modrn Mantal Metsurantent: A Histoical Ptspectiae.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968.

Mtinsterberg, Hugo. "Zur individual Psydrologie," Centralblatt f. Naoaiteillatnde und Psy&iatrie 74(1891): 19'698.

Murcell, Janes L. Tlrc Psydnlogy of Schnl Music Teaching. New York Silver, Burdett and Company,1931.

Pearson, Y..arl. Thc Life, Lettas and Labours of Francb Galton. Vol. IIIA. C-ambridge, England:Cambridge University Press, 1930.

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