Live Life Team
Alfred Binet was born on July 8, 1857 in France. He was a psychologist noted for the development of the first operational intelligence test in 1905, the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, which became the basis of the IQ test used today.
Binet was considered to be a self taught psychologist with no formal education in psychology from a university. In 1883, he was introduced to Jean Charcot, the director of the clinic, La Salpetriere. In 1889, Binet and his colleague Henri Beaunis established the first laboratory for experimental psychology. In 1890, Binet resigned from the clinic and devoted his time to cognitive development, especially that of his children, Alice and Madeleine. In 1891, Binet was appointed as director at the Laboratory of Physiological Psychology, a position which gave him the opportunity to study mental processes. He also co-founded the French journal on experimental psychology, ‘L’Annee Psychologique’, for which he became director and editor in chief. Binet became a member of the Free Society for the Psychological Study of the Child, an organisation which aims to study children scientifically.
In 1903, Binet was assigned to the Commission for the Retarded, during which time he published the book ‘L’Etude de l’intelligence’ (‘Experimental Studies of Intelligence’), which describes methods in determining the differences between a normal and special child. Binet explored more on the subject, and collaborated with Theodore Simon. Binet published the intelligence scale in 1905 which was used to determine the intelligence of students who need support in their studies. In 1908 and before his death in 1911, Binet made revisions to the intelligence scale with the help Simon. In 1916, Lewis M. Terman, a professor at Stanford University, further improved the scale, which was published as the Standford-Binet IQ test.
