Alfred Binet

Alfred Binet ( born July 8, 1857 in Nice, † October 18th 1911 in Paris) was a French psychologist. He is regarded as the founder of psychometrics.

Binet studied law, the conclusion he made in 1878. Subsequently he studied medicine and biology at the Sorbonne, followed by research work at the neurological laboratory at the Salpêtrière under Jean- Martin Charcot in between 1883 and 1889.

In 1889 he participated in the founding of the first psychological research laboratory in France. As a director, he tried to develop experimental methods for measuring intelligence and logical thinking ability. He also founded the first French journal of psychology, L' année psychologique ( The psychological year), in which he published his research results.

One of the greatest achievements he made in the field of intelligence measurement. He developed with the physician Théodore Simon (1873-1961) a test to measure the mental capacity of a child. The test consisted of tasks that general intelligence should be noted and were adjusted according to age groups. From the number of correctly solved tasks a score calculated; this resulted in the " mental age " of the child. This test was called the Binet - Simon test in 1905 and applied for the first time. By Lewis Madison Terman of Stanford -Binet test was developed later.

In his book Psychology of grands calculateurs et joueurs d' échecs (Paris 1894) he dealt with memory processes, including through interviews of chess players, and thus founded the chess psychology.

Binet died on 18 October 1911 in Paris. His research in the field of intelligence measurement are used in many countries of psychologists.