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Starting from the fact that psychological science during the twentieth century has made rapid growth in two main directions, namely, the analytic method in psychotherapy, and the testing and quantitative assessment of intelligence, the author suggests that the point has been reached at which we are compelled to inquire what bearing each of these two movements may have upon the theory and practice of the other. The particular question which he thinks it pertinent to ask is: May it not be possible that the apparent intelligence of an individual is in part conditioned by affective inhibitions which conceal his real grade of intelligence? From the point of view of the measurement of intelligence, the practical question to be decided is whether the performance of children and others in mental tests is affected by inhibitions of the kind referred to.
Mr. Richardson rightly says that this question can only be settled decisively by testing a number of children and then re-testing them after analytic treatment. Wanting this, however, he proceeds to what he feels to be a reliable, albeit provisional, conclusion, on the basis of certain a priori considerations as to the nature of the tests themselves, and as to