CHAPTER HL

THE DISTRIBUTION OF MBNTAX,

TRAITS.

the distributions of mental traits in groups of individuals follow any regular law ? Are the differences between individuals

Do

in mental capacities and characteristics explainable by any simple If set of causes and amenable to any single type of description ? such uniformity exists, the exact study of educational problems
is possible

and even easy. It has been supposed, for more or less satisfying reasons, that in any group of individuals representing a single species, in respect to any trait not then inthe distribution

fluenced

by natural selection, would be that

-,

of a chance event, the surface of frequency being that of the

probability integral. The exact meaning of this supposition and the basis for it need not be dis-

cussed here.

Our

interest is in

discovering whether

any

one

type of distribution does characterize all mental traits in hubeings. By using graphic representations rather than alge.braic formulae the answer and

man

'

the evidence for it can be

^clear

made

'

even to one who knows nothing whatever of the mathematical a chance event or of properties of the surface of frequency of

any

other.

Figure 4 gives the distribution or surface of frequency of the type to which perhaps all the distributions of mental traits conform. Figure 5 gives the same distribution as figure 4c, but with into grades. a coarser Figure 6 gives again the same
separation
of grades. distribution, but this time with a very fine subdivision

13

14

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Our

question

is,

"Are mental

traits

after the type of figures 4r-6 ?"

We

can answer

commonly distributed it by comparing

with figures 4-6 figures

each of which represents the actual To make the comparidistribution found for some mental trait.
7-24:,

son easy a light dotted line shows in each case the rough outline The reader has then simply to note how closely the of figure 6. actual distributions follow the dotted lines.*

In drawing these surfaces the median value is made to coincide with the median value of the normal surface of frequency.
"Whenever any distribution represents measurements by different people or under different conditions or of different sexes or with

compounded of separate surfaces each drawn with consideration of the mean and variability proper to the single group and then so combined as to allow roughly equal weight to No distributions the distributions from equal numbers of cases. are thus combined unless they all individually represent the same
different tests, it is

type as they do

Barring the inclusion in the same distribution of the different racial types found in schools, of children sometimes as much as 12 months apart in age in the

when combined.

age groups and children in the school groups as noted, there are no sources of the variability found save precisely those which we
are trying to measure. The strongest proof of the approximation of the distribution of mental traits to the normal type is given

by a

score or

more of

distributions

from too few

cases to appear

here which yet all follow the normal type. Since the aim of this section is simply to show the general fact of distribution, not to' analyze it precisely, I have made no

attempt to ascertain whether after all the combination of mental That may well be the case, but for the species is not present
practical purposes of educational science it makes little difference. Our use of the fact of approximation to the normal type

will be justifiable in either case. In all these cases there is a remarkable uniformity in the distribution of mental traits -amongst individuals. In all cases the
* For the sake of the leader versed in statistics, I

may add

that the

scale of the base line for each distribution is so arranged that the deviation of mean square for each one is represented always by the same length and

the total number of cases by the same area. It is thus possible to compare any one with any other or with the normal frequency curve.

TEE DISTRIBUTION Of MENTAL TRAITS

15

<v^

,.--.

tarf
r^V^.n.lH'fc

FIGS. 7-24.

16

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

average ability is near the common ability and both are near the The greater point above which. 50 per cent of the cases lie. number of the cases lie near the average, mode or median point,

and degrees of
is

ability a certain

are nearly equally common. from the average or median or mode, the fewer are the indi-

amount above or below that point The more remote a degree of ability
difference between the degrees of

viduals

who

possess

it.

The

ability above

and below the average, mode or median between

which 50 per cent of the individuals are included is about two ninths of the difference between the lowest and highest degrees
of ability found. -'' This type of distribution
is

called the

normal

distribution.

It

approximates the types found for most variable organs or functions in nature in the case of any single species when the organ or function in question is not subject to selection.

The
tions

so

common

fact of the approximately

normal distribution

of mental traits leads to

many

important theoretical considera-

and gives many possibilities of studying human nature that would otherwise not exist But for our purposes most of its results

may

be neglected.

For us a knowledge of the

existence

and

frequency of normal distribution is of consequence first because it emphasizes the fact of human individual differences and gives

us a precise idea of their amount; second, because

to

it

enables us
in-

compare groups accurately.

In the study of heredity, for

*

stance, compare the group children of parents possessing such and such a degree of such and such a mental trait' with

we

shall

children of parents possessing a different degree thereof. In the study of sex differences we shall compare the group men with the group women, the group 10-yeaix>ld boys with the group 10-yearold girls.
shall

In the study of the

influence of the environment

we

without it*

compare 'group with such and such training' with 'group In the study of growth and maturity we shall com-

all these cases we can get much and extensive knowledge by comprecise the distribution curves for the two groups than by using paring mere arithmetical averages. We shall also avoid a number of misunderstandings and fallacies by bearing in mind the fact of

pare different age groups.

In

more illuminating and

THE DISTRIBUTION OF MENTAL TRAITS

17

the variability of mental traits and the prevalence of variability of the normal type.

The meaning of cases where the distribution of mental traits does not follow the normal frequency curve will become dear if we examine, first, some cases of the distribution of a trait in a group of individuals of two or more distinct species and,
second,

cases

where some

selective

agency has been at work.

FIGS. 25-30.

modes belonging to the two grades are easily distinguishable. A same sort of distribution is pictured in figure 28, which gives the distribution of strength of arm in human adults.
real case of the
3

Figure 25 gives the distribution of ability in the test in marking A's of a group of children 8, 9, 14 and 15 years old. From figure 26, which gives separately the distributions (1) for those 8 and 9, and (2) for those 14 and 15, we see clearly that the peculiar flattening of figure 25 is due to the mixture of two species each of which approximates fairly to the normal type. The same result of mixture is shown even more emphatically by figure 27, which gives the distribution of a group composed of about 140 third grade and about 180 seventh grade girls. Here the two

18

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
species here are

The two

men and women.*

When we

find in

the surface of frequency of a mental trait a departure from the normal toward a lowering and broadening of the surface or toward

two or more modes

we may commixture

monly expect

to find a

of species. Other illustrations of such a condition are given in

figures 29

and

30.

Figure 31 gives the distribution in a test of controlled associ-

ation of the 12-year-old boys in the 6A grade or higher. The lack

of

symmetry in the surface

is

obviously due to the fact that wd are dealing with a selected group ;
that the duller

and

less

mature

boys have been eliminated. influence of the opposite

FIGS. 31-33.

The
sort

of elimination is seen in figure

32,

which

gives

the

distribu-

tion in the

same

trait of 12-year-old

the 6A.

By

combining the two

we

boys in the grades lower than should have a normal fre-

Figure 33 gives a real case of a distribution distorted by selection comparable to those artificially produced in our examples. It is the distribution of mathematical ability in

quency surface.

the candidates for honors in mathematics at Cambridge UniverOf course such candidacy implies that the poorer grades sity, f

of mathematical ability are eliminated. Any selective agency which works upon a species of individuals will alter the shape of the surface of frequency for any .mental trait unless its selections are random with respect to different amounts of that trait. As
bad, the result

commonly such as picks out the good or the commonly to produce a 'skewness' of the surface toward one extreme and a blunted condition at the other. When a series of measurements in a group shows a deviation from the
the selective action
is is

Drawn roughly from the data

is

given in Galton's

'

Natural Inheritance/
ed., p. 16.

p. 200.

tit

taken from Galton's 'Hereditary Genius/ 2d

THE DISTRIBUTION OF MENTAL TRAITS

19

normal law of frequency toward conditions like those in figure 34 and figure 35, it will be wise to look for some selective agency
at

work upon the group.

If the
distribu-

approximately normal
tions

figured above are examined carefully a slight elimination of the least efficient will be

apparent

This

is

probably due

to the fact that children

who

are

very low in a

scale of intelli-

gence are eliminated from the

public schools altogether and so are not represented in our tests.
'

FIGS. 34-35.

Figures 36, 37 and 38 present other samples of asymmetrical

tributions

dis-

due

to selection.

It

is likely

that the statistics

upon which were based the frequency surfaces on page 15 axe slightly influenced by both mixture of species and selection, and that without these they would approximate still doser to the one simple law, and support
still

more emphatically the hytrait in a

pothesis that the distribution of

any mental
FIGS. 36-38.

homogene-

ous species undisturbed by selec**on is that given by the probability integral.

From

this

measurement

hypothesis, two important results follow. of a mental trait

The

in a group does not, when distribution is normal, require the complete statement of the distribution, since from knowledge of the

*re-

rf

ii

13

if is

FIG. 39.

average or median or mode and of the A.D. or some other measure of the variability of the group about the average we can reconstruct approximately the entire dis-

20
tribution scheme.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Thus given the facts that the average ability of 12-year-old boys in a test of memory is 17.5 and that the standard deviation is 3.0, and we know that the whole distribu-

tion scheme for 12-yeaivold boys in the test is that of figure 39 The mathematical formulsB by which this is done and table

need not concern us here.

TABLE
Percentage of cases
Ability.

I.

Percentage of cases
Ability.

possessing
.1

It.

possessing
13.1

it.

8 9
10 11

.3

18 19

11.7

.6

1.3

12 13

2.5 4.3
6.7

14 15
16 17

9.4

11.7
13.1

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

9.4
6.7

4.3

2.5
1.3
.6 .3
.1

that distribution is regular in and have given the measurements terms of relative position of a large number of individuals chosen at random, we can turn
is

The

other result

that if

we know

those measurements into terms of amount.

matical formulae are best omitted.

Here again the matheThe reader may take it on

trust that such a transposition as the following is correct. Given the knowledge that 1,000 individuals rank in order of

excellence in English composition as follows :

Individuals
1

2 are indistinguishable in ability but better than any

below.

" "
" "

3-5
611-

are indistinguishable in ability but better than any below and worse than any above. 10 are indistinguishable in ability but better than any

2141-

below and worse 20 are indistinguishable below and worse 40 are indistinguishable below and worse 70 are indistinguishable below and worse

"

71- 120 are indistinguishable below and worse 121- 280 are indistinguishable below and worse 281- 720 are indistinguishable below and worse

than any above. in ability but better than any above. in ability but better than any above. in ability but better than any above. in ability but better than any above. in ability but better than any above. in ability but better than any above.

than any
than any

than any

than any
than any than any

THE DISTRIBUTION OF MENTAL TRAITS

21

Individuals 721- 880 are indistinguishable in ability but better than any below and worse than any above. " 881- 920 are indistinguishable in ability but better than any

" "

"
"
"

below and worse than any 921- 960 are indistinguishable in ability below and worse than any 961- 984 are indistinguishable in ability below and worse than any 985- 993 are indistinguishable in ability below and worse than any 994- 997 are indistinguishable in ability below and worse than any 998-1000 are worse than any above.

above.

but better than any

above.

but better than any

above.

but better than any

above.

but better than any

above.

and given the knowledge that the distribution in this ability is the ability in composition above and below Take as regular. of the individuals which half lie, and as 1 the ability excelled by 1 the ability less than which 159 of 159 of the group and as Then the scheme of distribution is that of table H. the class have.

TABLE
2 rank between

H.

+ + 2.675
2.87

and probably

+ 3.00,

+ + 1.75 + 1.475 + 1.18 + 0.58 + 0.58

0.58
1.18

-f 2.325 2.05

+ 2.87 + 2.575 + 2.325 + 2.05 + 1.75 + 14.75 + 1.18

0.58
1.18

perhaps more. averaging close to +2.7 " 2.44 " 2.17

+ +

+ 1.88
etc.

1.405
1.75

1.405
1.75

2,145
2.53

2.145
2.53

2.74

2.74

probably

3.00,

perhaps

less.

scheme we can get a measure in amount for any individual whose position compared with the rest is known. !For 2.44, that of instance, the ability of individual 7 is dose to individual 17 is close to 2.17, while that of individual 33 is

From

this

nearly 30 per cent, farther above the average than No. 33. In this scheme of course we do not so far know 2.98 just what 1.0 or 1.5 or any other measure represents. school a of or of the be high fairly good Shakspere ability may

+ 1.88.

No. 7

is

22

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

composition according to the group of 1,000 we are studying. But if we give a few samples of the compositions with the amounts
assigned we make the hitherto arbitrary unit of amount a per* fectly definite thing, as definite as an inch or an ohm or kilogram.

Our study of the distribution of mental traits thus provides us with a means of accurately measuring such physical traits as color of eyes or hair and such mental traits as courage, honesty, ambition or eminence, provided we deal with homogeneous groups and have reason to think that the distribution of tha ability in the

group studied

is

normal.

have inferred already two corollaries of the law of distribution : the first that small differences between individuals in the same species are far more common than larger
will,

The reader

trust,

ones, the second that within

any one species there

is

no clear

is

demarcation of ordinary from^x&eptional grades of ability. It a common error to distort the truth that in any school grade
or at any age there are great differences in ability between the extremes in any mental trait into the error that such great differThe inference is drawn ences are as much the rule as lesser ones.
that teaching which
abilities
is

adequate for say one third the range of

dents.

found would be adequate for only one third of the stuOn the contrary, such teaching would be adequate for over
students,* for over

two thirds of the

two thirds of the individuals in

any homogeneous group are centered within the middle third or less of the total range of ability.
Again it is a common error to imagine that nature has provided distinct classes corresponding to our distinct words, e. jr., normal and abnormal or ordinary and exceptional But within
any natural group grades of amount of any trait seem to be continuous. Genius and idiot> precocious and retarded, musical and unmusical, bright and dull and all the host of descriptive words
do not mark
off distinct varieties of beings,

but

artificial sections

of a continuously varying group. The realization of this fact will prevent a multitude of errors in arguments about the processes and results of education.