Measuring Chinese Minds: Intelligence Testing in Republican China

日期： 2024/01/09

時間： 10:00~12:00

地點： 檔案館第三會議室

主講人：張邦彥先生（英國牛津大學亞洲與中東研究所博士候選人）

主辦單位： 西學與中國研究群

※中文演講

This talk examines the rise and decline of the enthusiasm about intelligence testing in early twentieth-century China, focusing on the appeal, the challenges, and the critiques revolving around this psychological instrument. The introduction of intelligence testing reflected not only China’s urgent educational needs but also Chinese psychologists’ aspirations for pursuing exactitude and redefining the racial characteristics of their compatriots against foreign interpretations. But despite psychologists’ endeavors, the political and geographical fragmentation of Republican China troubled the epistemic imperative of uniformity demanded by Euro-American psychometrics and therefore undermined the validity of measurement. Subsequently, the legitimacy of intelligence testing began to be questioned by several influential Chinese psychologists in the late 1920s and 30s. The difficulties in standardization and the hostility within the psychology community formed a vicious cycle, impeding the progress of nationwide testing. Through this history, this talk demonstrates not only the elevation of measurement to epistemic authority in modern China, but also how its promise was challenged by a diverse and rapidly changing society.
 

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