PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Early Life:
Cattell was the first child born to William Cattell and Elizabeth McKeen in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1860.
Adult Life:
In 1880, he graduated with honors from Lafayette College and later received his M.A. with honors also from Lafayette College. Cattell next traveled to Germany and attended the University of Gottingen and then the University of Leipzig. It was at the University of Leipzig that Cattell met Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology.
Contributions and Findings:
Cattell was the first American to instruct a statistical analysis course. He developed the order of merit ranking method. He shared an interest in Galton’s eugenics theory and supported sterilization of less intelligent people. Cattell also felt that individuals of high intelligence should be paid to mate.
Contributions and Findings continued:
He promised his own children $1,000 to marry and mate with a professor’s child. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Cattell began to use the term “mental testing” in 1890, which he continued to use at Columbia. He did experiments mainly on sensorimotor functions difference in weights and how long it took to identify colors two point-thresholds, of colors level of pressure needed to cause pain, and reaction time for sound.
