Anne Anastasi
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Anne Anastasi (December 19, 1908 – May 4, 2001) was an American
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
best known for her pioneering development of
psychometrics Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally refers to specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and ...
. Her generative work, ''Psychological Testing'', remains a classic text in which she drew attention to the individual being tested and therefore to the responsibilities of the testers. She called for them to go beyond test scores, to search the assessed individual's history to help them to better understand their own results and themselves. Known as the test guru, Anastasi focused on what she believed to be the appropriate use of psychometric tests. As stated in an obituary, "She made major conceptual contributions to the understanding of the manner in which psychological development is influenced by environmental and experiential factors. Her writings have provided incisive commentary on test construction and the proper application of psychological tests." According to Anastasi, such tests only revealed what the test-taker knows at the time; they did not explain test scores. In addition, any psychometric measurement must take into account that aptitude is context-dependent. Anastasi stressed the importance of the role of the tester to correctly select, conduct, and evaluate tests. She was president of the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(APA) in 1972, the third ever woman to be elected. In 1984, she was given the
American Psychological Foundation The American Psychological Foundation (abbreviated APF) is an American philanthropic organization dedicating to awarding research grants to psychologists in the early stages of their careers. It is affiliated with the American Psychological Associ ...
's Gold Medal. In 1987, she was awarded the
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
.


Family and education

Anne Anastasi was born on December 19, 1908 in New York City to Anthony Anastasi and Theresa Gaudiosi Anastasi. Her father died when she was a baby, and his family did not remain in contact. She grew up with her mother, her mother's brother, and her grandmother. Theresa supported the family, eventually working for the Italian newspaper '' Il Progresso''. Anne was homeschooled by her grandmother until sixth grade. After brief periods in public and preparatory schools, she entered
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
at age 15. Her interests in mathematics and psychology. She graduated from Barnard College with a bachelor's degree at age 20 in 1928, and completed a PhD at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1930. Anastasi was hired by Harry Hollingworth to teach at Barnard, where she remained from 1930 to 1939. She worked at
Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body ...
from 1939 to 1947, becoming chair of the department. She worked at
Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
from 1947 to 1979, serving as chair from 1968 to 1974. She retired as a full professor in 1979, and became a professor emeritus. In 1933, Anastasi married John Porter Foley, Jr. (1910-1994), an industrial psychologist. The following year, she was diagnosed with
cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...
. She was treated with
radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...
, which destroyed the cancer but caused her to become
infertile Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal state ...
. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
of the 1930s, she and her husband could only find work in different cities, she in New York and he in Washington, DC Anastasi died in New York on May 4, 2001.


Differential psychology

In 1937, Anastasi published the first edition of ''Differential Psychology'', a nearly 900-page pioneering work on what she defined as "the scientific study of differences between groups" Her definition encompassed not only
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
and
ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
, but also group differences reflective of
age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...
,
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
,
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
,
gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
,
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, and
social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...
. Her approach to the study of culture and difference has been described as an "elegant model" that incorporates a number of current fields of study with "brilliant simplicity". Anastasi also addressed the methodological challenges involved in studying group differences. These were clearly demonstrated in the 1930s by Nazi "race science". Anastasi's summary of such work was blistering: "The array of evidence in support of this ryan supremacyis incomplete and one-sided at its best, and fantastic and mythical at its worst." Between the methodological difficulties involved and the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, differential psychology largely disappeared as a field of research. By 1954, Anastasi herself had moved from the study of group differences to that of individual differences. Anastasi published three editions of ''Differential Psychology'' (in 1937, 1949 and 1958). In 1985 the American Psychological Foundation described it as a "classic" text and a model of "clarity, comprehensiveness, and synthesis".


Psychological testing


Problems addressed

Anastasi's 1983 essay "What Do Intelligence Tests Measure?" aimed to correct misinterpretations regarding the understanding and use of
aptitude An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Outstanding aptitude can be considered "talent". Aptitude is inborn potential to perform certain kinds of activities, whether physical or mental, and ...
and personality tests. Anastasi pointed out that the "testing boom" of the 1920s caused the term IQ to be adopted and misused by the general public. According to Anastasi, the misappropriation of the term created connotations that intelligence is heritable, stable throughout one's lifespan, and resistant to change. In contrast, Anastasi emphasized that psychometric scores convey an individual's present status of what he or she knows. She cautioned against interpreting such tests as serving a strong predictive function, as scores only indicated to what degree a person acquired the knowledge and skills for the criterion of a given test. They evaluate for what is in high demand within a specific context; what an individual can achieve in the future depends not only on his or her present intellectual status as determined by the test, but also on subsequent experiences. Therefore, Anastasi advocated against psychometric tests definitively labelling a person, as they assess for specific types of knowledge and do not account for how intelligence can change over time. Important to Anastasi was an understanding of the cultural frames of reference within which a test is developed. She stated that "No intelligence test can be culture free, because human intelligence is not culture free". Therefore, according to Anastasi, the first step in developing an intelligence test within a given culture was formulating a
task analysis Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary cl ...
in order to determine how well individuals gain knowledge valued within that culture.


Methods

Anastasi mostly applied existing methods to individual and group ability testing, as well as
self-report inventories A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator. Self-report inventories often ask direct questions about personal interests, values, sympt ...
and measuring interests and attitudes. She followed the methodological principles of norms,
reliability Reliability, reliable, or unreliable may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Computing * Data reliability (disambiguation), a property of some disk arrays in computer storage * High availability * Reliability (computer networking), a ...
,
validity Validity or Valid may refer to: Science/mathematics/statistics: * Validity (logic), a property of a logical argument * Scientific: ** Internal validity, the validity of causal inferences within scientific studies, usually based on experiments ** ...
, and item analysis. The essay "Psychological Testing: Basic Concepts and Common Misconceptions," encapsulates Anastasi's methodological positions. Anastasi stressed that, in order to evaluate any psychometric test, the tester must be knowledgeable of the main features of the tests, particularly as they apply to norms, validity, and reliability. Her approach to standard scores and
standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while ...
was one in which she believed that understanding statistical concepts was essential to understanding the meaning of statistical computation. In regards to criterion-referenced tests, Anastasi diverged from
educational psychologist An educational psychologist is a psychologist whose differentiating functions may include diagnostic and psycho-educational Psychological evaluation, assessment, psychological counseling in educational communities (students, teachers, parents, ...
Robert Glaser Robert Glaser (January 18, 1921 – February 4, 2012) was an American educational psychologist, who has made significant contributions to theories of learning and instruction. The key areas of his research focused on the nature of aptitudes and ind ...
, who first introduced the concept in 1963. Instead of approaching such tests as fundamentally different from norm-referenced tests, Anastasi maintained that the two could be combined to give a more comprehensive evaluation of the individual's test performance. An example is the Stanford Diagnostic Test in reading and mathematics, which assesses specific subject mastery by combining both interpretations. Anastasi recognized that there are many types of test reliability. However, when dealing with standardized testing, much of the variance in reliability can be minimized by controlling such conditions as the testing environment, rapport, instructions, and time limits. In contrast with the belief that there are three kinds of validity -
content validity In psychometrics, content validity (also known as logical validity) refers to the extent to which a measure represents all facets of a given construct. For example, a depression scale may lack content validity if it only assesses the affective dim ...
,
criterion validity In psychometrics, criterion validity, or criterion-related validity, is the extent to which an operationalization of a construct, such as a test, relates to, or predicts, a theoretical representation of the construct—the criterion. Criterion valid ...
, and
construct validity Construct validity concerns how well a set of indicators represent or reflect a concept that is not directly measurable. ''Construct validation'' is the accumulation of evidence to support the interpretation of what a measure reflects.Polit DF Beck ...
- Anastasi espoused to the then-growing belief of the mid-1980s that many more procedures could be used to build validity into a test. Defining the constructs to be assessed initiates the validation process. It culminates with "validating and cross-validating various scores through statistical analyses against external, real-life criteria".


Difference between aptitude and achievement test

In ''Psychological Testing: Basic Concepts and Common Misconceptions,'' Anastasi clarified differences between types of tests. Two differences between
aptitude An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Outstanding aptitude can be considered "talent". Aptitude is inborn potential to perform certain kinds of activities, whether physical or mental, and ...
tests and
achievement tests Achievement may refer to: * Achievement (heraldry) *Achievement (horse), a racehorse * Achievement (video gaming), a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters See also * Achievement test for student assessment * Achiever, a personality t ...
are test use and the degree of experiential specificity forming the foundation of the tests' construction. Achievement tests are used to assess current status;
aptitude tests An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
can predict future performance as defined by their specific criteria. Experiential specificity is narrowly defined for achievement tests, such as
SAT Subject Tests SAT Subject Tests were 20 multiple-choice standardized tests given by the College Board on individual subjects, typically taken to improve a student's credentials for college admissions in the United States. On January 19, 2021, the College Board ...
. In contrast, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales aptitude tests are based on broad knowledge of American culture beginning in the twentieth century.


Theoretical stance

Anastasi's theoretical framework that ability or intelligence change with experience and that their cultural context dictates their parameters informed her methodological approach to psychometric testing. Tests should be selected and used while bearing in mind their contextual appropriateness and limitations. She emphasized that tests serve specific functions in Western society, such as school/occupational placement or to assess for mental disabilities.


Criticism

The 1955 first edition of ''Psychological Testing'' was criticized for attributing test results only to individual differences, instead of recognizing that "'occasional differences' are also measured by means of tests". In the latest edition of the book, Anastasi and her co-author Susana Urbina suggested that more accurate results can be obtained by combining information from several fairly homogeneous tests. Each one would cover a single trait, or different aspect of the criterion.


Legacy

APA Division 5: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods awards the Anne Anastasi Dissertation Award.


References

*


External links


Human Intelligence: Anne Anastatsi

Anne Anastatsi at Psychology's Feminist Voices


* ttp://collections.uakron.edu/digital/collection/p15960coll10/id/616/rec/1 Finding Aid for the Anne Anastasi Papers, Cummings Center for the History of Psychology {{DEFAULTSORT:Anastasi, Anne 1908 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American women scientists American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Intelligence researchers National Medal of Science laureates Presidents of the American Psychological Association Fordham University faculty Barnard College faculty Queens College, City University of New York faculty Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni American women academics