Terman’s career spanned the development of academic psychology, beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing under his leadership for many years. His leadership was crucial, though not without controversy, in the standardization of intelligence and achievement testing. Terman’s longitudinal study of a cohort of individuals is well known for providing intimate understanding of the life course of the intellectually gifted.

Basic Biography

Lewis Terman was born the 12th of 14 children on January 15, 1877, in rural Johnson County, Indiana, to James and Martha Cutsinger Terman. His heritage was German, French, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh. There was no family history of college education and no one in previous generations had achieved prominence. Nonetheless, his family’s farm was relatively prosperous. Though Lewis and his siblings engaged in physical labor, their home contained a large library. Terman was an avid reader from an early age.

Terman’s family life included tragedy, not unrelated to a terror that hung over much of his life. Most of his father’s siblings died from “consumption.” Terman’s father had tuberculosis and Terman’s eldest sister died from the disease when Terman was 3. At age 22 Terman learned he too had tuberculosis and suffered several bouts of the disease, shaping his early research in school hygiene. His illness led him to locate to a more salubrious climate, and ultimately to a faculty position in education and psychology at Stanford University in 1910.

Beginning in 1892 Terman attended Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, where he received a B.S. and B.Pd. in 1897, with country school teaching responsibilities in the middle years of his studies. From 1898 to 1901, he served as principal of a township high school. Terman borrowed money and earned two master’s degrees from Indiana University in 1902 and 1903. Supported by additional family loans and a fellowship, he earned the Ph.D. at Clark University in Massachusetts in 1905. Seeking a healthier climate, he took a position as a high school principal in San Bernadino, California, for a year, and subsequently moved to a faculty position at Los Angeles State Normal School. In 1910, he was offered a position in Educational Psychology at Stanford University, where he remained for 46 years. Nearing the age of 80, on December 21, 1956, Lewis M. Terman passed away at his home on the Stanford University campus. Until shortly before his death, he was deeply engaged in the fifth volume of his longitudinal study of genius.

Major Contributions

Lewis Terman’s contributions to his profession were legion. His academic contributions included the acclaimed revision of the Binet-Simon Scales, the Stanford-Binet (1916), and his concept of “IQ” became a household word. He later developed the Revised Stanford-Binet (1937) with Maud Merrill. With A.O. Otis, during his service as a Major in World War I he constructed the Army Alpha and the Army Beta. Terman developed the widely used Stanford Achievement Tests (1923) with T.L. Kelley and G.M. Rauch. Beginning in 1920, he commenced his study of gifted children (the “Termites”). With Catherine C. Miles he subsequently developed a masculinity/femininity and personality test, focusing his attention on the psychological factors in marital happiness (1936).

Terman was most devoted to his longitudinal study of “genius,” a term he later changed to “gifted” (Terman 1925). The research was in part motivated by Terman’s disagreement with prevailing negative stereotypes of highly intelligent children. He was particularly interested in the childhood experiences of these children and, beginning in 1920, he prepared for a longitudinal study of about 1500 children, drawn primarily from San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and Los Angeles schools. It is a tribute to his dedication that 36 years after the study began, 98% of those of his “Termites” who were still living continued as active participants. Terman argued that both heredity and environment contributed to intellectual achievement, though he gave the nod to heredity. He argued that motivation made a significant contribution, a quality related to childhood environment, as much as to a yet unknown genetic contribution to personality (Terman and Oden 1947). Nonetheless, contemporary later critics noted that his study of the gifted included primarily children from White, educated and financially secure families and that there may have been biases in the teacher-based selection process. More male children were selected than female and the sample included few non-White children. Terman became so intimate with his subjects that he assumed a “fatherly” role and, at times intervened directly to assure that they were successful. He may have skewed his results, but he could not tolerate seeing potential wasted. His study included no control groups, not unusual for his era. It is impossible to know what effects the research itself, including being labeled as being a “genius” or “gifted” had on his findings. Terman sought to understand the childhood family and educational circumstances that enhanced the development of children with high genetically based potential for excellence.

Terman’s honors included serving as President of the American Psychological Association (1923). He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as Chair of the Stanford University Department of Psychology (1922–1942), during which time the Department grew to national prominence. He valued originality and astute critical thinking in his graduate students and colleagues. Between 1914 and 1937, he chaired 42 master’s theses and 27 doctoral dissertations. He often collaborated with graduate students, launching their successful careers under his encouraging, demanding, and protective wings.

See Also

Boring, E. G.

Cattell, Raymond B.

Cox, C. M.

Cronbach, Lee J.

Gesell, Arnold L.

Hall, G. Stanley

Harlow, Harry

Hilgard, Ernest R.

Miles, Walter R.

Strong, E. K., Jr.

Thorndike, Edward