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“Flowers for Algernon” - Terminology
Rorschach Test:
A series of ten, standardized inkblots. Some of the inkblots are black or gray, and others include color. The
scoring of responses is determined by various factors:
 what the subject thinks he or she sees in the inkblot
 the place within the blot where the subject “sees” the picture
 whether the subject stresses form over color or vice versa
The interpretation of scores is often inconsistent, leaving the test reliability open to question.
Intelligent Quotient Test (I.Q.):
Classification of Intelligence according to IQ scores
Classification
Profound mental retardation (MR)
IQ Range
below 20 or 25
Severe MR
20-25 to 35-40
Moderate MR
35-40 to 50-55
Mild MR
50-55 to about 70
Borderline
70-79
Dull normal
80 to 90
Normal
90 to 110
Bright normal
110 to 120
Superior
120 to 130
Very superior
130 and above
Thematic Apperception Test:
Another psychological test in which the subject makes up stories about a series of pictures.
Conscious & Subconscious: The Viennese doctor Sigmund Freud developed a theory of zones of activity in the
mind. According to Freud, a person is immediately aware of ideas in the conscious mind. In the preconscious,
or subconscious, mind are ideas that a person does not immediately notice but may be able to recognize
simply by paying attention to them. The unconscious contains ideas from the pat that a person cannot
become aware of because they are hidden too deeply.
Behaviorism: In the study of animal behavior, behaviorism includes classical conditioning and operant
conditioning. Ivan Pavlov, a nineteenth-century Russian scientist, originated classical conditioning. He
discovered that dogs salivate when offered food. By ringing a bell whenever he served the dogs food, Pavlov
found that eventually the dogs would salivate when they heard the bell, even when they were not being fed.
Operant conditioning works on the principle o reward and punishment and is based on trial and error learning.
A rat in cage is “taught” to press a bar to receive food. When it does the right thing, it gets to eat.