Alfred Binet

In other words, reasoning consisted of an associated succession of recalled images and present stimuli.

When The Psychology of Reasoning was first published in 1886, in French and in English in 1899, it was hailed as a pioneering effort.

Pierre Janet, a famous neurologist and psychologist called it, "the first work in psychology founded on experimental researches on hypnotism."

Undoubtedly, it is the fact that the work was an almost perfect intellectual period piece

Animal Magnetism :

When Charles Fere (1852-1907) was Assistant Physician at the Salpetriere, Binet collaborated with him in writing a volume titled Animal Magnetism in 1887. The book purports with him in writing to be a study of hypnosis. This made in accordance with the method inaugurated by Charcot. When Binet was in Salpetriere, Charcot was exceedingly popular, attracting enormous audiences. He was using hypnosis for the treatment of hysterical patients at Paris.

L' anne Psychologique : (Journal of Psychology)

In 1895, Binet founded the journal L' anne Psychologique. In this journal he published a number of his studies and his student's research work. It is the first French journal devoted to psychology. About the same time he opened a laboratory in Paris for child and experimental teaching.

L'Etude experimental de I'intelligence : (Experimental Study of Intelligence)

Binet devoted himself to the experimental investigation of the psychology of individual differences or differential psychology. In this respect he left the tradition of French psychology which was essentially psychopathology and psychotherapy. The attempt of the English psychologist Sir Francis Galton to record individual differences by means of standardized tests left a deep impression on Binet.

His work on L'Etude experimental de I'intelligence published in 1903 considered, a notable work in the field experimental psychology. In this book Binet wrote about an investigation of the mental characteristics of his two daughters, which he developed into a systematic study of two contrasted types of personalities.

During the next few years, Binet spent much of his time testing the children and revising the intelligence tests, first in 1908 and again in 1911. Binet was revising these scales at the time of his death in Paris on October 18, 1911.

Undoubtedly, Binet's early work on intelligence testing has stimulated an enormous amount of research in this area of psychology.