SRA Primary Mental Abilities Test (1941)

1 · FROM THEORY TO A PUBLISHED BATTERY

Two Thurstones, one Chicago publisher

The theory1938

L. L. Thurstone's factor analyses of large batteries resolved performance into seven recurring abilities, against Spearman's single g.²

The school battery1941

The Chicago Tests of PMA for ages 11–17 and a companion monograph, Factorial Studies of Intelligence, both by the Thurstones.¹

Thelma's rolecareer

With her husband she developed the ACE Psychological Examinations and the PMA batteries, and later age-graded forms for school children.¹

Note on names and dates: the 1941 battery was published as the Chicago Tests of Primary Mental Abilities; later editions and manuals carry the SRA name (e.g. the 1949 Examiner Manual). One overview dates the first published PMA tests to 1938, the year of Thurstone's monograph.^1,2,6

2 · WHAT THE LATER SCHOOL FORM MEASURED

Five subtests of the 1948 Form AM 11–17

The best-documented version is the 1948 SRA form for ages 11–17, whose five measures — Verbal Meaning, Space, Reasoning, Number and Word Fluency — Thurstone had identified as accounting for most of the variance in children's and adolescents' abilities.⁸

VVerbal MeaningPick the synonym of a word from four choices — recognition vocabulary.⁷

SSpaceSpatial visualization, one of the five SLS measures.⁸

RReasoningLetter series: identify the next letter, e.g. a b c b a d e f e …⁶

NNumberJudge whether a worked sum is correct; scored rights minus wrongs.⁷

WWord FluencyList as many words as possible beginning with "S" in five minutes.⁷

The exact subtest list of the 1941 edition is not given by the sources consulted; the descriptions above are from studies using the 1948/1949 forms.

3 · EARLY VALIDATION STUDIES

Separate abilities — with a general factor underneath

1941Engineering freshmenBernreuter & Goodman applied the PMA tests to freshmen engineering students (J. Educ. Psychol.).⁴

1941College marksEllison & Edgerton related PMA scores to college grades (Educ. Psychol. Meas.).⁴

1941Aviation maintenanceHarrell & Faubion studied PMA scores and aviation maintenance courses.⁴

1943A general factor after allGoodman factored the seven scores of 170 engineering freshmen (experimental edition) into four factors, including a general factor — corroborating the Thurstones' own finding for eighth-graders.⁴

1948PMA vs Wechsler-BellevueA Fordham thesis compared the SRA PMA with the Wechsler-Bellevue.¹²

4 · A SECOND LIFE IN AGING RESEARCH

The Seattle Longitudinal Study

K. Warner Schaie's Seattle Longitudinal Study gave five subtests of the 1948 PMA 11–17 at every wave, tracking cognitive abilities from young adulthood into old age.^7,10 Initial studies in 1949 and 1953 asked whether the five abilities stayed factorially independent in adults; the main study began in 1956.⁹

Schaie is also known for the Schaie-Thurstone Test of Adult Mental Abilities.¹¹

5PMA subtests given at every wave⁷

1956First main SLS testing⁹

M 50Scores re-expressed as T-scores (SD 10) against the SLS sample⁷

5 minWord Fluency time limit⁷

5 · TRY TWO ITEM TYPES

Reasoning: what letter comes next?

The PMA Reasoning test showed a series of letters and asked for the next one.

READY0:45

Press start

SCORE

Right

Wrong

Score

Reasoning scoring here is simply items right.

Items generated for this page in the formats described by later SRA-form studies; timing is shortened and no norms are applied.^6,7

6 · REFERENCES

Sources cited on this page

[1]Bashaw, W. L., & Bashaw, C. T. (1988). Thelma Gwinn Thurstone: Career strategies and contributions to measurement. SAGE Journals. (Bibliography lists Thurstone & Thurstone 1941a, 1941b, 1943.)doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1988.tb00948.x

[2]Primary Mental Abilities — Thurstone's Seven Factors. Cogn-IQ Encyclopedia (2026).cogn-iq.org

[3]Primary Mental Abilities Test. Encyclopaedia Britannica (topic page).britannica.com

[4]Goodman, C. H. (1943). Factorial analysis of Thurstone's seven primary abilities. Psychometrika (with references to 1941 validation studies).cambridge.org

[5]Oral history interview with Thelma Thurstone, 1984 (Spencer Foundation project). Columbia University Libraries.dlc.library.columbia.edu

[6]Extending neuropsychological assessments into the primary mental ability space. PMC (cites Thurstone & Thurstone, 1949, Examiner Manual for the SRA PMA Test, Form 10–14).pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1388089

[7]Cognitive aging in the Seattle Longitudinal Study: Within-person associations of primary mental abilities with psychomotor speed and cognitive flexibility (2016). Journal of Intelligence, 4(3), 12.mdpi.com/2079-3200/4/3/12

[8]Schaie, K. W., Willis, S. L., & Caskie, G. I. L. (2004). The Seattle Longitudinal Study: Relationship between personality and cognition. PMC.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1474018

[9]Schaie, K. W. The Seattle Longitudinal Study of Adult Cognitive Development (author manuscript). ResearchGate.researchgate.net

[10]Schaie, K. W. Seattle Longitudinal Study methods. The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging (2015). Wiley.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

[11]Wikipedia contributors. K. Warner Schaie (accessed 29 Sept 2026).en.wikipedia.org

[12]Becker, G. J. (1948). The relationship between the Thurstone SRA Primary Mental Abilities Tests and the Wechsler Bellevue Intelligence Test (thesis). Fordham University.research.library.fordham.edu

Primary sources: Thurstone, L. L., & Thurstone, T. G. (1941). The Chicago Tests of Primary Mental Abilities, for Ages 11–17. Chicago: Science Research Associates; and (1949) Examiner Manual for the SRA Primary Mental Abilities Test. Chicago: SRA.^1,6

HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE

What's Your IQ. (2026). Chicago / SRA Tests of Primary Mental Abilities (1941). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/sra-primary-mental-abilities-1941

EDITORIAL RECORD

First published2026

Last reviewed29 September 2026

Sources12 cited; live page could not be fetched

Open questionExact 1941 subtest list and norms

Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/sra-primary-mental-abilities-1941

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