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A synchronous landmark was the US Army's intelligence testing team subjecting numerous American males to standardized testing for the first time in history. This served as a training ground for various psychologists, including Binet. His approach assesses relative intelligence by examining the subject using a set of questions of increasing difficulty. Binet contended that the content of the questions was irrelevant if their results correlated with an alternative measure of cognitive capacity, i.e., one that increases with age. Thus, IQ is the ratio of mental age to the physical age. The ostensible dilemma arising from this approach is that these tests should not be regarded as direct measures of cognitive capacity, as the variables under study can be affected independently by additional factors, such as early education and physical environment. This problem was realized when researchers attempted to interpret interracial differences in behavior. Complication occurred as such groups also differed in culture. The recent interest in culture fair tests is derived from various sources including: research indicating racial differences in test performance on cognitive tests and research demonstrating test differences as a function of socio-economic levels; therefore, prior to more profound inspection of culture fair tests, the main ways in which cultural differences among racial groups may be reflected in psychometry should be examined. These causes include: general cultural environment, culture conflicts, socio-economic level, and education level. It is palpable that the specific culture in which the individual is reared may influence his behavioral development. The experiences of people living in different cultures results in different perceptual responses, a different meaning to their actions, and different standards of behavior. Porteus recorded an especially intriguing illustration of this in 1979.
