The idea of intelligence tests showed up first in Western society. In 1905, the French psychologist Binet and his assistant Simon designed 30 items to test intelligence, arranged in order of ascending difficulty. The number of items answered correctly was used as an assessment of the testee's intelligence. Thus was intelligence testing born, with the original purpose of identifying learning-disabled youngsters in order to give them extra tuition.

In 1916, the scale was adapted by Stanford University professor Lewis Terman as the "Stanford-Binet Scale." It is still widely used today. The scale divides the testee's chronological age from the number of points awarded (mental age) to give an intelligence quotient, often abbreviated as "IQ." Professor Terman also categorized the ranges of human intelligence into nine groups, from genius level to very low ability, based on the scores he obtained.

Perhaps because it turned the previously abstract and ungraspable concept of intelligence into a mass-produced test paper, and one which gave an easily calculated numerical result, the test seemed like a window into the mysterious depths of the mind itself. From this point on, intelligence testing grew by leaps and bounds.

During the Second World War, the United States did intelligence testing on soldiers. Approximately two million men were tested, and the method was also used to determine a quota for immigrant European soldiers. After the war ended, during the 1950s, the demobilized soldiers returned to school in droves, and intelligence testing followed them into the educational system, where it was used as an entrance qualification, or as a standard to assess academic success or aptitude. The influence of these tests is still felt today, in the SAT for college admission and the GRE for graduate school entrance, which both belong to this category of test. Because scores on such examinations commonly decide which schools an individual may apply to, the tests may be said to have a crucial impact on one's future.

As intelligence tests have become a deciding factor in people's advancement and place in society, the question of their fairness and applicability has become more and more controversial, particularly as to whether one such test is suitable for all, regardless of race, sex, or cultural background.

In her book Revolution from Within, American women's rights activist Gloria Steinem argues that American intelligence testing is fundamentally based on the middle-class white male. She contends that racial and culture bias was built into the definition of general knowledge, and the interpretation of test scores from the very beginning. She notes a concrete example from African-American critic Robert Williams in The Black Intelligence Test Counterbalanced for Honkies:

"Is it more indicative of intelligence to know Malcolm X's last name, or the author of Hamlet? I ask you now when is Washington's birthday? Perhaps 99 percent of you thought February 22. The answer presupposes a white form. I actually meant Booker T. Washington's . . . . What is the color of bananas? Many of you would say yellow. By the time the banana has made it to my community, to the ghetto, it is brown with yellow spots. What is the correct thing to do if another child hits you . . . ? . . . For survival purposes, children in Black communities are taught to hit back; however that response receives zero credit on current intelligence tests such as the Stanford-Binet."

Steinem feels that the prevalence of this type of test could cause children from other races to be unable to enjoy a study experience compatible with their own culture, even to the point of forcing them to cut their feet to fit their shoes, negatively impacting their self-concept. She feels that many students create a false persona and repress their true selves in order to adapt to the demands of test-taking and the educational system, converting their youth into a three-digit number.

As a result, for the past twenty or so years, these tests have been criticized in the so-called melting pot or salad bowl of the United States as being biased, inaccurate, and inadequate to predict a person's growth and success. Apart from occasional edits to bring them up to date, the proportion of situations which require their use is also slowly coming down. For example, after the efforts of the women's movement, a United States court handed down a decision in 1989 stating that using only SAT scores and grades to allocate scholarship money was discriminatory to women. SAT scores are no longer the sole arbiter of college admission; high school grades, interviews, essays, and experience must now all be taken into consideration.