mental age
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˈmɛn.təl eɪdʒ/
- Archaic
:
edad mental
- In 1908, Alfred Binet devised the mental age to capture the discrepancy between the child's development and the norm.
- the concept of mental age
- mental age of 30 months
Examples
-
Louis had a mental age of 19 months on the MSEL.
Academic text (2015) -
His mental age was found to be 15 years and 7 months, yielding an IQ of 187.
Academic text (1990) -
Together, they have a combined mental age of 12.
-
I don't have a mental age of five anymore.
-
Her mental age and her body are not quite synchronized.
-
Carrie scored a mental age of nine years, Emma of seven years and eleven months.
Academic text (2002) -
Casey had a mental age of 30 months on the MSEL.
Academic text (2015) -
Most playgrounds are not accessible, and the mismatch between some children's size/height and their mental age excludes them from activities that they would otherwise enjoy.
Academic text (2008) -
The psychologist assessed his cognitive abilities and determined his mental age to be 10 years.
-
Teachers often use standardized tests to estimate a student's mental age for better learning strategies.
How Developed
- Specialized
- Archaic
1
5.1
50
3.4
- Specialized
26
2.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'level of intellectual development expressed as an age' is directly and compositionally derived from 'mental' (relating to the mind or cognition) plus 'age' (a measure in years); a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer this sense. This is a common cross-linguistic compound (e.g., Spanish 'edad mental', French 'âge mental') and follows a straightforward descriptive pattern, so it is transparent despite being a technical term.
Etymology
The phrase mental age comes from early intelligence tests that compared a person's thinking to the average abilities of different ages. It links mental meaning 'thinking' and age meaning 'years', so 'mental age' is the age whose average thinking level matches a person's ability.