Core study eight- Gould (Individual differences area)

Question 1

The names of the study

Answer 1

Yerkes- Carried out the research into intelligence testing
Gould- Reviewed the research done by Yerkes

Question 2

Backgrounds to Yerkes study

Answer 2

Binet-Simon test (1905) - the first intelligence test designed to identify school children who would not benefit from regular schooling because of their inferior intelligence and should be placed into ‘special schools’. A few years later this was adapted to test school children in the USA.

A key debate at the time was whether intelligence was inherited or if it could be learned.

Yerkes said that intelligence is determined by our genetics (hereditarianism argument) and would therefore not be affected by nurture.

Question 3

Definition of intelligence

Answer 3

An inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, or adapt to changes in the environment.

Question 4

Psychometric tests

Answer 4

Tools that seek to provide numerical measures of human personality traits, attitudes and abilities.

Question 5

Eugenics

Answer 5

The belief that it is possible to breed a superior group of people by encouraging those deemed superior to reproduce while inhibiting the growth of those groups deemed inferior.

Question 6

HEREDITARIANISM

Answer 6

The belief that genetic inheritance is more important than environmental factors in determining intelligence and behaviour.

Question 7

Yerkes overall aims

Answer 7

To produce a reliable and valid measure of intelligence

To prove that psychology (intelligence testing) could be as objective and quantifiable as the other scientific disciplines.

Question 8

The research method of Yerkes study

Answer 8

Yerkes’ research has been described as a quasi experiment as the IV is ethnic origin (which is naturally occuring) and the DV being intelligence/average mental age

Question 9

The data collection method of Yerkes study

Answer 9

Yerkes obtained his data through self report as recruits would answer questions during the intelligence tests to get their average mental age

Question 10

The sample of Yerkes study

Answer 10

1.75 million men within the US military
The sample included white Americans, ‘Negroes’ and European immigrants
The sample were of varying education levels

Question 11

The sampling method of Yerkes study

Answer 11

Opportunity sampling because the sample was obtained by using those present at the camp visited by researchers

Question 12

The three tests

Answer 12

Alpha- a written examination for literate recruits
Beta- An exam for illiterate recruits
Spoken exam- An exam for those who failed the Beta

Question 13

Army Alpha

Answer 13

A written examination for literate recruits.

It was made up of 8 parts and took less than 1 hour.

Its tasks included number sequences, unscrambling sentences and analogies.

Questions included:
-Crisco is a: patent medicine, disinfectant, toothpaste, food product.
-Washington is to Adams as first is to …….
-Christy Mathewson is famous as a: writer, artist, baseball player, comedian

Question 14

Army Beta

Answer 14

A series of tests designed for illiterate recruits and those that failed the Alpha.

e.g. maze running, cube counting and translating numbers into symbols, picture completion.

The instructions were written (in English) and in three of the seven parts and took less than an hour to complete the answers which had to be given in writing.

Question 15

The Individual exam

Answer 15

A spoken exam for those who had failed beta
This test was rarely ever done based on the chaos and demand of the researchers to conduct tests on everyone (only ⅕ of those who failed beta were given this test)

Question 16

HOW THE TESTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED

Answer 16

Army Alpha: Should have been taken by literate recruits
Army Beta: Should have been taken by illiterate recruits and those who failed alpha
Spoken Exam: Should have been taken by those who failed beta

Question 17

Finding of Yerkes’ mental tests (what were the mental age scores)

Answer 17

Another researcher, Boring, analysed the results of the tests from 160,000 of the recruits. He identified 3 ‘facts’ from the data:
1. The average mental age of a white American adults (13) was just above that of a moron (the standard score was set at 16).

2. The darker people of southern Europe and the Slavs of eastern Europe were less intelligent than the fair people of western and northern Europe (e.g. Russians had a mental age of 11.34, Poles 10.74)
3. Black recruits scored lowest of all, with an average mental age of 10.41. Some camps furthered this by separating black individuals into 3 groups based on intensity of skin colour. Lighter individuals scored higher!

Question 18

Interpretation of the findings

Answer 18

These ‘facts’ were used to provide a genetic explanation for the differences (i.e. that some groups of people were naturally less intelligent)

Question 19

A review

Answer 19

a process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work,research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field

Question 20

What is a review study

Answer 20

A review involves another researcher (usually in the same field) checking the original study to ensure it is carried out in an acceptable way and that findings are valid.

Question 21

Strengths of review studies

Answer 21

Able to reassesses. research as it offers a fresh perspective on what was found originally and may be more objective as the reviewer is independent.

Benefit of hindsight so it can highlight the consequences of the research and conclusions drawn.

Question 22

Weaknesses of review studies

Answer 22

may miss important data being analysed so may not be accurate in the first place
Reviewer could be biased ( for example if the findings disagree with their own theory)

Question 23

What problems did Gould identify with the design of Yerkes’ intelligence tests

Answer 23

The greatest issue with the design on the test is that they were actually biased- they assumed a knowledge of American culture to be able to answer them. For example, anyone who did not grow up in America would be unlikely to know that Crisco is a food product or who Chirsty Mathewon was. This meant recent immigrants from Europe and black Americans who had not received the same level of schooling would be at disadvantage when completing the tests.

Even the Beta test, which should have been accessible to alternative recruits, required knowledge of US culture (ten pen bowling etc.) some of the recruit had never even held a pen before so still struggled to complete these tasks.

Question 24

What problems did Gould identify with the way Yerkes’ intelligence tests were administered

Answer 24

There were many more illiterate recruits that had been anticipated and due to the long queues for the Beta test, many of the camps ignored Yerkes’s protocols and changed the criteria for deciding if a recruits was literate- for example in one camp it was enough to be educated until third grade. This meant that many recruits were given the wrong and were not given the opportunity to sit resist of the Beta examination if they failed the alpha examination.

This meant many of the recruits failed the tests as they were not given the right version to complete. The men who were most likely to be illiterate were the black recruits due to the segregated schooling, poor conditions and poverty of the time. Those who had recently immigrated to the US were also at a advantage.

The conditions in which the recruits completed the test were also highly chaotic as many of then did not know what was happening so would not have scored well on the test.

Question 25

What problems were there with the way Yerkes interpreted the findings from his test

Answer 25

Gould augured there were systematic biases in the way the tests were designed and administered which meant Black and European recruits did worse. It was really measuring their level of schooling and familiarity with the US culture rather than naive intellectual ability- so conclusions were not valid.

Question 26

What happened as a result of Yerkes’ findings

Answer 26

They were used to lobby for greater restrictions on those entering the US form countries from inferior genetic stock and led to the introduction of the immigration restriction Act to introduce a quota on the number of people who could enter the US each year. Up to six million southern, central and eastern Europeans were bared entry to the US between 1924 and the outbreak of WW2.

Question 27

What were the long-term negative effects as a result of the findings

Answer 27

It is estimated that six million people from southern, central and eastern Europe (all areas that scored low on the test) tried to enter America between 1924 and 1936 but were denied.
One of the groups were found to be low in intelligence were Jewish people, many tried to leave Europe before the WW2 started but were unable to due to the immigration restriction

Question 28

What Gould would conclude about Yerkes’ research

Answer 28

There were systematic errors in the design of the tests and how they were administered which led to black recruits and immigrants scoring lower

The test were carried out in such disorganized way that there were not a true reflection of people’s intelligence and the conclusions led indirectly to the deaths of millions of people.

Question 29

Yerkes collected quantitative data in his original study. Give example of this:

Answer 29

The mental age scores of the recruits from different ethnic cultural backgrounds ( for example white Americans had a mental age of 13, black Americans, advantage mental age score was 10.41).

Question 30

Gould collected qualitative data in his review of Yerkes’ research. Give examples of this

Answer 30

The Beta test was criticized because it was designed to be used by illiterate men but still relied on pencil work, knowledge of numbers and how to write them because of this Gould augured that : Yerkes had overlooked or consciously bypassed something of importance.

He was also criticized the conclusions in which the test took place saying that they would have been, either utterly confused or scared shitless and that he struggled to see how recruits could have been in a frame of mind to record anything about their innate ablilites.

Question 31

How in terms of ethics, can Yerkes’ research be criticized

Answer 31

The recruits did not get in formed consent to take part in the research. Often they were confused about what was going on and would have been ordered by the officers in the training camp to complete the tests.

Unable to withdraw from the research due to pressure from army officers

Long term harm caused to recruits who scored poorly on the tests (they were considered not clever enough for specialist roles and would have ended up on the front line). Also harm as a result of the immigration restriction act that was introduced to put a quota on how many people could enter the US.

There were no confidentially given as recruits had to fill in their home, ages and educational backgrounds on the test.

Question 32

How, in terms of ethics, can Yerkes’ research be defended

Answer 32

To some extent confidentially was upheld of the analysis upheld as the analysis only looked at the average mental age scores of the recruits from different backgrounds.

The recruits were not actively deceived about the purpose of the test.

Question 33

On what grounds can Yerkes be accused of cultural bias

Answer 33

The design of the tests meant that someone who had not grown up in America would have scored poorly on them (as they relied on knowledge of American culture)

Question 34

Why might Yerkes claim that his research us not ethnocentric

Answer 34

Yerkes carried out the research in a cross-cultural way by investigating the mental ages of recruits from different ethic and cultural backgrounds.

Question 35

Internal reliability of Yerkes research

Answer 35

The tests were standardized in that they all had the same questions

There were also clear instructions as to now the test should be administered but these were not always followed-there were too many recruits and too little to do this in a controlled way ( for example different criteria for literate).

Question 36

External reliability of Yerkes research

Answer 36

A very large sample of 1.75 million US army recruits, of which about 150,000 were analysed to investigate the different mental age scores

Question 37

Internal validity of Gould research

Answer 37

No, this was not accurate measure as there were several exterenous variables that were not controlled for (how long the recruits had lived in america and therefore their similarity with US culture, level of schooling, etc.)

Question 38

Population validity of Yerkes research

Answer 38

The recruits come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. However, only male participants were tested so the findings are not representative of women’s intelligence.

Question 39

Criterion validity- how were the test results supposed to predict future performance

Answer 39

The tests were used to predict if recruits were intelligent enough to be considered for roles of officers with those who scored low recommend as not clever enough to rise above the rank of private (however the bias in the test means that the findings are unlikely to be a good predictor of this).

Question 40

Principles of the area of individual differences

Answer 40

• the ways in which people differ and the patterns in this
• normal and ‘abnormal behavior’
• how to measure differences

Question 41

Concepts of the area of individual differences

Answer 41

• mental disorders
• intelligence testing
• psychometric testing
• measuring differences
• psychosexual stages

Question 42

How does the study by Gould (Yerkes) link to the principles of the individual differences area

Answer 42

Gould’s study falls within the individual differences area because it’s reviewing an attempt by Yerkes to develop as way of measuring how individual differ in their intelligence levels.

Question 43

Strengths of Individual differences area

Answer 43

• It enables psychologist to find out about a wilder range of human behaviors because all behaviors, not just average ones studied.
• It can have great social benefit, improving our understanding of mental disorders and suggesting treatments
• It can help to inform the freewill determinism debate suggesting that the extent to which we have control over our behavior.

Question 44

Weaknesses of the individual differences area

Answer 44

• As it lacks a set of defining beliefs about why people behave the way they do. It is arguable that there is more disagreement in this area
• With much of the research in this area being socially sensitive, it has the potential to be but to harmful use.
• The tools for measuring differences that are developed may not always be valid.