Galton & The Measurement of Individual Differences Flashcards
Name 2 things Galton accomplished as a geographer.
Exploration in Namibia.
Weather maps.
Who was Galton mainly influenced by and how?
Darwin.
Origin of Species had no discussion of individual differences. Galton was inspired to think about these.
What did Quetelet observe?
That many human characteristics approximate a normal distribution. Created the normal/Gaussian curve (1845). Galton linked this to mental capacity in 1869.
What did Galton and James Cattell agree on?
That reaction time methods could be used to measure intelligence.
Who was the first person to measure a correlation coefficient?
Galton.
What were the main issues of Galton’s Hereditary Genius?
Galton suggests that genius is inherited and men were not passing it on. Men married women for money not intelligence and therefore genius was dying out.
Main issues: gender, use of historical sources (not all families are written about).
What was Galton’s philosophy of eugenics?
He believed in breeding the better society. Social policies were used to manipulate sexual selection. Negative eugenics + positive eugenics.
In the USA, eugenics became very popular. Name three consequences of this.
Small communities used to show off their best people like products.
Sterilisation without consent to stop unfit breeding.
Influenced German’s in thinking there is fit and unfit groups.
Which university was Galton responsible for the development of Psychology?
UCL. He was endowed a chair in Eugenics in UCL.
