Gould - 1982 Flashcards
Who’s work did did Gould examine?
Robert Yerkes
What did Robert Yerkes do?
conduct the largest intelligence test in history
Which movement did Yerkes contribute to?
The Eugenics Movement
What is the Eugenics Movement?
The practice of selecting the most desirable heritable characteristics to improve future generations
What did the Eugenics movement in America lead to?
- legal restrictions on immigration to America
- prevented approx. 6 million Europeans from escaping persecution between 1924-1939
What type of test did Yerkes use?
Psychometric tests
What is a psychometric test?
an assessment which measures and individual’s cognitive ability
What are the advantages to psychometric testing?
- standardised = valid / accurate
- consistent = reliable
What are the disadvantages to psychometric testing?
reductionist - ignores the true complexities to intelligence
What is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)?
an intelligence test for adults
Why did Gould review Yerkes’ work?
To identify the issues with psychometric testing
How do you measure IQ?
mental age / current age X 100
What does IQ stand for?
Intelligence Quotient
Who are some of the key figures within intelligence testing?
- Binet-Simon
- hereditarians
Who were Simon and Binet?
They devised an intelligence test in the early 1900s - they believed that intelligence was not a fixed characteristic and could be improved with appropriate support
What do Hereditarians believe?
- the eugenics movement
- intelligence is genetic
What was Gould’s aim?
to reveal basic problems in attempts to measure intelligence
What was Yerkes’ aim?
to devise a scientific way to test the natural trait of intelligence on a mass scale
What was Gould’s research method?
review of critique of Yerkes’ work
What was Yerkes’ method?
large-scale psychometric testing
What are the weaknesses of Yerkes’ method?
- assumes intelligence is fixed and unchanging
What are the strengths of Yerkes’ method?
- an attempt to objectively and scientifically measure intelligence
- simple to administer
- allows lots of data to be collected
What was Yerkes’ sample?
1.75 million US army recruits situated in training camps
What are the strengths of the sample?
- large = representative = generalisable
- range of ethnicities
What are the weaknesses of the sample?
- cannot be generalised outside of the sample frame (army recruits)
- only from US (culture bias)
- ethnocentric
What was Yerkes’ sampling technique?
Opportunity
What are the strengths of opportunity sampling?
- easy to obtain
What are the weaknesses of opportunity sampling?
- not as representative = not as generalisable - likely to be the same type of people
What were the three types of test?
1- Army Alpha
2- Army Beta
3- Individual Examination
What was the Army Alpha test?
- written test for literate recruits
- 8 sections
- filling in the missing number in a sequence
- completing analogies
What was the Army Beta test?
- pictorial test for illiterate recruits (or those who failed AA)
- 7 parts
- maze completion
- instructions were still given in written English
What was the Individual Examination?
- individual spoken test
- for participants who failed the Army Beta
How long did the paper tests take to complete?
less than 1 hour
What did Gould criticise about the tests?
much of the test relied heavily on cultural knowledge and access to formal schooling - discriminatory
What were some of the issues with the tests?
- inconsistencies with administration between the camps
- only focused on American culture
- black recruits were not allowed to take the IE if failed the AB
- only 1/5 of people who failed the AB could take the IE
What did the inconsistencies between camp administration result in?
- disproportionately affected men who were black or had recently immigrated
- systematic bias reflecting their lower levels of literacy and lack of access to education
What type of data was collected?
quantitative data
What was the quantitative data?
scores on the IQ test
What are the strengths of quantitative data?
- easy to analyse and compare
- objective
What are the weaknesses of quantitative data?
- only focusing on quantifying intelligence via fixed-choice questions may fail to capture an individuals true intelligence
- limits usefulness
What are the results from the study?
- white Americans mental age = 13 (standard was 16) - edge of moronity
- black Americans mental age = 10.4
- European Immigrants separated based on country - Russia = 11.34
What are Yerkes’ conclusions of this study?
- The average man of most nations can be considered a ‘moron’
What are Gould’s conclusions of the study?
- IQ testing is culturally and historically bias
- IQ tests do not measure innate intelligence
- The lighter the skin the higher the IQ
- America is a nation of morons
What are the ethical issues of the study?
- no mention of obtaining consent or having the right to withdraw
- socially sensitive results
- no debrief
