Gould (1982): A nation of morons Flashcards
Background of study (debate version)
Nurture: Intelligence is learnt (Piaget, 1960)
If intelligence is learnt we are testing a product of a person’s experience. The only point in testing would be to work out who needs more teaching
Nature: Intelligence is an innate cognitive ability (Burt, 1995)
If intelligence is innate and unchanging then the point of testing would be to classify people
Background on Robert Yerkes
He was a psychologist at Harvard University and believed that intelligence was inherited and couldn’t be changed.
At the beginning of the 20th century, psychology was seen as soft science.He saw an opportunity to promote psychology as a science in the field of mental testing Such test would provide objective quantitative data and help psych be seen more rigorously as a science
he realised that there was a vast number of potential participants for his research if he could convince the US Army to let him trial his tests on recruits for World War 1
Aim of study
This study is a review by Gould of Yerkes’ introduction of mental testing.
The aim of the review was to document Yerkes’ work and argue that his mental tests were fundamentally flawed because of theoretical bias, and this had far-reaching social, political and ethical consequences.
Research Method
It’s not a piece of empirical data (ie not primary data). The article is from an edited article from Gould’s (1981) book ‘The mismeasure of man’
The study is a review article that looks at the history of Robert Yerke’s history intelligence testing of recruits from the US army in WWI in his attempt to establish psychology as a science
Sample
1.75 million army recruits from the US army during WWI
The recruits included White Americans, ‘Negroes’ and European immigrants.
Tested as part of the of the process of screening recruits, to work out which jobs would suit them best
Opportunity sample
Situating i’m training camps- adult men
Procedure
THE ALPHA ARMY TEST
A written tests designed for literate recruits. It consisted of 8 parts. It required a good basic understanding of English. The questions were extremely biased, which would be hard for those who are unfamiliar with American culture
eg: Washington is to Adams as first is to … (second)
THE ALPHA BETA TEST
Designed for people who were illiterate or failed the alpha test. It had 7 parts and consisted of picture completion tasks. The pictures were culturally specific. In 3/7 tasks answers had to be written in English
THE INDIVIDUAL SPOKEN EXAM
If recruits failed on the other two tests, they had to take this but it rarely happened. Every individual would be graded A to E
What problems did the administrations of the test cause?
The levels of literacy amongst Americans , especially black Americans, were much lower than Yerke’s anticipated
Queues for the Beta test began to build up leading to an artificial lowering of standards by administrators in order to reallocate more men to the alpha test.
Further problems arose with men, especially black men, who failed the alpha test were not allowed to re-sit the the Beta test
Only 1/5 of those who failed the beta tests were allowed to take the individual examination
Key findings: What were the facts that emerged?
The average age of a white, American, adult, males was 13. Indicating that the country was a ‘nation of morons’. This was taken by the eugenicists to show that the poor, blacks, feeble minded had been interbreeding and lowering the overall intelligence level
The data showed that European immigrants could be graded by their country of origin with the darker people of Southern Europe and the Slavs of East Europe being less intelligent than fair people of Western and Northern Europe
The black man had an average mental age of 10.42. However the lighter the skin colour, the higher the score
Key findings:Analysis and subsequent developments
The tests had a large impact on officer screening. By the end of the war, 2/3 of men promoted had talent the test and got a good score
According to Yerkes the mental testing and psychology had achieved the credibility as a hard science like he wanted
The fact the mental age was 13 was concerning but the most important implication of these tests was the differences in racial and national groups. The tests were accepted as a measure of innate intelligence
here was evidence that there really was a difference between racial and national groups in their levels of intelligence.
Key findings: The immigration restriction act
Passed by US congress in 1924 and shaped by Yerkes findings.
People from Southern and Eastern Europe and from the Alpine and Mediterranean nations, who had scored very poorly on the army tests, were no longer welcome to the states
It was decided that the quota of immigrants allowed into America would be 2% of each recorded nation taken from the 1890 figures.
This obviously meant that the numbers of ‘the unwanted’ would be very low
These restrictions would have horrendous consequences as as the immigration from southern and eastern Europe was all but ceased.
The persecution of the Jews which started well before the actual beginning of the Second World War, meant that many Jews tried to escape from their homeland, but there was ‘no admittance’ to America.
Calculations suggest that as many as 6 million people from southern, central and eastern Europe were denied entry into America between 1924 and the start of WW2, in 1939.
The fate of many of them as a result of the Nazi regime is well known.
Conclusions
By Yerkes:
Nations can be graded by their intelligence.
America is a nation of morons!
By Gould:
IQ tests are culturally and historically biased.
IQ tests do not measure innate intelligence.
IQ testing is often unreliable.
IQ tests may not produce valid results.
Inappropriate, poorly administered IQ tests can lead to tragic consequences.
What has eugenics got to do in relation to the study?
Eugenics is the science that seeks to improve human genetic quality through social intervention such as selective breeding, or screening out undesirable genetic strains
Eugenics believe that selective breeding in humans should be used to improve innate qualities.
Eugenicists said that the poor, blacks, feeble minded had been interbreeding and lowering the overall intelligence level
