gould (1982) a nation of morons. bias in IQ testing Flashcards
research method
The Gould study is not a piece of empirical research. It is important to be aware that the article is an edited extract from Gould’s (1981) book,
‘The Mismeasure of Man’ in which he traces the history of the measurement of human intelligence from nineteenth century craniology (the
measurement of skulls) to today’s highly technical and sophisticated methods of IQ testing.
• The study is therefore a review article that looks at the history of Robert M. Yerkes’ intelligence testing of recruits for the US army in WW1, and his
attempt to establish psychology as a scientific discipline
sample
1.75 million army recruits in the USA during WW1. The recruits included White Americans, ‘Negroes’ and European immigrants.
outline- procedure
THE ARMY ALPHA TEST
• This was designed for literate recruits. It consisted of eight parts. It included items with which we are totally familiar as part of intelligence
testing: analogies, filling in the next number in a sequence etc. It required a good basic understanding of English language skills and literacy.
Although the tests were considered by Yerkes to measure ‘native intellectual ability’ (intelligence that is not influenced by education and/or
culture), they were in fact extremely biased. After all, how could someone who was unfamiliar with American culture achieve a decent score?
The following examples give some idea of the type of questions asked:
• Washington is to Adams as first is to …….
• Crisco is a: patient medicine, disinfectant, toothpaste, food product?
• The number of kaffir’s legs is 2, 4, 6, 8?
• Christy Matthewson is famous as a: writer, artist, baseball player, comedian
THE ARMY BETA TEST
• This was a test designed for people who were illiterate or failed the Army Alpha Test. It had seven parts and consisted of picture completion
tasks e.g.
• The pictures were again culturally specific and would have been extremely difficult to complete if participants had no knowledge of some
of the items. There were also maze tests, counting the number of cubes, finding the next in a series of symbols and translating numerals into
symbols using a code to work from.
• The instructions were written (in English), in three of the seven parts the answers had to be given in writing, yet this was a test for illiterates who
may never have held a pencil beforehand
THE INDIVIDUAL SPOKEN EXAMINATION:
If recruits failed on the other two tests, they were supposed to be given an individual spoken examination, this however rarely happened.
• Every individual was given a Grade from A to E, with plus and minus signs e.g. C- indicated a low average intelligence, suitable for the position
of ordinary private in the army; D indicated a person rarely suited for tasks requiring special skill, forethought, resourcefulness or sustained
alertness.
• Administration of the tests caused numerous problems:
• Recruits who were illiterate should immediately have been assigned to the Beta Test, or given it if they failed the Alpha test, but this only
happened in some camps. Therefore illiterate or immigrant recruits often sat the Alpha Test and came out scoring next to nothing.
• In fact the levels of literacy amongst Americans, especially black Americans, were much lower than Yerkes anticipated and this confounded
the problems further.
• Queues for the Beta Test began to build up and this led to an artificial lowering of standards by the administrators in order to reallocate
more men to the Alpha Test. In some camps, the minimum level of schooling was sufficient to warrant sitting the Alpha test, whereas in
others the recruits had to achieve a certain grade.
• Besides these inconsistencies in administration, further problems arose with men, especially black men, who failed the Alpha Test not
being allowed to re-sit the Beta Test.
• Only one fifth of those who failed the Beta Test were allowed to take the individual examinations
conclusions
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.
• Nations can be graded by their intelligence.
• America is a nation of morons!
