Individual Differences: Gould

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

> many definitions of intelligence
different approaches to understand/categorise intelligence- fluid/crystalised, spearman’s ‘g’ factor
measuring intelligence- IQ= intelligence quotient
1905 test created to identify children in France who needed education support
yerkes- aimed to prove scientific status of psychology

Question 2

aim

Answer 2

> problematic nature of psychometric testing and measurement of intelligence
bias in psychology and societies prejudice influence objectivity of intelligence testing
political and ethical implication of psychological research

Question 3

method

Answer 3

> edited section of Gould’s book ‘the mismeasure of man
book summarised history of intelligence
current study reviews methods used by Yerke’s to make psychology more scientific

Question 4

sample

Answer 4

1.75 million recruits in USA WW1, white American’s, European immigrants and negroes

Question 5

procedure Alpha

Answer 5

> literate recruits
8 parts
intended to measure ‘native intellectual ability’
culturally biased- relied on American culture exposure

Question 6

procedure Beta

Answer 6

> literary recruits
7 parts
culturally specific pictures
3/7 parts needed written answers

Question 7

procedure individually spoken

Answer 7

> fail alpha and beta
graded A-E +/-
not everyone who should have taken test had opportunity to
queues fro beta so long minimum entry for alpha dropped

Question 8

findings

Answer 8

> boring- Yerkes lieutenant- analysed results to ‘discover’ these ‘facts’
average mental age of white American males 13. ‘interbreeding with negroes and the feeble-minded’ lowered IQ of the USA
European immigrants could be ‘graded’ by country of origin with darker skinned Europeans less intelligent that ‘fair people’
black males have average age of 10.41, lighter skin colour higher the IQ

Question 9

impact on officer screening

Answer 9

> 2/3 of those promoted had achieved good scores on tests
requests from other institutions use testing methods

Question 10

discrimination

Answer 10

> implications suggest there is a measurable difference between races
books published supporting these findings were used as racist propaganda
yerkes later acknowledged that the tests were difficult for those with less experience with the English language

Question 11

immigration restriction act

Answer 11

> influenced by Yerkes’ findings
US placed a quota on the number if immigrants who would be permitted entry
allowed 2% of census figures from 1890
estimated that as many as 6 million people were denied entry from southerns and eastern European between the passing of this act and the start of ww2

Question 12

conclusions

Answer 12

> IQ tests are culturally and historically biased
IQ tests do not measure innate intelligence
IQ testing is unreliable and may produce invalid data
inappropriate, poor administered psychometric tests can lead to tragedy