Individual differences - Gould/Yerkes Flashcards
Background
Binet-Simon test (1905): .first intelligence test to find children who would not benefit to regular schooling due to inferior intelligence so should be placed in 'special schools' .adapted for USA school children .Yerkes' test based off of this .Gould reviews Yerkes
aims
.To produce a reliable and valid measure of intelligence
.To prove intelligence testing can be objective and quantifiable like other scientific disciplines
sample
US military Black Americans White Americans European immigrants 1.75 million men
3 tests
.army alpha - literate recruits
.army beta - illiterate recruits/those who failed alpha
.individual interview - spoken test by army recruiters/those who failed beta
Army alpha
.8 parts - less than 1 hour total
.number sequences, unscrambling sentences, multiple choice, solve analogies
army alpha question e.g
Crisco is a:
a) medicine
b) toothpaste
c) disinfectant
d) food product
Army beta
.series of tests including images
.asked to find whats missing from images
.other tests included - maze running, cube counting and translating numbers into symbols
.instructions in English with 3 of 7 parts being written
Problems
.Too many in line for Beta (hadn’t been to school)
.culturally bias questions
.Beta test still required skills e.g numbers so some at a disadvantage
Should have been administered
literate take alpha
illiterate and failed alpha take beta
failed beta take individual
issues with administration
.too many taking beta so lowered alpha standards (inconsistent over all camps)
.recruits who failed alpha were not always given beta
.hard to concentrate - chaotic conditions
Finding 1
average mental age of white American is 13, just under that of a moron (16)
Finding 2
.darker people of South EU/East EU less intelligent than ‘fair’ people of N+W EU
.Russians 11.34, Poles 10.74
Finding 3
Black recruits lowest of all (10.41)
lighter colours scored higher
Gould interpreting findings
.Gould argued it was systematic bias leading to results : testing level of schooling/familiarity with the US rather than intelligence
Scoring
.give grade based on mental age
.Yerkes suggested score of C is low average and should be an ordinary private
.men given D grade ‘rarely suited for tasks requiring special skill’
How results applied
.results used to suggest some races superior than others
.used as evidence to introduce Immigration restriction act 1924
issues with results application
.estimated 6 million people from S,E,C EU denied entrance to America 1924-1939
.Many Jews denied entrance during WW11
Gould conclusions (4)
.IQ tests don’t measure IQ - unreliable, invalid
.’systematic errors’ in design/administration led to immigrants scoring low
.tests carried out in disorganised ways so not true reflection of intelligence
.Yerkes’ conclusions led indirectly to millions of deaths
qualitative data by Gould
.Beta test designed to be used by illiterate men but still required writing/number knowledge - “Yerkes overlooked or passed something of importance”
.criticised conditions - “either utterly confused or scared shitless”
ethics broken
informed consent
withdrawal
debriefing
confidentiality
ethics kept
protection from harm
deception
internal reliability
yes - all had same questions
no - administration of tests not always followed
external reliability
yes - very large sample. 1.75 million
internal validity
no - not measure of IQ, other factors effected it e.g conditions, culture bias
population validity
yes - not ethnocentric (many cultures)
no - androcentric
critereon
no - used to predict if recruits were intelligent enough for roles as officers, but but were flawed due to culture bias
