2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"An Honest, but Reserved Appraisal?", January 2, 2011
This review is from: The Intelligence Men: Makers of the I.Q. Controversy (Paperback)
"The Intelligence Men: Makers of the IQ Controversy" by Raymond E. Fancher, W.W. Norton & Co., NY, 1985. ISBN 0-393-95525-7, PB 270/241. Notes 15 pgs. Index 13 pgs. 10 pgs. 5 ½" x 8 ¼".
Penned by psychologist Prof. Fancher (York Univ., Ontario), previously published author within his field, The Intelligence Men (TIM) provides a well-balanced, well-researched and easily read biography of initial developments that led to current methodologies of intelligence testing. TIM discusses those aspects of testing that spark(ed) private, public and international outcry whenever racial groups are/were compared, - and also led to laws banning the testing of certain racial groups in California and some laws sharply curtailing the use of IQ Testing in the work place by Federal Law (Supreme Court 1971).
The origin of intelligence testing and the circuitous course it followed is fascinating. Beginning as a search to discover the relative contributions of Nature vs. Nurture, i.e., to solve the origin of intellectual geniuses, imprimatur Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (music) and Norbert Weiner (cybernetics/mathematics).
Early studies were conducted by Francis Galton (favored inheritance) and John Stuart Mills (environment), both intellectual giants but each of who attributed their own successes oppositely!
Initial tests were poorly designed and based on physiological abilities (reaction time, color discrimination, eye judgment of line bisection, etc.). James Cattell's contribution was to add number recall, which helped; Alfred Binet added memory, imagery, attention, comprehension, and eventually adjusted testing for age groups when brain maturation could be factored into test scores. But by this time (c. 1904) testing was no longer directed at evaluating intellectual geniuses, but showed especial value in separating children (school age) into normal and retarded groups: Idiots, Imbeciles and Morons or debiles. Attention was directed to concerns of incorrect labeling and wasting of class time, space and government monies for the uneducable. There was deep discussion of what was being measured, i.e., intelligence, judgment, multifarious psychological faculties in the real world, and of "mental orthopedics", exercises which might raise intellectual levels. In 1908, Binet wrote that the most valued application would be focused toward inferior degrees of intelligence: the complexity of genius was too complex and individualized. Unlike Galton, Binet conceptualized intelligence as highly individualized and shaped by environment and cultural circumstances, but subject to change.
Charles Spearman, around 1897 immersed himself into "voluntaristic psychology" and "creative syntheses" advocated by Wundt. He studied school children and discovered "general intelligence" and "general sensory discrimination" (two-factor intelligence) using mathematical correlates, often referenced by "g" and "s". Importantly, Harvard trained psychologist, Robert Yerkes, took opportunity to administer "Army Tests" using point scores of A to E, evaluating both Alpha (required reading and language abilities and posing considerable arithmetic problems) and Beta forms (solving maze problems, discriminating geometric patters, etc.) to discriminate officer vs. NCO groupings. Yerkes reported "native intelligence of the average recruit was shockingly low" and reported a very substantial proportion of U.S. soldiers were morons. TIM discusses racial group testing results varied greatly, reporting inferior and superior intelligence led to Congress to establish strict quotas for national groups, eugenics being at its core. Lewis Terman expanded testing to embrace more complex cognitive functioning, promoted Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon scale, and popularized the 1916 Stanford-Binet with "intelligence quotient" or IQ (mental age divided by chronological age multiplied x 100. Richard Herrnstein studied correlation of intelligence (IQ) and school performance and paid the price. David Wechsler emphasized overlooked "nonintellective" factors as motivation and personality. Finally, c. 1930's twin studies & kinships became vogue to discern nature vs. nurture, but as TIM details, some research was demonstrated to be mathematically corrupt, inadequately documented, and misinterpreted. With mathematical analyses, Leon Kamin demonstrated Cyril Burt's identical twin studies had pervasive imperfections and ambiguities. Overall, intelligence testing suddenly got bad, bad press.
Currently, the state of California legally prohibits the use of standard IQ tests on black children in schools. Arthur Jensen studied individual differences and "Direct Learning", hypothesizing Level I and Level II types of intelligence. Thrown into the controversy were the McCarthy hearings in Boston (1954) over Leon Kamin, alleged active Communist. The Harvard Educational Review (HER) that had sought, and published (1969) the "Jensenism" controversy, reversed course, trashing the Jensen review that had aroused Harvard's black and liberal students in attacking HER for publishing a "racist article", following this by signs and graffiti saying "Jensen Must Perish" and "Kill Jensen".
In 1971, Richard Herrnstein summarized some basic info on IQ tests in Atlantic Monthly magazine that outraged Boston college students to publish leaflets saying "Fight Harvard Prof's Fascist Lies", classroom posters with Herrnstein's photo saying "Wanted for Racism", and threatened him with being stabbed in the Harvard Yard. Some two years ago, James Watson (DNA Nobelist) after commenting on his personal observations on financial misadventures plaguing Africa, was thoroughly ostracized by his own peers for venturing into the IQ messy arena.
So, what is the bottom line here in America? Well, obviously its best not to discuss Nature vs. Nurture, nor make any comparison of racial groups, and stop saying your dog is better than someone's dog - it might be against the law. More often than not, it is becoming best to study hard, act dumb, and let someone else do the preaching. It is becoming a touchy world, even stupid to announce your political affiliation as it may mean losing your job. In many places, some large school districts, Darwinism (evolution) is contested. Look-up the Supreme Courts landmark decision "Griggs v. Duke Power Co." (1971) that defines protected groups (mainly blacks, Latinos, and women) herein prospect of lawsuits, fines and damages for using workplace tests that give different results for different protected groups; - and that a general ability test is always unacceptable.
Prof. Earl Hunt (American Scientist) writes that a Papua New Guinea language term Mokita describes the status of not discussing in public certain well-known facts. I can imagine a Barnes and Noble Bookstore with three sections: Fact, Fiction and Mokita. Then again, Richard Herrnstein & Charles Murray might not have penned their New York Times Bestseller "Bell Curve". I suppose Wikileaks could do their thing...
Finis
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Garbage, April 16, 2011
This review is from: The Intelligence Men: Makers of the I.Q. Controversy (Paperback)
I don't believe in any scientific "supposedly factual" study that any caucasion scientist has pulled out of his hat. The fact that anybody can assume that where a person comes from in the world makes them inferior or superior to anyone else is pretty pathetic. I have taken several I.Q. tests, as have my brother and sister, and we all score in the "Gifted" range. And we are African American. As a child I got so bored in class that I would fall asleep, and still was an A-B student. The notion that "science has proven that this race is smarter than that race" is just another way for people with inferiorty complexes to feel like they are at least "better" than somebody. Maybe then, slavery would seem o.k...because these people aren't as smart as we are...yeah..right. The funny part is, White America took Africans away from their homes, split up families and raped and mistreated a race of people for as long as it was economically profitable..then told them "hey, go on...you're free! Oh yeah, then, when they try to pick up the pieces, you send the Klan in to "help" them assimilate. Get over yourselves. You take people that have had generations of post traumatic stress disorder and release them into another form of hate, then try to prove that you're smarter. Get a clue. If Caucasions are so much smarter, then why is the American Economy in such deep doo doo?(George W. Bush)..Can't blame the black guy this time, he hasn't been in there long enough. It's books like these that perpetuate the myth of superiorty. level the playing field first, then start testing people. But then..you may not like what you find.
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