Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T05:27:12.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

IQ, Heritability, and Human Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Norman Daniels
Norman Daniels*
Affiliation:
Tufts University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Scientific revolutions are no everyday affair. So it is of some importance that Fortune (Alexander, 1972) and several other major magazines have recently proclaimed that we are in the midst of a major Kuhnian revolution in the social sciences, one that has significant implications for social policy. According to these magazines, ‘environmentalist’ theories, which assume that equalization of human environments and opportunities will increase equality of achievement between individuals, groups, and races, are in ‘crisis'. The crisis exists because the egalitarian reform programs of the 1960's, which relied on such theories and thus constituted tests of them, failed to equalize achievement. In the face of this crisis, Fortune suggests, scientists are welcoming evidence from the study of ducks, baboons, and humans which points to “a basic intractability in human nature, a resistance to being guided and molded for improving society” (Alexander, 1972, p. 132).

Type
Symposium: Genetics, IQ and Education
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1974 , 1974 , pp. 143 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Versions of this paper have been read at Indiana University, Ohio State University, and Tufts University, and I have benefited from discussion following these presentations. My greatest debt is to Professors R. C. Lewontin, Ned Block, and Ronald Webber for many hours of helpful discussion. Some material from Sections II and IV appears in Daniels (1975).

References

Alexander, T.: 1972, ‘Social Engineers Retreat Under Fire’, Fortune 86, 132-140.Google Scholar
Bache, R. M.: 1895, ‘Reaction Time with Reference to Race’, Psychological Review 2, 474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bereiter, C.: 1970, ‘Genetics and Educability: Educational Implications of the Jensen Debat’, in Hellmuth, J. (ed.), The Disadvantaged Child, Bruner/Mazel Publishing Company, New York, 1970.Google Scholar
Berscheid, E., and Walster, E.: 1972, ‘Beauty and the Best’, Psychology Today 5 (10), 42.Google Scholar
Block, N., and Dworkin, G.: 1974, ‘IQ, Heritability, and Equality’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Part I, 3, 331-109; Part II, 4, 40-99.Google Scholar
Block, N.: 1976, ‘Fictionalism, Functionalism and Factor Analysis’, this volume, p. 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, S. and Gintis, H.: 1972-1973, ‘IQ in the United States Class Structure’, Social Policy 3, 65-96.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U.: 1974, A Report on Longitudinal Evaluation of Preschool Programs Vol. 2: Is Early Intervention Effective? Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Pub. No. OHD 74-25.Google Scholar
Cattell, J. M.: 1947, James McKeen Catlell: American Man of Science, Vol. 2, Science Press, Lancaster, Pa.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. S. et ah: 1966, Equality of Educational Opportunity U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Cronin, J., Daniels, N., et al.: 1975, ‘Race, Class, and Intelligence’, InternationalJournal of Mental Health, 3, 46-132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, N.: 1973, ‘Smart White Man's Burden’, Harper's, October, 24-40.Google Scholar
Daniels, N.: 1974, ‘IQ, Intelligence and Educability’, Philosophical Forum 6, 56-69.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. and Spassky, B.: 1944, ‘Genetics of Natural Populations XI. Manifestation of Genetic Variants in Drosophila pseudoobscura in Different Environments’, Genetics 29, 270-290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edson, L.: 1969, ‘Jensenism’, New York TimesMagazine, Aug. 31.Google Scholar
Heber, R. and Garber, H.: 1972, ‘An Experiment in the Prevention of Cultural-Familial Retardation’, in U.S. Senate Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, Environment, Intelligence and Scholastic Achievement, Wash. D.C.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R. J.: 1971, ‘IQ’, Atlantic Monthly, September, 43-64.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R. J.: 1973, IQ in the Meritocracy, Atlantic-Little Brown, Boston.Google Scholar
Hirsch, J.: 1970, ‘Behavior-Genetic Analysis and its Biosocial Consequences’, Seminar in Psychiatry 2, 89-105.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R.: 1969, ‘How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement’, Harvard Educational Review 39, 1-123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A. R.: 1972, Genetics and Education, Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R.: 1973, Educability and Group Differences, Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R.: 1974, ‘Kinship Correlations Reported by Sir Cyril Burt’, Behavioral Genetics 4, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamin, L.: 1974, Science and Politics of IQ, Erlbaum Assoc, Potomic, MD.Google Scholar
Layzer, D.: 1974, ‘Heritability Analyses of IQ Scores: Science or Numerology’, Science 183, 1259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levenstein, P.: 1970, ‘Cognitive Growth in Preschoolers Through Verbal Interaction with Mothers’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 40, 426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levenstein, P.: 1971, Verbal Interaction Project: Aiding Growth in Disadvantaged Preschoolers Through the Mother-Child Home Program, Family Service Association of Nassau County, Inc., Mineda, N.Y., July 1, 1967-August 31, 1970, Final Report.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C.: 1974, ‘Analysis of Variance and the Analysis of Causes’, American Journal Human Genetics 26, 400.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R.C: 1970, ‘Race and Intelligence’, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 26, 2.Google Scholar
Mercer, J. R., and Brown, W. C.: 1973, ‘Racial Differences in IQ: Face or Artifact’, in Senna, C. (ed.), The Fallacy of IQ, Third Press, New York, pp. 56-113.Google Scholar
Morton, N. E.: 1974, ‘Analysis of Family Resemblance I’, American Journal of Human Genetics 26, 318-350.Google Scholar
Rao, D. et al.: 1974, ‘Analysis of Family Resemblance II’, American Journal of Human Genetics 26, 331-359.Google Scholar
Rist, R.: 1970, ‘Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Ghetto Education’, Harvard Education Review 40 (3), 411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schockley, W.: 1972, ‘Dysgenics, Geneticity, and Raceology’, Phi Delta Kappan 53, 297.Google Scholar
Skeels, H. M.: 1969, ‘Adult Status of Children with Contrasting Early Life Experience’, Child Development Monograph 31, 3.Google Scholar
Skodak, M. and Skeels, H. M.: 1949, ‘A Final Follow-up Study of One Hundred Adopted Children’, Journal of Genetic Psychology 75, 85.Google Scholar
Stetson, B. R.: 1897, ‘Some Memory Tests on Whites and Blacks’, Popular Science Monthly 4, 185.Google Scholar
Terman, L.: 1916, The Measurement of Intelligence, Houghton-Miflin, Boston.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yerkes, R.: 1921, ‘Psychological Examining in the United States Army’, Memoires of the National Academy of Science 15.Google Scholar