Gould

• Background of Gould's study (4)

  in 1904, the Simon – Binet test, the worlds first intelligence test was developed. Five years later this was adapted for use in the USA and it became known as the Stanford – Binet test. In 1944 the most widely used test of adult intelligence, the Wechsler Adult Intellegence Scale (WAIS) was born.When America became involved in WW1 , Over 1 million recruits where required. So colonel Yerkes combined his early ideas of inherited intelligence and development of mental testing and developed the Army Alpha and Beta testsas a way of quickly selecting over 1 million recruits and seized his opportunity to show that psychology was a hard science which was as objective as other disciplines.This study aims to examine the early history of intelligence testing as conducted by Yerkes on army recruits in the USA during WW1.
• What is the aim of Gould's study?

  The core study aims toexamine the early history of intelligence testingis conducted by Yerkes on army recruits in the USA during WW1.(2 marks)

  Gould aims to identify the following issues in psychology:-The problematic nature of psychometric testing in general and the measurement of intelligence in particular.-The problem of theoretical bias influencing research in psychology. In particular how psychological theories on the inherited nature of intelligence and the prejudice of a society can lead to distortion of intelligence testing.-The problem of the political and ethical implications of research. In this case the use of bias data to select people as suitable for occupations and even admission to a country.
• What is the research method I'm Gould's study?

  -It is not a piece of research-Review articlethat looks at the history of Robert M. Yerkes testing of recruits for the US army during WW1 and his attempt to establish psychology as a scientific discipline.
• What was the sample used in Gould's study?

  1.75 million Army recruits in the USA during WW2 one. The recruits included white Americans, 'Negroes' and European immigrants.
• What was the procedure in Gould's study?

  From May– July 1917 Yerkes worked with a number of colleagues who share similar views thatintelligence is inheritedto producethree types of army intelligence test. The first two could be given to large groups and took less than an hour to complete.

  The army Alpha test: written (for literate people), many of the items related to American culture.

  Army beta test: for illiterate or people that failed the alpha test. Culturally specific.

  Individual examination: spoken exam, certain groups of people were refused this.

  After testing individuals were graded from a to E, which indicated suitability for the army; For example, a grade D in the killer person really suited to the task requiring special skills.
• What were some of the problems when administering the tests in Gould's study? (4)

  – Rushed and intimidating conditions. Not warned that it was difficult to finish most parts of the test in the time allowed.-illiterate should have been given the beta test, only happened in some camps. Illiterate or immigrant recruits after sat the Alpha test and came out scoring next to nothing.– Lines for beta test began to build up so instead they took alpha test which artificially lowered their standards.– Some men, especially black men who failed the Alpha test were not allowed to sit the beta test.

  (2 needed max)
• What are the findings in Gould's study? (3)

  - Average mental age of white American men to be around 13 years, and of black American men 10 years. That the poor, Negroes and feeble-minded interbred and lowered average intelligence of population.

  -The lighter the skin colour the higher the score

  -by the end of the war 2/3 of the men who were promoted had taken the test and achieved a good result.
• What was the result of Yerkes tests in Gould's study? (2)

  -Tests were accepted as measures of innate intelligence and here was evidence that there really were differences in intelligence between racial and national groups.-The immigrant restriction actin 1924 people from southern and eastern Europe who had scored very poorly on the army tests were no longer welcome in the USA, Jews cannot escape from their homeland at the start of WWII.
• What are Yerkes conclusions? (3)

  - Intelligence is an innate quality with hereditary basis. It is possible to grade individuals by the colour of their skin.

  -The average man of most nations could be considered a 'moron'

  -Mental testing of this kind as a valid, scientific technique with wider implications for society.
• What were Gould's reviews of Yerkes work? (4)

  That the internal contradictions and systematic prejudice of the materials and methodology invalidates the conclusions drawn by Yerkes and his article suggest the following:

  
  

  - IQ tests of culturally biased

  - IQ tests do not measure innate intelligence

  - IQ tests may not produce valid results.

  - Inappropriate, poorly administered IQ tests can lead to tragic consequences.
• What is a strength of the research method in Gould's study?

  •Reviews allow for diversity of opinions to be explored and challenges previous work for new ideas/theories to be formed. For example, without reviewing Yerkes' intelligence testing Gould would not have drawn our attention to the issues surrounding the native intelligence testing for Army recruits.
• What is the weakness of the research method in Gould's study?

  •The objectivity of conducting a review may be questioned as Gould may select evidence to show the issues of Yerkes' intelligence testing to support his argument- internal validity can be questioned.
• What is the strength of the Psychometric testing used in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study? (3)

  •Data collection from lots of people.

  •Comparisons can be made

  •Wealth of data into intelligence
• What is a weakness of the Psychometric testing used in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study? (2)

  •Such tests can be biased towards one cultural group (enthocentric)

  •Also low construct validity - not measuring intelligence.
• What is a strength of the type of data collected in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study?

  •The intelligence tests allowed for easy comparisons to be made between men's ethnic backgrounds and allows us to establish a group 'norm'.
• What is a weakness of the type of data collected in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study?(2)

  •By simplifying intelligence to a single number via fixed choice options may put into question whether such tests accurately measure intelligence.

  •Using a number to establish intelligence was also used as a political tool to further racist ideas and control immigration.
• How is Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study unethical? (4)

  •In terms of consent, the army recruits were told nothing about the examination or its purpose and it can reasonably assume that they were unable to withdraw from taking the tests.

  •Recruits had to give their names, so it was no anonymous

  •Highly stressful for a lot of the recruits.

  •Perhaps the greatest significance in terms of harm was the way in which the data from these tests was used to justify the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act which meant that up to 6 million Europeans were barred from emigrating to the USA between 1924 and the outbreak of the Second World War. This may have meant they suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
• How is validity low in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study? (3)

  •Construct validity –the construct being tested is intelligence. The question is the extent to which the army tests did measure this. The ethnocentric nature meansconstruct validity was low.It is more likely a measure of things like how much schooling they had, how long they had been in the country for, and how familiar they were with certain things (e.g. knowing who Christy Mathewson was) or how much money and leisure time they had (to be familiar with lawn tennis, record players and electric light bulbs).

  •Face validity-A lot of the items didn’t even look like they were measuring intelligence.

  •A further issue with validity is that the scores could reflect the army camp a recruit had been in and whether the definition of ‘literate’ had been lowered so that people who should have taken the Beta test were reassigned to the Alpha test. For people who were assigned the Beta test, how well they did would have been affected by whether they had ever held a pencil before and whether they had any familiarity with numbers (as 3 of the 7 parts required a knowledge of numbers and how to write them).
• How is the reliability high in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study?

  The tests used by Yerkes were standardised in their presentation (everyone got the same questions) and used a detailed mark scheme to be consistent in assessing each completed test.
• How is reliability low in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study? (2)

  Yerkes also gave very clear instructions about how the tests were meant to be administered and even scripted what the people administering the tests should say. The problem was that these instructions werenot followed in the same controlled waywith everyone and what counted as literate varied from camp to camp.

  Test- retest reliability was low- in one camp, 86% men that were retested on the beta test( which was meant to be equivalent to the alpha test) got a higher grade on testing.
• What are some strengths of the sample used in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study? (2)

  •Impressive sample size meaning the results are likely to be representative of Army recruits during WW1.

  
  

  •The sample had not volunteered or been specially selected for the mental tests, meaning that the sample included recruits from a wide range of ages, backgrounds etc.
• What is a weakness of the sample used in Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study?

  •Sample is limited by consisting only of males with a certain age range (young male adults).
• How is Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study not ethnocentric?

  •The men tested by Yerkes came from a wide range of different (ethnic) backgrounds, meaning the sample used was not ethnocentric.
• How is Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study ethnocentric?

  The mental tests themselves can be considered to be highly ethnocentric as they rely on culturally specific knowledge and favour those people who had lived in the USA the longest. Later research showed that intelligence tests of immigrants positively correlated over time with the length of time spent in America.
• What are some practical applications of Yerkes work reviewed by Gould in his study?

  •Yerkes work had a significant impact both in the field of psychometric testing and within different social and political contexts. Some of the sections of the Army Alpha test includes components that are now essential in modern IQ tests. The findings of Yerkes' study received enormous public attention and the mental tests were revised and marketed to different sectors, in particular education. IQ tests are used to identify and support those with additional needs as well as the academically gifted.

  •However, Gould suggests that instead of creating mass-assessment tools, the study should teach psychologists to be sceptical about attempts at measuring intelligence. Yerkes intended to bring scientific credibility to psychometrics, but in doing so failed to acknowledge the serious flaws in the design and administration of his tests. This meant his researchproduced highly biased results that had a negative impact on social policy. Gould reports that the findings of the study were continually used to produce legal measures to restrict immigration to the USA on the grounds of eugenics. It is estimated that 6 million Europeans were barred from entering the USA between 1924 and 1939.
• How does Gould's study illustrate the nature debate?

  •Yerkes research was underpinned by the idea that intelligence is an innate ability and so it is possible to devise tests to measure 'innate intellectual ability'. He shared the belief that everything important about intelligence is inherited (due to nature) and on the whole unaffected by the environment.
• How does Gould's study illustrate the nurture debate?

  Underpinning Gould's critique of Yerkes' work is the idea that even if they people taking the 'mental tests' had been given the appropriate test (which they often weren't), the way the tests were designed meant that people's scores were always going to be affected by environmental factors (nurture), such as how long they had lived in the USA and how much education they had received.
• How is Gould's study socially sensitive? (3)

  •The question of whetherintelligence is related to ethnicity is incredibly socially sensitive. It can be argued that because Yerkes did not take sufficient account of unequal educational opportunities and by creating tests that had cultural bias built into them, Yerkes did not approach this question with the care it required.•Psychologists need to be mindful of the uses to which their findings might be put and the way that Yerkes' findings helped lead to the passing of theImmigration Restriction Act in 1924 was particularly tragic.•Given the way in which those with a political agenda (e.g. eugenicists in the early part of the 20th Century) are always looking for scientific research to justify passing laws in support of their views, it was particularly important that such research befree of bias and error. Gould's review makes it quite clear that Yerkes' researchdid notachieve this.