yerkes/gould

• background

  • the first intelligence tests were developed in France in early 1900s to identify children with low IQ and based on their mental age scores
  • Yerkes adapted these tests so they could be administered to groups of US army recruits prior to WW1
  • he believed that intelligence was influenced by genetics and could not be changed
• aim

  • to produce a reliable and valid measure of intelligence
  • to prove that psychology could be as objective and quantifiable as other scientific disciplines
  • Gould aimed to show that these intelligence tests were flawed
• sample

  • 1.75 million US army recruits were tested (all male)
• procedure

  Yerkes developed 3 tests to be used with recruits of different levels of literacy:

  • Army alpha (a written test for literate recruits)- written exam made up of 8 parts, took less than an hour
  • Army beta (picture-based tests for illiterates)- instructions were written in English and 3/7 parts were given in writing
  • Individual interview (a spoken test to be used if people failed the beta test)
• findings

  • white American adults= mental age of 13
  • Southern Europe and the Slavs= mental age of 10-11
  • Black=mental age of 10
  • these tests were used to reinforce segregation laws, inform political policy and decide who would be on the frontlines
  • many of the questions were culturally biased and American based, so black and European recruits did worse
  • beta tests still assumed knowledge of numbers and comprehension even though recruits may have never held a pen or unable to speak English
  • it was really measuring their level of schooling and familiarity with US culture
• conclusions

  • there were systematic errors in the design of the tests and how they were administered which led to black recruits and immigrants scoring lower
  • the test was carried out in such a disorganised way that they were not a true reflection of people's intelligence and the conclusions indirectly led to the deaths of millions of people