2. IQ Tests, SAT, ACT… Ingrained in American culture Measure and then give opportunities IQ was first developed in the Eugenics era
3. History of IQ Testing Alfred Binet in 1905 in France How well students will do in elementary school – tips for teachers Long list of task for students between 3-12 Placed an age on each task for what they thought the youngest age a child could complete task Scale that measured ability at that point in their life
4. History of IQ Testing Binet’s warning Thinkers of his time believed “that an individual’s intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity that cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism…it is founded upon nothing” Henry Goddard from U.S. thought differently
5. Henry Goddard Superintendent of a lab at a school for the feebleminded in New Jersey Goddard translates test and gives it to students at his school Saw this test as an easy way to measure and identify the “feebleminded” Believed Binet’s test produced reliable results that indicated a permanent intelligence
6. Henry Goddard Develops IQ (Intelligence Quotient) Took the mental age reached by Binet’s test and divided by chronological age (x100) 100 represents mental age = age 0-25 – Idiots 26-54 – Imbeciles 55 – 75 – morons
7. Goddard’s Study Goddard takes his test to Ellis Island in 1913 “pass by the obviously normal” immigrant and choose individuals from the great mass of “average immigrants.” 35 Jews, 22 Hungarians, 50 Italians, and 45 Russians. 83%, 80%, 79%, 87% Tremendous uproar and debate over results and application
8. Stnaford -Binet As debates raged on, Lewis Terman creates a new version that will come to be known as the Stanford-Binet test. A 5th version of this test is still used in IQ testing today. A version of Stanford-Binet was used in 1917 to test WWI American soldiers to determine ability to become officers or if they were unfit to serve
9. Army Tests Army Alpha – given to literate potential soldiers Five hundred is played with rackets pins cards dice The Percheron is a kind of goat horse cow sheep Artichoke is a kind of hay corn vegetable fodder Carrie Nation is known as a singer temperance agitator suffragist nurse
10. Army Tests Army Beta – given to illiterate potential soldiers You get to take part of it 3 minutes How did you do?
11. IQ and Intelligence Get in groups of 2-3 Define Intelligence Do IQ tests test your definition of intelligence? What are the issues? How would you test what you think intelligence is?
12. More Questions Binet wrote that “a French peasant may be normal in a rural community but feebleminded in Paris.” Is the reverse also true? Is this thought still accurate today? Even with tests that are statistically normed, what are your thoughts on IQ testing today?
13. Immigration Restriction 1890 - 1914, over 15 million immigrants In some large cities 1 out of 3 people were foreign-born Americans felt threatened by newcomers “according to all evidence available” American intelligence was declining as a result of the presence of “inferior races” Even President Coolidge
14. Immigration Restriction “Who should be allowed to settle here?” and “What are the proper qualifications for citizenship?” Early in this country’s history, the words white male were used to describe qualifications for citizenship. So it should not come as a surprise that people eventually began to call for immigration restriction
15. Immigration Restriction 1917 – Congress enacts bill to require a literacy test for all immigrants Eugenics officials were called upon to testify at government hearings for more restrictions Displayed the IQ test results 1924 – President Coolidge told the American people that restriction was “purely a defensive action”’
16. Immigration Restriction “We cast no aspersions on any race or creed, but we must remember that every object of our institutions of society and government will fail unless America be kept American” -President Coolidge
17. National Origins Act 1924 Limited number of immigrants from any country to 2% of people from that country who were already living in U.S. Southern and Eastern European countries targeted as well as Asia 1900-1910 – 200K Italians/year – 4,000 quota Senator David Reed – earlier legislation "disregards entirely those of us who are interested in keeping American stock up to the highest standard-that is, the people who were born here.”
18. Until 1965 The quota system based on national origins existed until 1965 Immigration Act of 1965 was passed into law. 300,000 visas granted annually, 170K from Eastern Hemisphere with no more than 20,000 per country