The entire thesis of "The Bell Curve" disintegrates due to biased use of data, misrepresentations, and logical inconsistencies. Five basic flaws are: inferring causality from correlation, use of dubious racial categories, contradictory arguments concerning the immutability of cognitive ability and the relative contributions of heredity…

Arthur Jensen has argued that genetic differences in abstract reasoning ability, not cultural bias in the test item, are the causes of differences in standardized test performance between American Blacks and Whites. He used a study by Frank McGurk to support his argument. McGurk's study used test items judged most cultural or least cultural. These…

Three data sources, analyzed presently, failed to reveal a Sex by Race or Sex by Socioeconomic Status interaction. It was suggested that Sex by Race differences in income, education, and so on could be the result of racially related sex role expectations or cultural prejudice. (Author/MV)

This paper uses the eskimo as an illustration to argue that research based on a multi-ability model of intelligence such as the structure of intellect (Guilford, 1967) could identify cognitive strengths of culturally different groups and suggest occupational and educational areas where strengths could be used to advantage. (Author/SM)

Groups of 270 Black and 270 White children drawn from the national stratified random sample used in the standardization of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) were matched on age, sex, and WISC-R Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient to facilitate investigation of the patterns of specific cognitive abilities. (Author)

Few books have generated as much controversy as the recently published "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life." The tremendous polarization on the issue of the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) to race and social class, reinforced by the book, and the potential this book has for undermining…

Contents of this symposium comprises: Introduction (W. B. Dockrell); The Genetics of Intelligence (Sir C. Burt); Structuring Mental Acts (P. R. Merrifield); A "Piagetian" Test of Cognitive Development (R. D. Tuddenham); The British Intelligence Scale (R. W. Warburton); Intelligence (P. E. Vernon); Hierarchical Theories of Mental Ability…

This book contains papers that discuss the "g factor" (general intellectual capacity) in discerning intelligence and how to influence the development of intelligence. The g factor relates to the theory that individuals who do well on one mental ability test tend to do well on other mental ability tests due to an innate ability. Chapters…

Genetic influence was estimated on Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children subtests from inbreeding depression scores calculated on cousin marriages in Japan (n=1,854 children) and correlated with American Black-White racial differences. The genetic contribution of racial differences in cognitive performance may be more robust than was previously…

The results and interpretation of three years of research into inequality are presented in this book. Chapters cover these topics: (1) from equal opportunity to equal results; (2) inequality in the schools--access to schools and colleges, expenditure differences between schools and individuals, access to privileged school mates, and access to fast…

Neutral summary of "The Bell Curve" (Herrnstein and Murray) by a former student of Herrnstein. Focuses on the emergence of a cognitive elite in the United States; relationships between IQ and poverty, educational attainment, unemployment, divorce, illegitimacy, welfare dependency, parenting competence, criminal behaviors, and voting;…

Once again intelligence tests are being used as the major basis to establish the genetically determined limitations of minority and economically disadvantaged groups. By reviewing the arguments regarding the I.Q. test and the hereditability of intelligence, the author compares these with two sets of phenomena: the I.Q. test scores and the…

Longitudinal data on the auditory forward and backward digit span (FDS and BDS) subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) were obtained at five age levels (between 6 and 13), in samples of white and black children. Factor analysis and analysis of variance of the data were conducted to test 5 hypotheses, related to Jensen's…

The author refutes Humphrey's test of the Spearman hypothesis. A fair test requires that Black and White samples not be selected on any g-correlated variable, including socioeconomic status. Humphrey's factor analysis on test-score means of demographic groups, rather than on individuals, inflates g loadings and biases results. (LMO)

Swedish longitudinal studies of twins support Scarr-Salapatek's explanation of nature-nurture influences on intelligence. This model predicts more genetic variance in test results for advantaged than disadvantaged groups. Jensen's work, however, suggests equal amounts of variance among different social classes. (Author/CP)