Findings from a study reported in this paper indicate that the differences in family background that affect IQ are largely the result of genetic differences among parents, which affect the parents' own status attainment and which are passed on genetically to their offspring, whose status attainments are subsequently affected. (Author/EB)

This paper presents the results of a study which examined heritability ratios for the major ethnic and socioeconomic groups in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Scores on three measures (the Cooperative Primary Reading Test, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, and a composite set of intelligence tests) were compared for twins from…

The question as to whether males and females have different kinds of intellectual abilities is addressed. The evidence that there are some differences in cognition and perception between men and women is reviewed. (KR)

Sets of randomly generated numbers are used to produce simulated data sets to illustrate that high heritability of a property within each of two populations may be consistent with a vanishingly small heritability in the combined population. (A response by Jensen appears in the next issue of Journal of Educational Statistics, p.385). (CTM)

A Canadian study compared the rate of cognitive disabilities in 156 relatives of 49 individuals with autism to that found in 55 relatives of 18 individuals with mental retardation. No differences were found; however, female and low IQ individuals were found to have higher family histories of cognitive disabilities. (Author/CR)

Genetic effects on specific cognitive abilities as distinct from those on general cognitive ability were studied in 302 pairs of twins (some reared together, some apart) from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Overall, results showed significant genetic influence on specific abilities independent of influence on general ability. (SLD)

Platelet serotonin (5HT) levels of 5 autistic subjects (ages 16-37) who had siblings with either autism or pervasive developmental disorder were significantly higher than levels of 23 autistic subjects without affected siblings. Autistic subjects without affected siblings had 5HT levels significantly higher than 10 normal controls. Sex, age, and…

Word recognition data from identical and fraternal twins and siblings (N=172) indicated that the phonological coding deficit of children with reading disabilities was highly heritable. Orthographic coding was not significantly heritable. Poor readers with low IQs were superior to similar reading but average IQ readers in phonological coding.…

Wolff has recently reinterpreted the data of Lee to indicate that Black migration from the south to Philadelphia had been selective in an IQ-relevant manner. However, Wolff's deduction from Lee's data is shown to depend entirely upon an assumption about cumulative IQ deficit in southern Black children. (Author/CTM)

Kamin has contended that arguments presented in Wolff are too weak to justify selective migration. Although Kamin's critique points up the need for closer scrutiny of the cumulative-deficit phenomenon, it fails to refute Wolff's conclusion that selective migration is partly responsible for the North-South Black IQ differential. (Author/CTM)

This paper examines the question of the hereditary nature of intelligence and the validity of some of the statistical procedures which have been used in measuring the degree of hereditability. The author feels that proof of the question lacks sufficient scientific rigor for the support of any conclusion, particulary for a question of such…

This study of 640 twins with reading disability and 436 controls (mean age 12) examined external validity of the distinction between specific reading retardation and reading backwardness, in 3 domains: genetic etiology, sex ratio and clinical correlates, and neuropsychological profiles. There was no evidence of differential genetic etiology of the…

Pseudoscience, or the process of persuasion by establishing a pretense of scientific discovery, is examined in this book in an effort to dispel false notions about the validity of various measures of intelligence and the correlations of genetics to mental ability. The history and development of concepts related to hereditary intelligence and…

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…

Those of us who are committed to the pedagogical enterprise are called upon to re-examine, clarify, and perhaps justify the presuppositions, methods, and goals that provide the framework within which education and development are carried on. Recent publications by several writers have reintroduced notions that demand critical examination,…