The controversy over the causes of intelligence--genetic or environmental--is reviewed. More specifically, the subject of the consistently lower intelligence scores for blacks is analyzed. Much attention is devoted to Jensen and his monograph published in the "Harvard Educational Review," entitled "How much can we boost IQ and scholastic…

A study was conducted to investigate the predictive validity of parents' ability to attend to their children (ATA) on intelligence and to determine to what extent ATA and social class variables, in combination, can account for the discrepancy in the IQ scores of children of different races. Ss were 700 Head Start children. The criterion variables…

Heritability is defined as the proportion of a manifested trait's varience that is due to genetic variation. Sixty-five pairs of twins were employed to investigate the heritability of: (1) short term memory (Jensen's Level 1), operationalized using of modified "digit span" test; (2) the general intellective factor (Jensen's Level II),…

Two experiments examined whether correlations between IQ and probed serial running memory depend on IQ-related individual differences in the retention of order information in short-term memory. Children's IQ correlated with memory, regardless of whether instructions emphasized serial or free recall; and with recent item but not recent order…

Seeing intelligence as neither strongly hereditary nor necessarily stable over time, and accepting the notion that it is a significant determinant of future occupational status, liberal psychologists and educators rely on the intervention of social institutions, primarily the school. The liberal view toward testing and intelligence is discussed.…

Support for the confluence model of intellectual development has come from analyses of family size-birth order means of large aggregate data sets. Analyses of individual scores do not substantiate the confluence model, as explained variance is markedly reduced. The study of family interaction variables utilizing longitudinal data is recommended.…

Briefly reviews the content and impact of Arthur R. Jensen's 1969 Harvard Educational Review (HER) article How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement, noting that "the reaction stirred by this article" in the subsequent issues of HER "was sharp." Among the critics were J. M. V. Hunt, Jerome Kagan, David Elkind, while Carl Bereiter, James…

Recent studies are quoted as indicating that Japanese students are superior to American students in actual achievement in mathematics, but there is conflicting evidence as to whether the Japanese are intellectually superior. Several possible reasons for Japanese superiority are suggested, and a need for improvement in America is noted. (MP)

Explanations of differences in IQs of Northern and Southern Blacks focus on selective migration (hereditarians) or environmental causes such as education, discrimination and cultural deprivation. In this paper the environmentalist position is questioned and certain neglected features of Lee's data are construed as providing strong evidence for…

Suggests that the general ability structure for retardates is more complex than the structure for normals, containing a "stimulus trace" factor in addition to verbal-educational and spatial-perceptual parameters. (RL)

Intended to help teachers think of ways to broaden the range of intelligences students use in language arts classes within the constraints of the content area, this book offers help for teachers who want to create classes in which students enthusiastically participate in constructive activities. In its first section ("Theory and…

THE REPORT OF UNESCO COMMITTEE STATED THAT THERE WERE NOT MEASURABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHAT IS DUE TO INNATE CAPACITY AND WHAT IS THE RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION. TESTS WHICH HAVE MADE ALLOWANCE FOR MOST DIFFERENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES HAVE SHOWN ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY IN MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AMONG ALL…

Charles Spearman originally suggested in 1927 that the varying magnitudes of the mean differences between whites and blacks in standardized scores on a variety of mental tests are directly related to the size of the tests' loadings on g, the general factor common to all complex tests of mental ability. Several independent large-scale studies…

Three distinct theories can be set forth for viewing intelligence: a "super-intellect theory" associated with the belief in innate ideas; a sensualistic theory that posits no intellectual role beyond synthesizing of sense-data; and a concept of intelligence as a power to abstract, judge, and reason. Many chronic and current educational…

The role of certain personality and intellectual factors in the vocational adjustment of a sample of 133 vocational rehabilitation clients with a variety of problems was investigated. All subjects were administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Rorschach, the Kuder Personal Preference Record, and the Wechsler Adult…