The Genetic Studies of Genius, later known as the Terman Study of the Gifted,Holahan, C. K., & Sears, R. R. (1995
''The Gifted Group in Later Maturity''
Stanford University Press: Stanford, California. is the oldest and longest-running

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...

in the field of psychology. It was begun by

Lewis Terman Lewis Madison Terman (January 15, 1877 – December 21, 1956) was an American psychologist and author. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He is best known f ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1921 to examine the development and characteristics of

gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

children into adulthood. The results from the study have been published in five books, a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

, and dozens of articles. A related retrospective study of eminent men in history by

Catharine Cox Catharine Morris Cox Miles (May 20, 1890 – October 11, 1984) was an American psychologist known for her work on intelligence and genius. Born in San Jose, CA, to Lydia Shipley Bean and Charles Elwood Cox. In 1927 married psychologist Walter Ric ...

, though not part of the longitudinal study, was published as part of the Genetic Studies of Genius. It further inspired the ongoing

Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) is a prospective longitudinal survey study of persons (mostly in the United States) identified by scores of 700 or higher on a section of the SAT Reasoning Test before age 13 years. It is one of th ...

longitudinal study.

Origin

Terman had previously performed studies in

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

, including his doctoral dissertation. In 1916, he adapted

Alfred Binet Alfred Binet (; 8 July 1857 – 18 October 1911), born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test, the Binet–Simon test. In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to ...

's intelligence test for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and expanded its range. The result was the

Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales The Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales (or more commonly the Stanford–Binet) is an individually-administered intelligence test that was revised from the original Binet–Simon Scale by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon. The Stanford–Binet In ...

, which are still in use today (in an updated form). After his service in developing the

Army Alpha The Army Alpha is a group-administered test developed by Robert Yerkes and six others in order to evaluate the many U.S. military recruits during World War I. It was first introduced in 1917 due to a demand for a systematic method of evalu ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Terman returned to Stanford in order to start his study. Terman had already found some bright children through his earlier research, and some of these were part of the sample in the Genetic Studies of Genius. He hired several assistants, including

Florence Goodenough Florence Laura Goodenough (August 6, 1886 – April 4, 1959) was an American psychologist and professor at the University of Minnesota who studied child intelligence and various problems in the field of child development. She was president o ...

and Catharine Cox, to search the public schools of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

for similarly gifted children. Terman initially hoped to find the 1,000 most intelligent children, but eventually found 1,444. However, Terman gradually added subjects to the study through 1928 until there were 1,528 (856 males and 672 females). Not all subjects were discovered with the Stanford–Binet. Some were selected for the study with the National Intelligence Tests and the Army Alpha. The study subjects were born between 1900 and 1925, all lived in California, were 95–99% white, and the majority came from upper- or middle-class families.

Early findings

Terman's goal was to disprove the then-current belief that gifted children were sickly, socially inept, and not well-rounded. Therefore, the first volume of the study reported data on the children's family, educational progress, special abilities, interests, play, and personality. He also examined the children's racial and ethnic heritage. Terman was a proponent of

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

, although not as radical as many of his contemporary

Social Darwinists Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...

, and believed that intelligence testing could be used as a positive tool to shape society. Based on data collected in 1921–22, Terman concluded that gifted children suffered no more health problems than normal for their age, save a little more

myopia Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include ...

than average. He also found that the children were usually social, were well-adjusted, did better in school, and were even taller than average. A follow-up performed in 1923–1924 found that the children had maintained their high IQs and were still above average overall. Data collected in the 1920s, also including a pioneering effort to implement above-level testing on a large scale, a practice that is widespread in

gifted education Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G/T education) is a broad group of special practices, procedures, and theories used in the education of children who have been identified a ...

today.

Follow-ups

Terman planned later follow-ups, and in his lifetime data would be collected in 1928, 1936, 1940, 1945, 1950, and 1955. At his death, the study was directed by Melita Oden, who collected additional data in 1960.

Robert Richardson Sears Robert Richardson Sears (; August 31, 1908 – May 22, 1989) was an American psychologist who specialized in child psychology and the psychology of personality. He was the head of the psychology department at Stanford and later dean of the Schoo ...

later took charge of the study and collected data in 1972, 1977, 1982, and 1986. Moreover, many study participants corresponded with Terman or visited Stanford University in order to keep him updated on their lives. According to those who have access to the study archives, the files also include news articles, letters, and other documents related to the study participants. * The later follow-ups asked questions about war service, college education, marital status and happiness, work, retirement, raising children, and other lifetime events and concerns.Holahan & Sears, 1995 Well over half of men and women in Terman's study finished college, compared to 8% of the general population at the time. Some of Terman's subjects reached great prominence in their fields. Among them were head ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

'' writer

Jess Oppenheimer Jessurun James Oppenheimer (November 11, 1913 – December 27, 1988) was an American radio and television writer, producer, and director. He was the producer and head writer of the CBS sitcom ''I Love Lucy''. Lucille Ball called Oppenheimer “ ...

,Leslie, 2000

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

president and educational psychologist

Lee Cronbach Lee Joseph Cronbach (April 22, 1916 – October 1, 2001) was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to psychological testing and measurement. At the University of Illinois, Urbana, Cronbach produced many of his works: the "A ...

Ancel Keys Ancel Benjamin Keys (January 26, 1904 – November 20, 2004) was an American physiologist who studied the influence of diet on health. In particular, he hypothesized that replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduces card ...

, and Robert Sears himself. Over fifty men became college and university faculty members. However, the majority of study participants' lives were more mundane. By the 4th volume of ''Genetic Studies of Genius'', Terman had noted that as adults, his subjects pursued common occupations "as humble as those of policeman, seaman, typist and filing clerk" and concluded:

Criticism

The study has been criticized for not having a generalizable sample. Moreover, Terman meddled in his subjects' lives, giving them letters of recommendation for jobs and college and pulling strings at Stanford to help them get admitted. This makes any life outcomes of the sample tainted and ungeneralizable. In his book ''Fads and Foibles in Modern Sociology and Related Sciences'' (p. 70–76), sociologist

Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (; russian: Питири́м Алекса́ндрович Соро́кин; – 10 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist and political activist, who contributed to the social cycle theory. Background ...

criticized the research, saying that Terman's selected group of children with high IQs did about as well as a random group of children selected from similar family backgrounds would have done. As in any longitudinal study, it is possible that the characteristics and behaviors of the sample are a partial result of the era in which they lived. Indeed, many members of the sample could not attend college, due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and World War II. Almost half of women in the sample were

homemaker Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a hous ...

s for most of their lives. Despite these shortcomings, the data from the sample is often used for studies because there is no other group of people who have been followed for so long.

Today

As time has passed, the sample has dwindled. As of 2003, there were over 200 members of the sample still alive. The study is to continue until the final member of the sample either withdraws or dies. In the 21st century, researchers continue to publish articles based on the data collected in the Genetic Studies of Genius. For example, one article found that men who skipped a grade in childhood had higher incomes throughout adulthood.

References

External links

* {{librivox book , title=Genetic Studies of Genius, author=Terman Intelligence Stanford University Giftedness History of psychology Psychology experiments Projects established in 1921