Linda Susanne Gottfredson (née Howarth; born 1947) is an American
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
and writer. She is
professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of
educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences i ...
at the
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
and co-director of the Delaware-
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society. She is best known for writing the 1994 letter "
Mainstream Science on Intelligence
"Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was a public statement issued by a group of researchers of topics associated with intelligence testing. It was published originally in ''The Wall Street Journal'' on December 13, 1994, as a response to criticis ...
", which was published in the ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' in defense of
Richard Herrnstein
Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the B. F. Skinner, Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Profess ...
and
Charles Murray's controversial book ''
The Bell Curve
''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by b ...
'' (1994).
She is on the boards of the
International Society for the Study of Individual Differences
The International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID) is a scientific society founded in 1983. According to its by-laws, the Society exists to "foster research on Individual Differences, individual differences in temperament, in ...
, the
International Society for Intelligence Research
The International Society for Intelligence Research (ISIR) is a scientific society for researchers in human intelligence. It was founded by Douglas K. Detterman of Case Western Reserve University in 2000.
The society advocates for ongoing suppo ...
, and the
editorial board
The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.
Mass media
At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...
s of the
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...
s ''
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 ...
'', ''
Learning and Individual Differences'', and ''
Society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
''.
Life and education
Gottfredson was born in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1947. She is a third generation university faculty member. Her father, Jack A. Howarth (died 2006), was a faculty member at
U.C. Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
School of Veterinary Medicine, as was his father. Gottfredson initially majored in biology, but later transferred to psychology with her first husband,
Gary Don Gottfredson. In 1969, she received a bachelor's degree in psychology from
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
She worked in the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...
in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
Gottfredson and her husband went to graduate school at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
, where she received a Ph.D. in sociology in 1977.
[
]
Academic work
Gottfredson took a position at Hopkins' Center for Social Organization of Schools and investigated issues of occupational segregation and typology based on skill sets and intellectual capacity. She married Robert A. Gordon, who worked in a related area at Hopkins, and they divorced by the mid-1990s.
In 1985, Gottfredson participated in a conference called "The g Factor in Employment Testing". The papers presented were published in the December 1986 issue of the ''Journal of Vocational Behavior
The ''Journal of Vocational Behavior'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering career development. It was established in 1971 and is published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief is Nadya A. Fouad (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). A ...
'', which she edited. In 1986, Gottfredson was appointed associate professor of Educational Studies at the University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
, Newark.
In 1989, ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that one of Gottfredson's presentations was cited favorably by an article in the National Association for the Advancement of White People
The National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) is a white supremacist organization established in 1979 by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, deriving its name from the National Association for the Advancement of ...
's magazine.
That year, she presented a series of papers on general 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 ...
factor and employment, including some criticizing the use of different curves for candidates of different races. Gottfredson has said:
While an assistant professor of Educational Studies in the late 1980s, Gottfredson applied for and received three grants from the Pioneer Fund
Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first projects w ...
, which was created to advocate research into 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 ...
. She was promoted to full professor at the University of Delaware in 1990. That year, her fourth grant application to the Pioneer Fund was rejected by the board of the university, which said the funding would undermine their university's affirmative action. Gottfredson challenged the ruling with assistance from the Center for Individual Rights
The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) is a non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm is "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked auth ...
and the American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
The AAUP's stated mission is ...
. In 1992, after two and a half years of debate and protest, the university administration reached a settlement that once again allowed Gottfredson and Jan Blits to continue receiving research funding from the Pioneer Fund. The arbitrator of the case held that the university's research committee had violated its own standards of review by looking at the content of Gottfredson's research and that Gottfredson had a right to academic freedom that public perceptions alone did not suffice to overcome.
Views and criticisms
Gottfredson has been very critical of psychologist Robert Sternberg
Robert J. Sternberg (born December 8, 1949) is an American psychologist and psychometrician. He is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University.
Sternberg has a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Stanford University, under advisor ...
's work on the triarchic theory of intelligence, arguing that Sternberg has not demonstrated a distinction between practical intelligence and the analytical intelligence measured by IQ tests.
Her views on the relationship between race and intelligence
Discussions of race and intelligence – specifically, claims of differences in intelligence along racial lines – have appeared in both popular science and academic research since the modern concept of Race (human categorization), race was fi ...
and her vocal opposition to policies such as affirmative action, hiring quotas, and " race-norming" on aptitude tests have led the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
to describe her as a promoter of eugenicism, scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies ...
, and white nationalism
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...
.
Gottfredson has received research grants worth $267,000 from the Pioneer Fund
Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first projects w ...
, an organization described as racist and white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
. She defended the Pioneer Fund's then president J. Philippe Rushton
John Philippe Rushton (December 3, 1943 – October 2, 2012) was a Canadian psychologist and author. He taught at the University of Western Ontario until the early 1990s, and became known to the general public during the 1980s and 1990s for resea ...
and disparaged his critics. The University of Delaware unsuccessfully sought to block Gottfredson from receiving Pioneer Fund grants before reaching a legal settlement with her in 1992.
Honors
* George A Miller Award (for outstanding journal article across specialty areas), Society for General Psychology, 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 ...
, 2008
* Mensa Foundation – Mensa Award for Excellence in Research, (2005) - for "Dissecting practical intelligence theory: Its claims and evidence".
*Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
, Association for Psychological Science
The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
, elected 1998.
*Fellow, 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 ...
, elected 1994.
*Fellow, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, elected 1994.
See also
* Through the Wormhole#Season 3 (2012)
References
External links
Linda S. Gottfredson homepage
(with online prints of publications)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottfredson, Linda
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American psychologists
21st-century American psychologists
American eugenicists
American white nationalists
American women educators
American women psychologists
Educational psychologists
Educators from California
Intelligence researchers
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Race and intelligence controversy
Proponents of scientific racism
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of Delaware faculty
Writers from San Francisco