Moron is a term once used in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

to denote mild

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

.Rafter, Nicole Hahn (1998). ''Creating Born Criminals.'' University of Illinois Press, The term was closely tied with the

American eugenics movement Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the Genetics, genetic quality of the human population, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States from the late 19th century into the mid-20th c ...

. Black, Edwin (2004). ''War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race.'' Thunder's Mouth Press, Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term. It is similar to

imbecile The term ''imbecile'' was once used by psychiatrists to denote a category of people with moderate to severe intellectual disability, as well as a type of criminal.Fernald, Walter E. (1912). ''The imbecile with criminal instincts.'' Fourth editi ...

and

idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

Origin and uses

"Moron" was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. GoddardTrent, James W. Jr. (2017). ''Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Intellectual Disability in the United States''. Oxford University Press, from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

word '' μωρός'' (''moros''), which meant "dull" and used to describe a person with a mental age in adulthood of between 7 and 10 on the Binet scale.. It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51–70, being superior in one degree to "

" (IQ of 26–50) and superior in two degrees to "

" (IQ of 0–25). The word ''moron'', along with others including "idiotic", "imbecilic", "stupid", and "

feeble-minded The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind. At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed all degrees of educa ...

", was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated in use by psychologists.Zenderland, Leila (2001). ''Measuring Minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the Origins of American Intelligence Testing''. Cambridge University Press, In the obsolete medical classification (

ICD-9 The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the directing and coordinating ...

, 1977), these people (morons and feeble-minded) were said to have "mild

mental retardation Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

", "mild mental

subnormality ''Subnormality'' is a satirical and often absurdist webcomic by a cartoonist who uses the pseudonym Winston Rowntree. Rowntree is a former resident of Regina, Saskatchewan who now lives in Toronto, Ontario. The strip appears at Rowntree's own webs ...

" or "high-grade defect" with IQ 50–70. Following opposition to Goddard's attempts to popularize his ideas,Goddard, Henry H. Who Is a Moron? ''

The Scientific Monthly ''The Scientific Monthly'' was a science magazine published from 1915 to 1957. Psychologist James McKeen Cattell, the former publisher and editor of ''The Popular Science Monthly'', was the original founder and editor. In 1958, ''The Scientific Mo ...

'', Volume 24, Issue 1, pp. 41–46. Goddard recanted his earlier assertions about the moron: "It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case. The danger is probably negligible."Chase, Allan (1977). ''The Legacy of Malthus: The Social Costs of the New Scientific Racism''. Knopf/Random House,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moron (Psychology) Intellectual disability Obsolete medical terms Slurs related to low intelligence Obsolete terms for mental disorders Pejorative terms for people with disabilities

Origin and uses

See also

References