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"Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was a public statement issued by a group of researchers led by psychologist Linda Gottfredson. It was published originally in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' on December 13, 1994, as a response to criticism of the book ''
The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by the psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and the political scientist Charles Murray in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influe ...
'' by
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 Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psycho ...
and Charles Murray, which appeared earlier the same year. The statement defended Herrnstein and Murray's controversial claims about
race and intelligence Discussions of race and intelligence—specifically regarding claims of differences in intelligence along racial lines—have appeared in both popular science and academic research since the modern concept of race was first introduced. With th ...
, including the claim that average
intelligence quotient An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...
(IQ) differences between racial and ethnic groups may be at least partly genetic in origin. This view is now considered discredited by mainstream science. The statement was drafted by Gottfredsen, a professor 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 psychology, cognitive and behavioral psychology, behavioral perspectives, allows researc ...
at the
University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...
. It was sent to 131 researchers whom Gottfredsen described as "experts in intelligence and allied fields". Of these, 52 signed the statement, 48 returned the request with an explicit refusal to sign, and 31 ignored the request. According to a 1996 response by former
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...
president Donald Campbell, only ten of those who signed were actual experts in intelligence measurement. 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 ...
reported that 20 of the signers were recipients of funding from the
white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
organization the
Pioneer Fund The 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. The Southern Pover ...
, including Gottfredson herself. During subsequent years, both the substance and the interpretation of this letter have received criticism from scientists.


Background

Gottfredson was prompted to write the statement by what she considered to be "outdated, pseudoscientific notions of intelligence" promoted by critics of ''
The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by the psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and the political scientist Charles Murray in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influe ...
'' in the controversy that resulted from the publication of the book. She contacted David Brooks of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', who was willing to publish a short statement signed by experts describing what he considered mainstream in the study of intelligence. Gottfredson drafted the statement, had it vetted by several researchers, and finally solicited signatures for it from experts in several disciplines, including anthropology, behavior genetics, mental retardation, neuropsychology, sociology, and various specialties in psychology. The experts invited to sign the statement were not given an opportunity to revise it, nor was anyone told who else had been invited or who had already given his or her signature. The invitation to sign was sent to 131 researchers, of whom 100 responded by the deadline. The signature form asked whether the respondent would sign the statement, and if not, why not. 48 sent back the request with an explicit refusal to sign and 31 ignored the request. According to Gottfredson, seven of those who explicitly refused to sign did so "because they thought the statement did not represent the mainstream, 11 because they did not know whether it did, and 30 for other reasons". 52 respondents agreed to sign the statement.


Statement

The letter to ''The Wall Street Journal'' set out 25 numbered statements it termed "conclusions regarded as mainstream among researchers on intelligence" and "fully described in the major textbooks, professional journals, and encyclopedias in intelligence": # "Intelligence is a very general mental capability ... it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings ..." # "Intelligence, so defined, can be measured, and intelligence tests measure it well. They are among the most accurate (in technical terms, reliable and valid) of all psychological tests and assessments." # "While there are different types of intelligence tests, they all measure the same intelligence." # "The spread of people along the IQ continuum ... can be represented well by the ... 'normal curve'." # "Intelligence tests are not culturally biased". # "The brain processes underlying intelligence are still little understood". # "Members of all racial-ethnic groups can be found at every IQ level...The bell curves for some groups (Jews and East Asians) are centered somewhat higher than for whites in general. Other groups (blacks and Hispanics) are centered somewhat lower than non-Hispanic whites." # "The bell curve for whites is centered roughly around IQ 100; the bell curve for American blacks roughly around 85; and those for different subgroups of Hispanics roughly midway between those for whites and blacks. The evidence is less definitive for exactly where above IQ 100 the bell curves for Jews and Asians are centered". # "IQ is strongly related, probably more so than any other single measurable human trait, to many important educational, occupational, economic, and social outcomes ... Whatever IQ tests measure, it is of great practical and social importance". # "A high IQ is an advantage because virtually all activities require some reasoning and decision-making". # "The practical advantages of having a higher IQ increase as life's settings become more complex". # "Differences in intelligence certainly are not the only factor affecting performance in education, training, and complex jobs ... but intelligence is often the most important". # "Certain personality traits, special talents, tcare important ... in many jobs, but they have narrower (or unknown) applicability or 'transferability' across tasks and settings compared with general intelligence". # "Heritability estimates range from 0.4 to 0.8 ... indicating genetics plays a bigger role than environment in creating IQ differences". # "Members of the same family also tend to differ substantially in intelligence". # "That IQ may be highly heritable does not mean that it is not affected by the environment ... IQs do gradually stabilize during childhood, however, and generally change little thereafter". # "Although the environment is important in creating IQ differences, we do not know yet how to manipulate it". # "Genetically caused differences are not necessarily irremediable". # "There is no persuasive evidence that the IQ bell curves for different racial-ethnic groups are converging". # "Racial-ethnic differences in IQ bell curves are essentially the same when youngsters leave high school as when they enter first grade ... black 17-year-olds perform, on the average, more like white 13-year-olds". # "The reasons that blacks differ among themselves in intelligence appear to be the same as those for why whites ... differ among themselves". # "There is no definitive answer as to why bell curves differ across racial-ethnic groups. The reasons for these IQ differences between groups may be markedly different from the reasons for why individuals differ among themselves within any particular group". # "Racial-ethnic differences are somewhat smaller but still substantial for individuals from the same socio-economic backgrounds". # "Almost all Americans who identify themselves as black have white ancestors – the white admixture is about 20% ... research on intelligence relies on self-classification into distinct racial categories". # "The research findings neither dictate nor preclude any particular social policy, because they can never determine our goals. They can, however, help us estimate the likely success and side-effects of pursuing those goals via different means".


Response and criticism

A 1995 article by Joseph L. Graves & Amanda Johnson was critical of the scientific basis on which ''Mainstream Science on Intelligence'' rested. The article stated that the statements in ''Mainstream Science on Intelligence'' In a posthumous article in 1996, Donald T. Campbell, a former president of the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...
, included his own analysis of the ''Wall Street Journal'' statement, drafted previously as a letter to that newspaper. Campbell first remarked that "Of the 52 signatories, there were 10 whom I would regard as measurement experts. I do not have a list of those who were asked to sign and refused, but I know they included
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 " ...
, Robert Sternberg, and myself." He went on to say that the rhetorical organization of statements in the letter seemed to him to imply, inadvertently or deliberately, the conclusion that the black-white racial gap had a genetic cause. He said that for statement 5, no provision had been allowed for differences in educational opportunity. Later on regarding statement 14, he judged that the claims for heritability had been made without mentioning that it was based on
twin studies Twin studies are studies conducted on Identical twin, identical or Fraternal twin, fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetics, genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is consid ...
, where environmental opportunities had been excluded as possible factors. For statement 23, he said that it was not possible to compare children of black and white parents that were "equally" educated, because in these circumstances the opportunities in the quality of education, both before and at college, would differ. For statement 25, Campbell remarked that Jensen had himself published policy recommendations concerning rote learning. As reports in his discussion of the editorial, there is not any general agreement about what is meant by intelligence. The editorial gave the following general definition of intelligence: describes intelligence in her own article in the same volume less broadly as "the ability to deal with complexity". However, the article by , one of the signatories of the statement, reviewed the numerous attempts in the academic literature to define what was meant by intelligence and found that there was not any agreement. He cites experts as describing intelligence as "the total intellectual repertoire of behavioral responses," "some general property or quality ... of the brain," "reaction-time and physiological measures," "many different information-processing abilities" and "the rate with which learning occurs or the time required for learning." in the same volume describe intelligence as what is measured by intelligence tests: "What we mean by intelligence is general cognitive functioning (g) as assessed in the psychometric tradition of a general factor derived from a battery of diverse cognitive ability tests". gives a point-by-point analysis of the conclusions of the letter. He states that the validity of tests is claimed as a property of the tests, rather than how or where they are used. He questioned the letter's claims about there not being any cultural bias in IQ tests; and that intelligence was a major factor determining fitness in human evolution, something that he argued was inconsistent with the claims of heritability, if the geneticist's version of evolution was being used. Harrington argued that heritability is
phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
, not
ontogenetic Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to the stu ...
as the letter suggested. He pointed out that the use of the term "race" differed from the way geneticists classify population groups. Regarding the assertion that IQ research does not preclude or dictate any particular social policy, Harrington commented that the opinions of Charles Murray concerning
social policy Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...
have been used by
US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
men to argue for policy changes. The validity of the "mainstream science" described in the editorial was also questioned by , who argued that the signatories were attempting to revive the "pseudo-scientific inquiry" of
biological determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...
. In a 2001 article in ''
Trends in Cognitive Sciences ''Trends in Cognitive Sciences'' (''TiCS'') is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Cell Press. It is one of 14 journals in the '' Trends'' series. its editor is Lindsey Drayton. ''Journal Citation Reports'' (Thomson Reuters) lists ...
'', Ian J. Deary noted that ''The Wall Street Journal'' "... is an odd place for such a document, and readers might view the signatories as one-sided, largely committed to the psychometrics-based intelligence research they were endorsing". analysed the editorial as one of five responses to ''The Bell Curve'', a book which he described as "an attempt to influence both psychological knowledge and U.S. politics". He concluded that some of the responses, including the editorial, "fell far short of providing a critical analysis of the book's racially biased argument and did little to reduce the misleading picture of race and IQ that the book promulgated". More specifically, Alderfer criticized the failure of the psychologists to recognize the effect of such a book on race relations in the US; as well as their failure to discuss the third and last part of the book on the implications for social policy. He wrote that, argued: argued that the statement's claim that IQ tests were unbiased is not accepted by some prominent researchers of psychometrics who have described problems with using tests on population groups with a substantively different cultural background from those for whom the test was originally designed. Anthropologist Robert Wald Sussman criticized the statement in his 2014 book '' The Myth of Race'', writing: 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 ...
states that some of the editorial's signatories "...had no relevant qualifications at all.
Garrett Hardin Garrett James Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American ecologist and microbiologist. He focused his career on the issue of human overpopulation, and is best known for his exposition of the tragedy of the commons in a 1968 p ...
, for example, was an ecologist and anti-immigration activist, while
Vincent Sarich Vincent Matthew Sarich (December 13, 1934October 27, 2012) was an American anthropologist and biochemist. He was Professor Emeritus in anthropology at University of California, Berkeley. Sarich and his PhD advisor, Allan Wilson, used molecular da ...
was an anthropologist who gained notoriety for making racist and homophobic claims in his undergraduate courses (he later admitted to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' that these assertions were not based on established scientific facts)." After citing Campbell's estimate that only 10 signatories were experts on the measurement of intelligence, the Center noted that "...at least 20 ignatorieswere recipients of money from the
Pioneer Fund The 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. The Southern Pover ...
, including one director of the Fund, R. Travis Osborne, and two future presidents, J. Philippe Rushton and
Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (20 February 1930 – July 2023) was a controversial English psychologist and self-described " scientific racist" who advocated for a genetic relationship between race and intelligence. He was the editor-in-chief of '' Mankind Qua ...
." In a 2015 interview, behavior geneticist Robert Plomin was asked whether he regretted signing the statement. He reiterated his support for the factual assertions in the letter, but rejected interpretations of that data in ''The Bell Curve'':


Signatories


See also

* History of the race and intelligence controversy * Snyderman and Rothman (study) *'' The Bell Curve Debate'' *'' Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns'' *'' Intelligence and How to Get It'' * '' Superior: The Return of Race Science''


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * (2009 AERA distinguished lecture) * * * *


External links

*
Original article
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mainstream Science On Intelligence Race and intelligence controversy Intelligence quotient The Wall Street Journal 1994 documents