American history Essay

Sternberg ultimately suggests that Intelligence can be improved, and there are a number of findings to support his theory. There have been 2 very controversial pieces of research and publications however which not only disagree with the main principals of Sternberg’s theory, but have also provoked uproar since they have been released. The first publication which was to cause huge heated debate all over the world was that published by Jenson (1969), who said that those of Black origin scored on average 15 points below that of White people. He suggested that this was mainly due to the genetic makeup of Black people and that although environment may have been a factor; the main reason is the hereditability of intelligence. The next piece of literature which caused so much commotion when it was released was the ‘Bell Curve’ by Herrnstein an Murray (1994), which agrees with Jenson’s research, and also points out that those of low intellectual ability will generally lead difficult lives, are more likely to be inadequate parents themselves, and are also more likely to turn to drink, drugs and crime. Although these comments are highly controversial and politically incorrect, some of the points made are more than likely to be true, and can go some way to explaining why people find themselves in that position, however it would only be accurate if two factors did not play huge parts in the intelligence levels of individuals, the culture that individuals are exposed to, and the fact that intelligence is not fixed, and that there are plenty of studies that give evidence to back this up. The test that Jenson gave to the Black and White subjects in 1969 was no doubt culturally biased towards the white subjects, due to the levels of prosperity and education that each group were subjected to previously. Further studies have shown that Black children who were adopted by prosperous white families, and were subjected to the same level of schooling demonstrated improved levels of intelligence over children who had a similar genetic background. Adoption studies like these have often proven to be strong evidence for the nurture side of the debate; however one final area of concern in the nature/nurture debate is the topic of eugenics. Eugenics is the idea created by Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911), who was interested in the success of English dog breeders, who bred the strongest and best dogs together, and created many different varieties. He decided to start a movement which looked at the possibility of weeding out the bad individuals from the ‘good stock’ by getting humans to breed with those who have good properties and attributes, a fairly sick proposition even for the 19th century, and it was soon shut down because people decided to breed for love rather than genes. But nonetheless the term eugenics was created, and perhaps the most relevant example of eugenics in history is the Immigration Restrictions Act (1924) which was passed in America by President Coolidge, who was said to have proclaimed ‘America must be kept American’ as he signed the bill. On that day eugenicists are known to have won one of the greatest scientific racist battles in American history. Bibliography Cardwell, C. M. (2000). Psychology for A-level. London: Harper Collins. Dworetzky, J. (1994). Psychology. Minneapolis: West Publishing Company. Gross, R. (2005). Psychology, The science of mind and behaviour. London: Hodder Arnold. Hill, G. (2001). AS Level Psychology through Diagrams. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Handouts – T. Kearns