THE INTELLIGENCE LANDSCAPE
Both Binet and Galton died in 1911. In the century since, in terms of psychological practice, Binet’s conception of intelligence has dominated over Galton’s and Spearman’s, and has shaped the content of the current intelligence tests that are used in the Western world today. The Binet–Simon scale was even selected by the prestigious journal Science as one of the 20 most significant discoveries and developments of the twentieth century. Lewis Terman developed this scale further at Stanford University to produce the Stanford–Binet – a test still widely used today. Both Binet and Galton have had a significant influence on social policy. Binet’s test was used for placement of children into classes supporting remedial education with a view to improving their life options. Unfortunately, others (including Terman) have supported the use of IQ tests to segregate children (and adults) without any intention of working to improve their circumstances or opportunities. Galton’s work in the eugenics movement supported high ly controversial social policies, such as recommending immigration to Britain for select talented people, enforced sterilization of women with low IQ scores, and social segregation on the basis of racial differences in IQ.
On the other hand, the theoretical and empirical contribution of both men has been to sketch out the landscape for the ongoing debate about the nature of intelligence. The key questions raised by Galton and Binet remain questions of interest today. Indeed, a quick check in a recent edition of the pre-eminent journal Intelligence revealed:
Both Binet and Galton died in 1911. In the century since, in terms of psychological practice, Binet’s conception of intelligence has dominated over Galton’s and Spearman’s, and has shaped the content of the current intelligence tests that are used in the Western world today. The Binet–Simon scale was even selected by the prestigious journal Science as one of the 20 most significant discoveries and developments of the twentieth century. Lewis Terman developed this scale further at Stanford University to produce the Stanford–Binet – a test still widely used today. Both Binet and Galton have had a significant influence on social policy. Binet’s test was used for placement of children into classes supporting remedial education with a view to improving their life options. Unfortunately, others (including Terman) have supported the use of IQ tests to segregate children (and adults) without any intention of working to improve their circumstances or opportunities. Galton’s work in the eugenics movement supported high ly controversial social policies, such as recommending immigration to Britain for select talented people, enforced sterilization of women with low IQ scores, and social segregation on the basis of racial differences in IQ.
On the other hand, the theoretical and empirical contribution of both men has been to sketch out the landscape for the ongoing debate about the nature of intelligence. The key questions raised by Galton and Binet remain questions of interest today. Indeed, a quick check in a recent edition of the pre-eminent journal Intelligence revealed:
a) arguments about the relative importance of general intelligence and specific cognitive abilities (Brody, 2003a; 2003b; Gottfredson, 2003; Sternberg, 2003);
b) studies of twins and adopted siblings exploring the relative contribution of genes and environment to the development of general intelligence (Spinath, Ronald, Harlaar, Price with Plomin, 2003);
c) consideration of the efficacy of information-processing measures of general intelligence (Bates & Shieles, 2003; Burns & Nettelbeck, 2003); and
d) comparisons of age group differences in intelligence with racial group differences ( Jensen, 2003). These recent papers reflect many of the central issues raised by Galton and Binet – we will here examine contemporary developments in each of these areas.
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