Intelligence Testing, Eugenics, and the State Boys Rebellion - Term Paper Example

Module Module ID: Intelligence Testing, Eugenics, and the Boys Rebellion The presentpaper aims to explore the role the innate abilities as well as social and natural environment play in the development of intelligence in the individuals. The paper also looks for discovering the reality in the theories articulated by eminent psychologists while investigating into the methods of testing the level of intelligence in the people. The study is also interested in examining the divergence in various tests and methods of intelligence testing. The study also focuses its concentration upon the Eugenics Movements and the schools of thought, which played significant part in the launching and development of the movement. Institutionalizing of people with sub-normal intelligence will also be elaborated in the paper along with estimating the present status of intelligence testing. The study will also throw light on the Fernald School experience, which serves as a milestone in revealing the scientific experiments being conducted on the orphans with taking prior permission from them or their guardians. Consequently, the paper will present a comprehensive picture of the intelligence measures have been in vogue in the contemporary US culture. Section I Exploration of human mind and the capabilities it contains has always been a subject of vital interest for the biologists, psychologists and social scientists alike, where analyzing the source and magnitude of intelligence growth enjoys the status of nucleus for them. The naturists are of the opinion that the quality and quantity of memory bank and cerebral capacities are transferred to individuals through genes, and thus intelligence is entirely a hereditary characteristic, which does not have any significant connection with the environment under which the individuals are brought up and get socialized. Distinguished scientist and the father of Evolution Theory Charles Darwin, renowned biologist Francis Galton and many other theorists support the same idea of hereditary intelligence. “Darwin’s theory of natural selection suggested that every generation would have some people who are better and the people who are worse.” (Fleming, 1999: 196) This superiority and inferiority is based upon intelligence level of the individuals. Famous 19th century Italian criminologist biologist Cesare Lombroso even declares criminals as born offenders, as they enter this world with the innate physical features of criminal tendencies. (Vedder, 1976: 271) Dawkins (1997) also emphasizes upon the same conjecture that all living things are mere source of transformation of information, projection and proliferation of their own DNA in order to protect and prolong their own survival in one way or the other. The reproduction and replication are the symbol of the perpetuity of the genes. It is therefore Dawkins declares living things as 'selfish genes', which are interested in their individual survival by adaptation according to the alteration in the physical and environmental set up. Since some genes maintain power to reproduce, while some are futile and weak, the nature decides the fate of generations through hereditary transfer of personality traits and intelligence level. “The work’s main thesis is that an individual's intelligence - no less than 40% and no more than 80% of which is inherited genetically from his or her parents - has more effect than socioeconomic background on future life experiences.” (Manolakes, 1997: 235) Thus, IQ of the individuals does not rely on the atmosphere in which they live and enter into social interaction with other members of their society. On the contrary, nurture school of thought vehemently criticizes the naturists’ claim of declaring IQ level as hereditary one. The supporters of the nurture theory clearly state that man enters the world with a mind that is similar to the clean slate; it is society that teaches him every skill and ability through socialization process. As Watson (1924) claims that if he is provided with a dozen healthy infants to bring them up under the environment of his choice, he would train them to become the professional of his choice including doctor, engineer, lawyer, artist and even beggars and criminals, without taking their hereditary into slightest consideration. The nurture school also claims that every human behavior is learnt one, and even the child born as a very intelligent person is unable to read, write and understand anything without learning knowledge of language, literature, arithmetic and other disciplines. Even way of interacting with other humans requires proper learning from the elders, siblings, teachers and senior members of society. The nurturists also claim that if wisdom and intellect are innate qualities, then why the Greek and Roman civilizations are unable to maintain the climax of intellect and wisdom that is attributed to their predecessors of ancient times. Thus, instead of making more progress in natural and social sciences, as well as in arithmetic and gymnastic, the Greek and the Roman civilizations underwent intellectual decline gradually. “In all instances of temporary societal greatness, the supreme rise in accomplishments in a society was not commensurate with a genetically perpetuated intelligence structure. Instead, such excellence was the result of the accretion of artistic or scientific elements within a society due to the temporary confluence of environmental factors.” (Requadt, 2005) Thus, intelligent is absolutely gained from social environment, which helps the people to comprehend with the cultural, political, religious, economic and curricular knowledge, wisdom and information. To sum up, it becomes crystal clear that both innate characteristics and social environment have significance in the development of intelligence in humans. Somehow, researches rightly conclude that some ethno-racial groups have displayed superior intelligence level by dint of the services they have rendered in various professions and fields of life. On the basis of the same idea, Plato has suggested that only the intelligent and beautiful persons should have the right to reproduce; it is therefore, Darwin argues that only the fittest survive and reproduce their young ones. Hitler also claims the same that being the superior race of the globe, the Germans have the right to rule and dominate over all other racial and religious groups. The Jews also consider them as spiritual leaders of the world because of being the descendants of the holy personalities sent by God to teach and guide the humanity. Section II Many theorists have elaborated the methods of intelligence testing; most of which concentrate upon asking the questions related to arithmetic, language, culture and society. Somehow, the uneducated individuals cannot provide satisfactory answers to the questions they have not learnt from any elder or teacher. Renowned 19th century French psychologist-neurologist and physical anthropologist Pierre Broca coined the concept of Craniometry, according to which the size and structure of skull determines the intelligence level of the individuals. He was the first person to discover the left and right hemispheres in brain. He also maintained that it is the brain size certainly has link with the intelligence magnitude. The conception is actually the reflection of his research conducted on males and females belonging to different age groups. “Based on two sets of data, the first was the results of the autopsies that he had taken in four Paris hospitals. He collected 292 brains of men and 140 brains of women. The average weight of the male brains was 1,325 grams, and the average weight of the female brains was 1,144 grams with a difference of 181 grams.” (Hothersall, 1995) Hence, he reached the conclusion that the intellectual level among the modern people witnessed increase in comparison with that of the primitive ones. His successor scientists also took benefit out of the same research and applied it to the members of divergent ethno-racial communities in order to define their intelligence level. “Forensic anthropologists believe that by taking some 90 measurements of a skull they can correctly assign its owner's continent of origin - broadly speaking, its race, though many anthropologists prefer not to use that term-with 80 percent accuracy” (Wade 2002). Similarly, based on deep research and observation of natural and social phenomena, 18th century Prussian intellectual Franz Gall presented the theory that all the mental capacities are innate ones, and man’s inclinations towards moral and immoral activities are actually the product of the mental characteristics his has been granted at the eve of birth. Consequently, intelligence quantum and decency etc are dependent of natural personality traits. Thus, he refutes the nurture theory of intelligence and crimes as well as all the activities, according to him, are in the nature of humans since the moment of one’s birth. Galton has also argued the same notion that intelligence is hereditary one, as the members of one family often display extraordinary performance in comparison to those of some different family backgrounds. “Galton (1869) had observed that the gifted individuals tended to come from families which had other gifted individuals. He went on to analyze biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias, and became convinced that talent in science, the professions, and the arts, ran in families.” (Nature vs. Nurture in Intelligence, 2005) Attributed to Alfred Binet and Theo Simon, the Binet-Simon psychological method explains a distinguished measurement to define and explore the intelligence scale of the individuals. Binet neither gives importance to the hereditary traits, nor does he seek support from by taking case history of the individuals. On the contrary, he entirely relies upon his measuring scale of intelligence he has devised for the same purpose. “This scale is composed of a series of tests of increasing difficulty, starting from the, lowest intellectual level that can be observed, and ending with that of average normal intelligence. Each group in the series corresponds to a different mental level.” (Green, 2001: quoted in psychclassics.yorku.ca) Actually divergences and abnormalities among the children of same parents or belonging to same families urged Binet to articulate some other device for the measurement of intelligence among people. Section III Attributed to the eminent British psychologist-biologist Cyril Burt, the Burt Affair vehemently declares intelligence as completely the outcome of genetics; hence, environment has least role in the mental growth and intelligence level of the people. Burt conducted his research on Negroes and Anglo Saxon white population having same genes, which is stated to be his twin study. The data proved the very fact that the gene code preserves IQ details, and remains constant in humans without any significant alterations due to the external interference. Somehow, the famous 11-plus psychological test, maintains some contradictions with the Burt Affair. Though 11-plus test has also been articulated by Burt, which states that there could be found no enhancement of IQ level of the individuals, because of being it as entirely an innate characteristic, yet it fails to endorse the Burt Affair due to the very reason that the questions asked in the test are entirely based upon the knowledge learnt by the individuals related to arithmetic, language and general information about science and society. The same contradiction could be observed in the twin study, where the individuals under examination are asked the questions relevant to the knowledge they have ascribed from any social, educational, scientific or religious platform. “If intelligence differences reflect genetic differences, one would expect the former, 'same genes/different environment' pair to have more similar IQ's to the latter, 'different genes/same environment' pair. The opposite result would imply that the measured IQ differences are due to differences in environment.” (Brady, 2002) The Burt Case Reopened is the reaction of the posthumous allegations of fraud mistakenly imposed on Burt regarding his IQ measurement methodology. Reopened by two contemporary psychologists, including Robert Joynson and Ronald Fletcher, concluded that Burt did not commit any fraud altogether; somehow, he incorrectly declared hereditary share as 75% in intelligence level. On the other hand, his research consisted of three decades from 1940 to 1966 was based on actual data. Somehow, environment certainly has its role in the IQ level of the people. “The essence of Burt's vice was his denial of universal equality, for which the politically correct exploited.” (Kevin, 1992:203) Similarly, “the Bell Curve Revisited” also partially supports the Eugenics and Burt’s concept of hereditary intelligence; however, it also proclaims that Burt is not justified in giving all credit of intelligence to the genes. Although almost all personality traits, including intelligence, has direct relationship with genes, yet environment’s role cannot be denied altogether in this respect. Section IV Although the discipline of Eugenics studies the mental and physical growth in humans belonging to divergent ethnic, racial, geographical regions and religious beliefs, it has been misused by the scientists, politicians, racists and social-scientists alike in order to prove some racial groups superior to others in intellect, physical strength and vision. German dictator got the very idea from the American scientists, who proclaimed, in the beginning of 20th century, that the white race is the most intelligent racial group in the world and hence is superior to black and brown ethno-racial communities. The scientists, belonging to the Carnegie Institution, observed that some families and bloodlines certainly have the innate characteristics that prove them as the distinguished individuals of the world. Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, Franz Gall and others were the supporters of the same theory that some genes are more powerful in traits than others, and hence if the persons who are genetically superior and better one marry some other superior bloodline, there are bright probabilities of the birth of a highly intelligent race. Famous biologist and theorist Gregor Mendel presented his law of heredity, by experimenting on the peas, corns and cattle, and concluded that different families and bloodlines consist of better physical traits and consequently are more productive and long lasting ones. It is therefore the horses belonging to some specific breed are purchased and nurtured for winning the races. The hereditary theory of superior race also viewed the offenders as belonging to inferior ancestry, as the elements of crimes and offences in their genes forced them to get indulged into deviant behavior and perversion. The US statesmen including Goethe, Rockefeller and others also offered huge donation to the science laboratories working on Eugenics. On the basis of the claims presented by the American scientists and politicians, the Supreme Court of the USA declared Eugenics as an essential part of the US national policy in 1927, according to which the criminal behavior was investigated into in the light of the familial and ethno-racial background of the culprits. (Black, 2008) German Chancellor Adolf Hitler followed the same proposition and declared the German race as the most superior nation of the world. Consequently, he declared the Jews as inferior and traitor race, which should have been expelled from Germany, so that the Germans could be protected from entering into matrimonial relationship with the members of the inferior ethno-racial community. The Jews were sent to the labor camps, and were inflicted with pains and sufferings. Heavy taxes were levied upon them, and thousands of the Jews were killed in cold blood. As a result, a large majority of the German Jews left the country to save their skin from the German wrath. Section V “The State Boys Rebellion” portrays the dismal and pathetic picture the innocent boys had to face while their stay at Fernald School. Narrated through the mouth of Fred Boyce, the story laments how the cruelly the poor orphans were maltreated and misbehaved at the hands of the school administration. The orphans were dealt with by taking them as lunatics and insane, every type of adversity was considered to be fair on them. It was because of the bitter reality that the school management knew that there would be no one to come to the rescue of the helpless orphans. Consequently, they continuously abused the children both physically and sexually. Thus, instead of examining the intelligence level of the children, the administration admitted to them just on the report of the persons responsible for bringing the boys to the institution. The intelligence test, devised to examine the children, consisted of some stereotype set of questions, which was unable to investigate into the IQ of the students that had received any proper education from an institution. Boyce is of the opinion that the bitter memories of the school not only made his life miserable and gloomy, but also adversely told upon his weak nerves, life and personality at large. The school administration also incarcerated the defenseless boys by declaring them as morons, as it was the era when the Eugenics Movement was at its peak. The Movement proclaimed that the morons and lunatics should be kept away separate from the society so that they could not interact and mix up with the refined and excellent genes. Section VI Fernald School experience serves as a black mar on the very face of society, where the normal boys were inflicted with electroshocks and other severe punishments in the name of improving their IQ level and recovering them from the state of insanity. However, since the system of the examination of intelligence magnitude was absolutely unethical, inadequate and inaccurate one, then how could its treatment be regarded as the justified, fair and convalescent in nature and scope? In other words, the Fernald school laid stress upon devising a method that was deficient in exploring the object for which the method had been introduced and articulated. It is therefore, instead of providing the innocent minds with relief, improvement and recovery from the so called mental deficiency and purported mental retardation, the system looked to be working for the enhancement of their misery by inflicting the chain of sufferings and agony on the poor souls. They were not criminal or neither offenders; nor they were even juvenile delinquents or perverts altogether; rather, they were actually the small boys without having any home, shelter and protection fathers generally grant to their children. “They were swept up in the passions of the popular American eugenics movement, which held that society would be further weakened if "morons" like Fred Boyce were allowed to reproduce.” (Fost, 2004: 3) It is therefore the boys turned out to be weak, feeble and mentally retarded individuals even in their grown years, and could not perform well under the state of perfect competition prevailing in the culture and society. Works Cited Allen, Scott. (2006) The Voice of a Lost Generation: Freddie Boyce Survived Neglect at Fernald, Radiation Experiments Boston Globe 1May Black, Edwin. (2008) Adolf Hitler's Master Race Idea's Came From U.S. (Eugenics) Mad Scientists April 26 Darwin, Charles Robert. (1872) The Origin of Species New American Library, New York A Mentor Book Dawkins, Robert. (1995) A River Out of Eden Basic Books, New York 1995 Fleming, Rebecca B. (2001) Scanty Goatees and Palmar Tattoos: Cesare Lombroso’s influence of Science and Popular Opinion” The Concord Review Inc. Ralph Wardo Emerson Prize Retrieved from http://www.tcr.org/tcr/essays/EPrize_Lombroso.pdf Fost, Norman. US Child Concentration Camps of Horror America's Gulag Archipelago New England Journal of Medicine Galton, Francis (1869/2000) Hereditary Genius Retrieved from http://galton.org/books/hereditary-genius/text/pdf/galton-1869-genius-v3.pdf Green, Christopher D. (2003) Classics in the History of Psychology York University Toronto Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Binet/binet1.htm Hothersall, David. (1995) History of Psychology Mcgraw-Hill: New York. Lamb, Kevin (1992) Neo-Eugenics Vol. 33, Mankind Quarterly, 01-01-1992, 203 Retrieved from http://www.euvolution.com/euvolution/biased.html Manolakes, L. A. (1997). Cognitive Ability, Environmental Factors, and Crime: Predicting Frequent Criminal Activity. In B. Devlin, S.E. Fienberg, & K. Roeder (235-255) Intelligence, Genes, and Success: Scientists respond to The Bell Curve. New York: Springer. Pinker, Steven (2004) Why Nature & Nurture Won’t Go Away Retrieved from http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/papers/nature_nurture.pdf Requadt, Walter E. (2005) How Life Really Works? Retrieved from http://www.rationality.net/intelligence.htm Wade, Nicholas. (2002) A New Look at Old Data May Discredit a Theory on Race New York Times, October 8. Watson, John B. (1924) http://wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html Read More