IQ Test Scores

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at both the heredity explanation and the environmental explanation for the gap in IQ scores of different racial groups. The paper examines whether the difference in the IQ scores can be explained by a cultural bias in the IQ tests.

Outline
Cultural Differences in IQ Test Scores
Heredity Explanation and "The Bell Curve"
Environmental Explanation for the IQ Gap
Cultural Bias of IQ Tests
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The genetic explanation for the IQ difference between different races has a long history and the "Whites' have not always been held to possess superior intelligence. For example, when the Moors from North Africa invaded Europe in the 8th century AD, they speculated that the Europeans might be congenitally incapable of abstract thought . (Nisbett 1998, p 86) When the U.S. Army started a large-scale mental testing program in 1917 for testing the intelligence of its recruits, it found that whites scored substantially higher than blacks. Social Darwinists and Biological Determinists jumped on the finding, citing it as evidence that whites had "more innate ability than blacks". (Jencks and Philips, 1998, p.16) In the post-World War II backlash against the genetic differences among human beings, such explanations were discredited and remained suppressed until the 1960s."

More papers on IQ Test Scores:

• Persuasive Essay # 145116 : "IQ and Cultural Bias"
• Essay # 67915 : "Race, IQ and Intelligence"
• Persuasive Essay # 46514 : "Cultural Bias in Scholastic Aptitude Tests"

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