Adding in Race, Culture and Ethnicity (Powell 17-36)

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Adding in Race, Culture and Ethnicity (Powell
17-36)

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IQ tests revisited

• The cops have put Tony, Uncle Junior, Silvio,
  Paulie Walnuts, and Livia in a lineup, standing
  in spots numbered 1 through 6 from left to right.
  Theres one empty space. Livia is the third
  person from the left. Tony is to Uncle Juniors
  immediate left. If Paulie Walnuts stands in
  space 6 with no one beside him, where is Silvio?
• Seven years ago Jack was three times as old as
  Jill. If Jack is now five years older than Jill,
  how old is he?
• (a) 12-1/2 (b) 13 (c) 13-1/2 (d) 14-1/2 (e) 15

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• Tony, Uncle Junor, Livia, SILVIO, empty, Paulie
  Walnuts
• Jack is 14-1/2, Jill is 9-1/2
• He was 7-1/2, Jill was 2-1/2
• IQ scores have been rising steadily since the
  20th century.
• Is society just getting smarter???

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STANDARDIZED TESTSDo They Measure Minorities
Fairly?

• SAT is a standardized test that has come under
  fire for being culturally biased in ways that
  preclude many minority students from achieving
  high scores.

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Standardized test have been used to measure

• Aptitude of school age children and adults
• Readiness of high school seniors to receive
  diplomas
• Effectiveness of individual teachers, curricula,
  and school systems

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INTELLIGENCE DEFINED
R. J. Sternberg defined intelligence as
consisting of purposive selection and shaping
of adaptation to real-world environments relative
to ones life. (Sternberg, 1984)
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Intelligence Defined...
Sternberg identified three types of intelligence

• creativity

• practical thinking

• analytical thinking

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P.M. Greenfield in her Model of the Variability
in Human Intelligence made two points

• cultures define intelligence by what is adaptive
  in their particular ecocultural niche
• definitions of intelligence are as much cultural
  ideas as scientific statements

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RACISTS ORIGINS
Alfred Binet first devised the IQ Test in 1905 to
identify children with low academic aptitudes
that may need special schooling. He specifically
stated his test was theoretical and proposed
therapeutic courses specifically for those with
low scores.
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Racist Origins...
Members of the eugenic societies distorted
Binets intention and claimed that scores on the
instrument provided a fixed measure of innate
intelligence.
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Eugenics

• The study of hereditary improvement especially
  human improvement by GENETIC control
• Believe in selective breeding
• Intelligence is passed on from parent to child
• More intelligent people have less children
• Why???
• Opportunity cost of not working is too high
• Human intelligence will never evolve if we dont
  step in

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Racist Origins...
eugenicists said, the test could identify the
genetically inferior whose existence was a menace
to society and whose reproduction should be
halted.
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In 1912, Henry Goddard used the standardized test
to scientifically prove that

• 83 of Jews
• 90 of Hungarians
• 79 of Italians
• 87 of Russian
• Were feebleminded (Fallows, 1980)

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In 1914, R.A. Ross and other eugenicists used the
statistics provided by mental testing to campaign
against integration of

• national public schools
• armed forces
• other societal institutions (Baltzell, 1964)

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Racist Origins...
Carl Bringham, designer and developer of the SAT,
articulated the following
The army mental test has proven beyond any
scientific doubt that, like the American Negroes,
the Italians, and the Jews are ineducable. It
would be a waste of good money even to attempt to
try to give these born morons and imbeciles a
good Anglo-Saxon education, let alone admit them
into our fine medical, law, and engineering
graduate schools. (Kamin, 1974).
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DOES THE SAT MEASURE MINORITIES FAIRLY?

• African Americans tend to score approximately one
  standard deviation below whites on intelligence
  tests.
• The debate becomeswhy do these differences
  exist?

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HEREDITARIAN STANCE

• The hereditarians strongly argue for a genetic
  explanation to the African American/White IQ
  differential.
• Some site differences in brain and skull size
• Others maintain there are inborn differences
• Propagates idea that intelligence can be
  measured in a single number
• Researchers conclude biological difference
  between African Americans and Whites

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ENVIRONMENTAL STANCE

• In direct opposition to hereditarians,
  environmentalists argue that the discrepancy
  between scores is entirely due to environmental
  factors citing
• poor conditions for minorities
• cultural bias on standardized tests
• inadequate school systems
• lower socieconomic status for certain groups

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OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• The Importance of Education on Intelligence
  Testing
• Schooling changes scores
• Quality of formal education for African
  Americans was not same as for Whites
• Deprived educational attainment has
  ramifications for future generations

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THE EVIDENCE
Waco School District
Given a white failure rate of 37 percent what can
we expect for the failure rates of blacks?
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SAT Scores vs. Income

• Test scores go up with family income.
• They also improve with socioeconomic status.
• Both trends are observed within all ethnic and
  racial groups.
• But before you blame income and socioeconomic
  status for test score gaps consider this
• Black children from the wealthiest families have
  mean SAT scores lower than white children from
  families below the poverty line.

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SAT Scores vs. Parental Education
Some argue that social position, access to
libraries, and the opportunity to take vacations
may cause the gap in scores. However, consider
this Black children of parents with graduate
degrees have lower SAT scores than white children
of parents with high-school diplomas or less.
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ECONOMIC COSTS
Lack of self-esteem Loss of self-respect Incom
e inequality Discrimination
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Are tests biased?

• one test fits all
• uses norms that are supposed to be appropriate
  for everyone.
• Standardized tests are biased in favor of those
  whose culture and upbringing closely resembles
  that of the test makers-typically white
  middle-class males.
• If tests are going to be appropriate for
  EVERYONE then EVERYONE must be involved of
  the writing of the test.

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Should we stop the SATs?

• University of California says YES!!
• Question What does it measure???
• SAT focuses on general reasoning
• ACT focuses on subject matter
• Biased against Blacks and Latinos
• Measures the ability to pay for prep courses

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Changes in IQ
Country IQ
United States Increased 24 points since 1919
Britain Increased 27 points since 1942
Argentina Increased 22 points since 1964
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Why has intelligence been increasing??

• Selective Breeding or changes in the environment?

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What is causing these increases??

• Twin study
• 75 percent is genetic
• Environmental influence on genetics accounts
  for the rest
• Genetics cause people to seek out certain
  environments
• Experiences with technology (computers,
  videogames) train for pattern analysis that IQ
  tests access
• Genetic IQ is fixed Environmental influence
  allows us to alter our predisposed IQ

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Other studies find

• Improved diet during pregnancy lead to higher
  IQs for children
• Important
• If things can be changed --- environment
• If things cannot be changed --- genetic