The Unconscious Bias of Intelligence Tests

The Unconscious Bias of Intelligence Tests

In the chapter entitled “The Hereditarian Theory of IQ:

An American Invention” in The Mismeasure of Man (New

York: Norton, 1996), Stephen Jay Gould analyzes the reasoning

behind intelligence tests. Gould begins the chapter by

stating how Alfred Binet, who studied the measurement of

intelligence, began this endeavor in order to institute special

education for learning-disabled and other disadvantaged children.

Gould continues his analysis by reporting that three of

Binet’s followers, H. H. Goddard (who brought Binet’s scale

to America), Lewis M. Terman (who developed the Stanford-

Binet scale), and Robert M. Yerkes (who persuaded the army

to test the intelligence of 1.75 million men in World War I),

corrupted Binet’s work and used his tests to measure an element

they called “intelligence,” which ultimately resulted in

peoplebeing labeled as either “intelligent” or “stupid.” In this

chapter, Gould successfully demonstrates that the work of

these three men was affected by their unconscious biases and

preconceived ideas.

According to Gould, Alfred Binet developed his scale for

a sensible, effective motive. The original purpose of Binet’s

scale was to identify children whose poor performances in

school suggested a need for special education. Unlike previous

tests, Binet’s scale utilized a variety of distinct activities, such as

counting coins and comprehension, which tested a child’s different

abilitites: “Binet decided to assign an age level to each

task, defined as the youngest age at which a child of normal

intelligence should be able to complete the task successfully”

(179). The age parallel with the last task the child could successfully

complete was that particular child’s “mental age.” A

child’s level of intelligence was determined by

subtracting his/her mental age from his/her true chronological

age. Those children whose mental ages were a great deal

behind their chronological ages were recommended for special

education programs. In 1912, W. Stern suggested instead of

subtracting the mental age of a child from his/her chronological

age, the mental age should be divided by his/her chronological

age, and thus the intelligence quotient (IQ) came into

existence. Binet never once labeled IQ as inborn intelligence;

he simply used his scale to identify those children who were

learning-disabled, in an effort to direct them to places where

they would receive special help.

H.H. Goddard was the first person to make Binet’s scale

popular in America. However, Goddard distorted Binet’s scale

and relied on it to identify the allegedly intellectually defective

people in the country; he even relied on his preconceived notions

to label these individuals “feeble-minded” and “morons”

from the Greek word meaning foolish. All people whose actions

went against moral behavior were designated “morons.”

These people included criminals, alcoholics, and prostitutes.

According to Gould, Goddard believed “morons” should be