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CHAPTER 10: INTELLIGENCE AND INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT
about nature versus nurture. Illustrates that knowing what is genetic, chemical, or voluntary in
behavior helps people adapt the environment to themselves and themselves to the environment.
From the Human Animal series, hosted by Phil Donahue.
Race, Intelligence, and Education (1974). TLF, 53 minutes
Introduces Dr. H. J. Eysenck, advocate of the theory that heredity influences intelligence more than
environment does. Presents six other scientists who discuss their controversial ideas as well as the
theories of other American psychologists and sociologists. Great for stimulating classroom
discussion
They Call Me Names (1972). EMC UC, 20 minutes
This film examines how the “inferior” stereotype of the mentally or developmentally delayed
individual affects their lives. The film also provides a glimpse of the techniques used in providing
suitable living environments for the mentally impaired, going beyond custodial care.
CASE STUDY LECTURE LAUNCHER
At the age of 37, Esquire columnist Bob Greene started to suspect that he was dumber than he had
been in high school. At 17, he had been able to add, subtract, and multiply without using a
calculator. Twenty years later, those skills seemed to have disappeared. To see if he could still make
the grade, Greene decided to retake the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the three-hour examination
of verbal and mathematical abilities that many colleges use to select students for admission. Greene
sent in his $11, and on the designated Saturday morning, he showed up at his local high school
with six sharpened no. 2 pencils in his pocket. After one hour, “all of us looked dazed, unhappy,
and disoriented, although I believe that I was the only student to go to the water fountain and take
an Inderal for his blood pressure” (Greene, 1985).
The SAT was designed as a standardized measure of high school students’ academic performance.
Admissions officers had difficulty interpreting grade-point averages from thousands of high
schools with different standards and grading policies. Although the tests were designed as
objective evaluations, they have been accused of bias, and, despite many revisions over the years, it
has been difficult to quell those accusations. Across all ethnic groups, average SAT scores increase
as family income goes up. Whites and Asian Americans consistently outperform Mexican
Americans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans (Hacker, 1986). Men, on the average, score
higher than women do (Gordon, 1990).
However, the SAT is changing. Consider the question of calculators. When the SAT was introduced
in 1941, pocket calculators did not exist. When Greene took the test for the second time, the proctor
instructed that “Calculators or calculator watches may not be used.”
When Greene’s test results finally arrived in the mail, his hands were shaking. He felt ridiculous.
After all, he already had a college degree and a successful career. Nevertheless, he nervously ripped
open the envelope. Not surprisingly for a writer, Greene’s verbal score had gone up 56 points. In
math, over the two decades, his score had nose-dived by 200 points. Just as it is difficult to know
why some groups perform better than others on the SAT, it is impossible to know for sure why Bob
Greene’s math score plummeted. Wasn’t the test supposed to measure his basic aptitude for math—
what he understood and not just what he had learned?