science

The Science and Politics of I.Q.

The Science and Politics of I.Q. is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Science and Politics of I.Q. rather than just read about it. In short: The Science and Politics of I.Q. is a book by the psychologist Leon Kamin, originally published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates in 1974. In the book, Kamin examines empirical evidence regarding IQ, a common measure of human intelligence, and concludes that there is no evidence that it is significantly heritable.

Key takeaways

The Science and Politics of I.Q. belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Science and Politics of I.Q. to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Science and Politics of I.Q. from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Science and Politics of I.Q. is a book by the psychologist Leon Kamin, originally published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates in 1974. In the book, Kamin examines empirical evidence regarding IQ, a common measure of human intelligence, and concludes that there is no evidence that it is significantly heritable. As part of the book's broader critique of hereditarianism and psychometrics, Kamin also became the first to accuse Cyril Burt of scientific misconduct in his twin research. In the book, Kamin states one of its principal conclusions thus: "There exist no data which should lead a prudent man to accept the hypothesis that IQ test scores are in any degree heritable."

Reviews The psychologist Asa Grant Hilliard III reviewed the book favorably, describing it as "thoughtful and meticulously documented" and as "a book of profound importance for the contemporary social and professional scene." In another favorable review, Raymond Lorion concluded that the book was "...a unique and important contribution to timely consideration of the nature-nurture issue." Peter Medawar wrote in the New York Review of Books that "...Kamin's interpretation of the origins of hereditarian theory has about it the kind of Olympian glibness more often found in psychoanalytic theory, and it is equally difficult to refute." Medawar also praised Kamin for "...his nice touch for allowing the subjects of his criticism to assassinate themselves." David Layzer reviewed the book favorably in Scientific American, writing that "Kamin has made a strong negative case. He has gone back to the primary sources and demonstrated with a wealth of circumstantial detail that the data they contain cannot support the interpretation that Burt, Jensen and other hereditarians have placed on them." Other reviews of the book were more mixed. The psychologist Nicholas Mackintosh wrote that "Whatever reservations one may have about the validity of his many arguments...Kamin has performed a notable service by subjecting the evidence on the heritability of intelligence to searching and critical analysis." Economist John Conlisk commended the book for discussing a "broad range of issues" and for paying close attention to the original data, while also criticizing it for its environmentalist bias. Similarly, behavior geneticist David W. Fulker commended the book for cataloging examples of misrepresentation of IQ test scores, while also criticizing its description of research into the heritability of IQ. Writing in Social Research, psychologist Franz Samelson stated that while he agreed with the book's conclusion regarding the flaws of research on the supposed genetic basis of IQ, he found Kamin's "historical account" of IQ testing presented in the book to be "grossly oversimplified". Douglas N. Jackson criticized the book's portrayal of the developers of IQ tests, which he claimed was unfairly negative: "...the author's collection of historical quotations by no means represents a random sample of the views of psychologists of the past or of today...It does not follow that because some historical advocates of the heritability of IQ have espoused illiberal views and policies all have such views."

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Science and Politics of I.Q.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Science and Politics of I.Q. claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Science and Politics of I.Q. before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Science and Politics of I.Q. ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Science and Politics of I.Q.

In research: The Science and Politics of I.Q. appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Science and Politics of I.Q. in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Science and Politics of I.Q. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1974 English-language non-fiction books, 1974 non-fiction books, Books about human intelligence, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Science and Politics of I.Q. outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Science and Politics of I.Q. in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Science and Politics of I.Q. means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Science and Politics of I.Q. out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Science and Politics of I.Q. in simple terms?

Why does The Science and Politics of I.Q. matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Science and Politics of I.Q.?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Science and Politics of I.Q..