Robert Mearns Yerkes (1876-1956) was an American Comparative Psychologist, influenced Wechsler, mostly know as head of committee that designed WWI Army Alpha and Beta tests, was the one who started to study primates, one of the sources of inspiration for book series Planet of the Apes.
Influenced: Wechsler
Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education:
Ursinus College, Pennsylvania (1892-1897)
Harvard University, A. B. (1898); Ph.D. (1902)
While on leave from his teaching job at Harvard, Yerkes studied neuro-surgical techniques with Harvey Cushing at the Hunterian Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. He also spent several weeks with E.B. Titchener at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA.
Career:
Harvard University, Instructor and Assistant Professor in Comparative Psychology (1902-1917)
Boston Psychopathic Hospital, Director of Psychological Services and Research (1913-1917)
Helped create the Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale of Intelligence (1915)
President, American Psychological Association (1917)
Chairman, National Research Council Psychology Committee (WWI)
Chairman, Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits (The committee that designed the WWI Army Alpha and Beta testing program)
Continued to serve on the National Research Council (1919-1924)
Yale University, Professor of Psychobiology (1924-1944)
Founded and directed the Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology (1929-1941)
Definition of Intelligence:
"…the term intelligence designates a complexly interrelated assemblage of functions, no one of which is completely or accurately known in man…(Yerkes, 1929, p. 524)”
Major Contributions
Founded the first non-human primate research laboratory in the United States, and acted as its director from 1929 until 1941. The Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology was eventually renamed the Yerkes National Primate Research Center
Chaired the committee that created the WWI Army Alpha and Beta intelligence tests
Ideas and Interests
Robert Yerkes is most famous for his comparative psychology work with apes and chimpanzees. He was heavily influenced by Darwinism, and his writing emphasized that the cognitive differences between infrahuman primates and humans is often simply a matter of degree: …The study of other primates may prove the most direct and economical route to profitable knowledge of ourselves, because, in them, basic mechanisms are less obscured by cultural influence. Certainly it is unwise to assume that human biology can be advanced only by the study of man himself. This could be true only if he existed as a unique organism, lacking genetic relations to other types of creatures (Yerkes, 1943, p. 3). Yerkes rejected social Darwinism; that is, he dismissed the popular ideological belief that natural selection would gradually lead humanity to a sort of utopian ideal. He embraced the eugenicist view and argued, albeit gently, that humankind could benefit from intentional, selective interbreeding. Although he never advocated a political agenda, he hoped that the chimpanzee colonies established at the Yale Laboratories would popularize the idea that genetic research could improve society: We realize that with varying wisdom man has learned to shape nature to his needs and desires. Only with his own nature has he refrained from tampering. Yet the course of civilization and any sudden change for better or worse in the human type obviously depend upon consciously or unconsciously directed modifications. Probably there is no more unprofitable assumption than that of the unalterability of human nature…It has always been a feature of our plan for the use of the chimpanzee as an experimental animal to shape it intelligently to specification instead of trying to preserve its natural characteristics. We have believed it important to convert the animal to as nearly ideal a subject for biological research as is practicable. And with this intent has been associated the hope that the possibility of re-creating man himself in the image of a generally acceptable ideal. … the effort to create an ideally suitable laboratory chimpanzee may prove useful to those who are seeking an ideal for mankind. One is led to think at once of generally recognized human shortcomings, such as extreme selfishness, dishonesty, slothfulness, cruelty, and to wonder whether by developing an ape notable for its dependability, trustworthiness, consideration of others, measure of self-control, and cooperativeness, and by exhibiting it extensively and impressively, attention might not be focused on the problem of improving human nature and the possibilities of its solution. Possibly such an exhibit, carried to mankind pictorially and verbally, might shame a portion of our kind into resolving to do something about it instead of continuing to be carelessly fatalistic. …The really important things for us at present are recognition and active acceptance of the principles of modifiability, controllability, and consequent improvability, of human nature (Yerkes, 1943, p. 9-11). Yerkes’s eugenicist goals were not carried to fruition, but he did leave an important cultural and psychological legacy. Immediately after the United States entered the First World War, Yerkes urged the American Psychological Association to contribute psychological expertise to the war effort. The APA responded by deploying twelve committees. Yerkes chaired both the National Research Council Psychology Committee and the Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits. This second committee was charged with developing group intelligence test that could identify recruits with low intelligence and allow the Army to recognize men who were particularly well-suited for special assignments and officers' training schools (McGuire, 1994).
Members of the Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits: The committee met for the first time in May of 1917. Among others, it included Henry Goddard, Lewis Terman, and Walter Bingham. By mid-July they had constructed five alternate forms of the verbal test, henceforth to be known as the Army Alpha, and had designed the Army Beta, a nonverbal test for illiterate and non-English speaking recruits (Dahlstrom, 1985). The final forms of the Army Alpha and Beta tests were published in January of 1919, and by the end of the war they had been administered to approximately two million men (Larson, 1994; McGuire, 1994). For many reasons, the launch of the Army Alpha and Beta testing program was a pivotal moment in the history of psychology. First, it provided psychometricians with the first group intelligence tests. Second, the publicity it generated popularized intelligence testing in the public and private sectors. Third, the program provided vast amounts of data to serve as fuel for future controversies over apparent racial differences in intelligence test scores and the supposed decline of America's "national intelligence" (Fancher, 1985).
Selected Publications:
Yerkes, R. M. (1930). Autobiography of Robert Mearns Yerkes. In C. Murchison (Ed.), History of psychology in autobiography (Vol. 2, pp. 381-407). Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.
Yerkes, R. M. (1916/1979). The mental life of monkeys and apes: a study of ideational behavior. Delmar, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints.
Yerkes, R. M. (Ed.) (1921) Psychological examining in the United States Army. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, 15, 1-890.
Yerkes, R. M., & Yerkes, A. W. (1929). The great apes: a study of anthropoid life. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Yerkes, R. M., Bridges, J. W., & Hardwick, R. S. (1915). A point scale for measuring mental ability. Baltimore: Warwick & York.
Yerkes, R. M. (1941). Man-power and military effectiveness: the case for human engineering. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 5, 205-209.
Yerkes, R. M. (1943, 1971). Chimpanzees: A laboratory colony. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation.
References:
www.intelltheory.com
Dahlstrom, W. G. (1985). The development of psychological testing. In G. A. Kimble and K. Schlesinger (Eds.), Topics in the history of psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 63-114).
Fancher, R. E. (1985). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Larson, G. (1994) Armed services vocational aptitude battery. In R.J. Sternberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of intelligence (Vol. 1, pp. 121-124.) New York: Macmillan.
Krawiec, T. S. (Ed.). (1974). Yerkes, R.M. In The psychologists, (Vol 2). London: Oxford University Press.
Legassé, P. (Ed.). (2001). Yerkes, Robert Mearns. The Columbia Encyclopedia ( 6th ed.) [Online Version]. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved June 5, 2002.
McGuire, F. (1994). Army alpha and beta tests of intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of intelligence (Vol 1, pp. 125-129.) New York: Macmillan.
Wolman, B. B. (1968). Historical roots of contemporary psychology. New York: Harper & Row.
Yerkes, R. M. (1932). Psychobiologist. In Carl Murchison (Ed.), The history of psychology in autobiography. (Vol. 2, pp. 381-407). Worcester, MA: Clark University Press. Full text for this chapter is available online from the Classics in the History of Psychology website.
On this blog i will explore genius and geniality concepts, talented child and adults, polymaths, multipotentialite, multipods and other similar denominations. Mostly, i would like to learn about the potential hidden within each of us.
Showing posts with label Goddard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goddard. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Monday, 9 November 2015
Granville Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall (1844-1924) is an American Psychologist, Philosopher, Educationist. One of the teachers of Goddard, Terman and Cattell
Student of: James
Students: Goddard, Terman, J. M. Cattell
Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education:
Williams College, BA,1867, MA,1870.
Studied at Union Theological Seminary, 1867-8
Harvard University, PhD 1878
Career:
Antioch College, taught literature and philosophy
Harvard University, taught English 1876-7, PhD, 1878.
Special lecturer and granted a thousand dollars to open a psychological laboratory, Johns Hopkins University 1882.
Professor of Psychology and Pedagogics, Johns Hopkins University, 1883-8
First president and professor of Psychology, Clark University, 1889-1919
Founded Child Study Association of America, 1888
First president, American Psychological Association, 1889
Major Contributions:
Although Hall had little direct personal impact on the study of intelligence, he strongly influenced a generation of American psychologists.
Publications:
The Content of Children's Minds, (1883)
The Study of Children, (1883)
Adolescence, Its Psychology and its Relation to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, (1904).
Youth: Its Education, Regimen and Hygiene (1906)
Educational Problems (2 vols, 1911)
Founders of Modern Psychology (1912)
Student of: James
Students: Goddard, Terman, J. M. Cattell
Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education:
Williams College, BA,1867, MA,1870.
Studied at Union Theological Seminary, 1867-8
Harvard University, PhD 1878
Career:
Antioch College, taught literature and philosophy
Harvard University, taught English 1876-7, PhD, 1878.
Special lecturer and granted a thousand dollars to open a psychological laboratory, Johns Hopkins University 1882.
Professor of Psychology and Pedagogics, Johns Hopkins University, 1883-8
First president and professor of Psychology, Clark University, 1889-1919
Founded Child Study Association of America, 1888
First president, American Psychological Association, 1889
Major Contributions:
Although Hall had little direct personal impact on the study of intelligence, he strongly influenced a generation of American psychologists.
Publications:
The Content of Children's Minds, (1883)
The Study of Children, (1883)
Adolescence, Its Psychology and its Relation to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, (1904).
Youth: Its Education, Regimen and Hygiene (1906)
Educational Problems (2 vols, 1911)
Founders of Modern Psychology (1912)
Sunday, 8 November 2015
The Kallikak Family
To understand some interesting connections, i will present you a story from the past. You will find how Goddard inspired Hitler and maybe was partially responsible for what happen in WW2, you will learn from his theories and realize once more the truth of George Santayana words (usually wrongly attributed to Churchill): Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
Here is the wonderful text:
The Kallikak Family
Introduction
The American psychologist Henry H. Goddard (1866-1957) is best known for his work on the area of the inheritability of intelligence. He was influenced by Mendelian genetics, and believed that "feeble-mindedness" was the result of a single recessive gene. He is considered by many to be one of the pioneers of the American eugenicist movement. "Morons" were Goddard's primary interest. He originated this term, deriving it from the Greek word for "foolish." Goddard defined morons as "high grade defectives" who possess low intelligence, but appear normal to casual observers (1912, p. 104). In addition to their learning difficulties, Goddard characterized morons as lacking self-control, thus making them susceptible to sexual immorality and vulnerable to other individuals who might exploit them for use in criminal activity (1912, pp. 54-56).
Goddard's Research
In 1906, Goddard was hired by the Vineland Training School to conduct research on the genetic causes of feeble-mindedness. His research was two-tiered: In addition to translating and administering the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale, he sent research assistants into the homes of feeble-minded children to learn what they could through "careful and wise questioning" (1912, p. vii). In the ensuing years, Goddard's research methods, the accuracy of his data, and the qualifications of his research assistants have been questioned (Gould, 1981; Smith, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). Goddard's research resulted in the publication of several journal articles and books. The most well known books are The Kallikak Family: A Study In The Heredity Of Feeble-Mindedness (1912) and Feeble-Mindedness: Its Causes And Consequences (1914).
The Kallikak Family
Although Goddard and his assistants studied more than 300 families, the Kallikak family remains the most famous. The name "Kallikak" is actually a pseudonym created by Goddard from the Greek words Kallos (beauty) and Kakos (bad). The name is fitting; the Kallikak family was divided into two strains-one "good" and one "bad"-both of which originated from a common progenitor, Martin Kallikak, Sr. When Martin Kallikak, Sr. was a young soldier, he had a liaison with an "unnamed, feeble-minded tavern girl." This tryst resulted in the birth of an illegitimate son, Martin Kallikak, Jr. The Kakos (bad) strain of the Kallikak family descended from this line. Later in his life, Martin Kallikak, Sr., married a Quaker woman from a good family. The Kallos (beauty) line descended from this marriage. Goddard's genealogical research revealed that the union with the feeble-minded tavern girl resulted in generations of "mental defectives" who were plagued by illegitimacy, prostitution, alcoholism, epilepsy, and lechery. His investigation of the other Kallikak branch revealed precisely the opposite: The marriage of Martin Kallikak, Sr., to the respectable Quakeress yielded generations of society's finest citizens. Goddard believed that the striking schism separating the two branches of the family was due entirely to the different genetic input from the women (1912, pp. 105-106). One chart is representative of the 24 family trees Goddard included in the second section of Chapter Two ("The Charts"). This is Chart II on p. 37 of the 1935 edition. In this chart, circles represent females and squares represent males. Goddard included the following caption: "N = Normal. F = Feeble-minded. Sx = Sexually immoral. A = Alcoholic.... d. inf. = died in infancy.... For further explanation see pp. 33-35." In Chart I and subsequent graphics, Goddard creates similar family trees from Martin, Sr., to Deborah (Chart I), and represents the histories of various branches of the "good" and "bad" families. Regardless of the accuracy of the data, Goddard's presentation (especially the numerous charts) have a powerful effect, making it easy to understand the book's popularity in the first third of the 20th Century. Eminent professors from around the world were impressed by the magnitude of Goddard's work, and The Kallikak Family became a best seller. Critical reaction in the lay press was generally quite positive, but the reaction was mixed within the scientific community (Zederland, 1998). For example, James McKeen Cattell praised the contribution and conclusions but criticized the research design. There was even mention of turning the book into a Broadway play. Not surprisingly, the Kallikak study was a landmark event for the eugenicist movement. The Kallikak study was a powerful ally to the eugenicist movement and contributed to the environment in which compulsory sterilization laws were passed in 30 states (with many retaining the force of law for decades).
Deborah Kallikak
Goddard met Deborah Kallikak when she was a resident of the Vineland Training School. The genetic cause of her feeble-mindedness is the foundation of Goddard's theories of mental deficiency. Goddard begins Chapter One with "The Story of Deborah": "One bright October day, fourteen years ago, there came to the Training School at Vineland, a little eight-year-old girl. She had been born in an almshouse. Her mother had afterwards married, not the father of this child, but the prospective father of another child, and later had divoced him and married another man, who was also the father of some of her children.... One the plea that the child did not get along well at school and might possibly be feeble-minded, she gained admission to the Training School, there to begin a career which has been interesting and valuable to the Institution, and which has led to an investigation that cannot fail to prove of great social import. (pp. 1-2)". In the remainder of the chapter, Goddard provides a detailed account of Deborah's experiences at Vineland, with comments from staff notes, anecdotes, and photos of Deborah and samples of her work. Goddard also describes the events that led to the study. In brief, Vineland field workers, in the course of regular visits to relatives of Vineland residents, had difficulty tracing the family history. After considerable effort, Martin Kallikak's personal history came to light, as did the history of the two branches of his family. A more recent look at Deborah's school records reveals that her profile was inconsistent with that of a mentally retarded person; it is probable that she was actually learning disabled (Smith, 1985, pp. 23-26). Evidence for this is found in reports that although Deborah showed pronounced delays in reading and writing, she was a skilled woodworker and seamstress, and functioned so well socially that visitors to the school frequently mistook her for a member of the staff! This picture of Deborah was included as the Frontispiece in the 1912 and subsequent editions. Goddard also included four other pictures of Deborah in text, but these were not all reprinted in subsequent editions. An on-line version at Classics in the History of Psychology includes all of the original photographs.
Goddard's Recommendations
Early in his career, Goddard believed that feeble-mindedness was dangerous to society. He affirmed that feeble-minded people were "multiplying at twice the rate of the general population," (1912, p. 71) thus producing "more feeble-minded children with which to clog the wheels of human progress" (1912, p. 78). Moreover, since feeble-minded people were not able to control themselves, they were the principal cause of many social problems, including crime and illegitimacy. Goddard was hesitant to support compulsory sterilization, suggesting instead that the best cure for society's ills would be to build "colonies" where the feeble-minded could be segregated. He noted that the cost of these facilities could be offset: Such colonies would save an annual loss in property and life, due to the action of these irresponsible people, sufficient to nearly, or quite, offset the expense of the new plant … (1912, pp. 105-106). He reversed this opinion in the late 1920s.
Consequences of the Kallikak Family Study
The height of Goddard's success came at a time when America was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Europe. The Immigration Restriction Act, passed in 1924 (which remained in effect until 1965) was influenced by American eugenics' efforts. In 1913 Goddard was invited to Ellis Island to help detect morons in the immigrant population. In his Intelligence Classification of Immigrants of Different Nationalities (1917) he asserted that most of the Ellis Island immigrants were mentally deficient. For example, he indicated that 83% of all Jews tested were feeble-minded, as were 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and 87% of the Russians. The result was that many immigrants were turned away and sent back to Europe.
The Controversial Photos
A photographic expert from the Smithsonian Institution suggested that some of the Kallikak family photographs in Goddard's books were retouched to give them a more disturbing appearance, an observation that has been used as evidence for Goddard's zealous efforts in favor of the hereditarian nature of intelligence (Gould, 1981, pp.171; Smith, 1985, pp. 79-80). As can be seen in the photos below (taken from the 1935 edition at p. 88), close scrutiny reveals dark lines and shading added around their eyes. However, the assertion of fraud has only become more controversial over time. Photos in many books were retouched as part of the publishing process (Fancher, 1987), and little evidence exists that Goddard personally doctored the photographs to make the "bad" Kallikaks look more sinister than the "good" branch of the family. As Zederland (1998) observes, a main thrust of Goddard's work was to show that feeble-minded people looked normal and were often quite attractive; he was attempting to make a case for careful mental testing, not superficial visual inspection, to determine feeble-mindedness.
Goddard's Regrets
By the late 1920s, Goddard had reversed many of his early opinions, declaring in multiple public forums that he had been gravely mistaken in many of his most famous conclusions (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 324-326). He had begun to question the validity of the tests that were used to detect morons, and he stated emphatically that his former belief that morons could not be educated satisfactorily was wrong. In addition, he frequently voiced his new opinion that feeble-minded people should be allowed to have children, if they choose to do so. He asserted in a 1927 article for Scientific Monthly that the concept of segregation colonies had been a bad idea (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 324-326). However, Die Familie Kallikak was printed in Germany in 1914 and reprinted in 1933 shortly after the Nazis came to power. Goddard never intended for his book to be connected with Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust. In 1938 and 1939, he tried unsuccessfully to use his influence to help the daughter of a Jewish colleague escape from Austria (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 333-335). Subsequently, a psychology text by Columbia University psychologist Henry Garrett (1961) provided a brief, and rather embellished, overview of the Kallikak study to bolster his eugenicist arguments. Although these interpretations stood at odds with Goddard's opinions later in his life, these and related events have helped to paint the rather negative picture many people still hold of Goddard and his work.
References:
Fancher, R. E. (1987). Henry Goddard and the Kallikak Family photographs: "Conscious skullduggery" or "Whig history"? American Psychologist, 42, 585-590.
Garrett, H.E., & Bonner, H. (1961). General psychology (2nd rev. ed.). New York: American Book Company.
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak Family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1914). Feeble-mindedness: Its causes and consequences. New York: Macmillan
Goddard, H. H. (1917). Mental tests and the immigrant. Journal of Delinquency, 2, 243-277.
Goddard, H. H. (1927). Who is a moron? Scientific Monthly, 24, 41-46.
Goddard, H. H. (1942). In defense of the Kallikak study. Science, 95, 574-576.
Gould, S.J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Smith, J.D. (1985). Minds made feeble: The myth and legacy of the Kallikaks. Rockville, MD: Aspen.
Zenderland, L. (1998). Measuring minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the origins of American intelligence testing. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Written by Amber Esping, Kwame Dakwa, and Jonathan Plucker.
Here is the wonderful text:
The Kallikak Family
Introduction
The American psychologist Henry H. Goddard (1866-1957) is best known for his work on the area of the inheritability of intelligence. He was influenced by Mendelian genetics, and believed that "feeble-mindedness" was the result of a single recessive gene. He is considered by many to be one of the pioneers of the American eugenicist movement. "Morons" were Goddard's primary interest. He originated this term, deriving it from the Greek word for "foolish." Goddard defined morons as "high grade defectives" who possess low intelligence, but appear normal to casual observers (1912, p. 104). In addition to their learning difficulties, Goddard characterized morons as lacking self-control, thus making them susceptible to sexual immorality and vulnerable to other individuals who might exploit them for use in criminal activity (1912, pp. 54-56).
Goddard's Research
In 1906, Goddard was hired by the Vineland Training School to conduct research on the genetic causes of feeble-mindedness. His research was two-tiered: In addition to translating and administering the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale, he sent research assistants into the homes of feeble-minded children to learn what they could through "careful and wise questioning" (1912, p. vii). In the ensuing years, Goddard's research methods, the accuracy of his data, and the qualifications of his research assistants have been questioned (Gould, 1981; Smith, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). Goddard's research resulted in the publication of several journal articles and books. The most well known books are The Kallikak Family: A Study In The Heredity Of Feeble-Mindedness (1912) and Feeble-Mindedness: Its Causes And Consequences (1914).
The Kallikak Family
Although Goddard and his assistants studied more than 300 families, the Kallikak family remains the most famous. The name "Kallikak" is actually a pseudonym created by Goddard from the Greek words Kallos (beauty) and Kakos (bad). The name is fitting; the Kallikak family was divided into two strains-one "good" and one "bad"-both of which originated from a common progenitor, Martin Kallikak, Sr. When Martin Kallikak, Sr. was a young soldier, he had a liaison with an "unnamed, feeble-minded tavern girl." This tryst resulted in the birth of an illegitimate son, Martin Kallikak, Jr. The Kakos (bad) strain of the Kallikak family descended from this line. Later in his life, Martin Kallikak, Sr., married a Quaker woman from a good family. The Kallos (beauty) line descended from this marriage. Goddard's genealogical research revealed that the union with the feeble-minded tavern girl resulted in generations of "mental defectives" who were plagued by illegitimacy, prostitution, alcoholism, epilepsy, and lechery. His investigation of the other Kallikak branch revealed precisely the opposite: The marriage of Martin Kallikak, Sr., to the respectable Quakeress yielded generations of society's finest citizens. Goddard believed that the striking schism separating the two branches of the family was due entirely to the different genetic input from the women (1912, pp. 105-106). One chart is representative of the 24 family trees Goddard included in the second section of Chapter Two ("The Charts"). This is Chart II on p. 37 of the 1935 edition. In this chart, circles represent females and squares represent males. Goddard included the following caption: "N = Normal. F = Feeble-minded. Sx = Sexually immoral. A = Alcoholic.... d. inf. = died in infancy.... For further explanation see pp. 33-35." In Chart I and subsequent graphics, Goddard creates similar family trees from Martin, Sr., to Deborah (Chart I), and represents the histories of various branches of the "good" and "bad" families. Regardless of the accuracy of the data, Goddard's presentation (especially the numerous charts) have a powerful effect, making it easy to understand the book's popularity in the first third of the 20th Century. Eminent professors from around the world were impressed by the magnitude of Goddard's work, and The Kallikak Family became a best seller. Critical reaction in the lay press was generally quite positive, but the reaction was mixed within the scientific community (Zederland, 1998). For example, James McKeen Cattell praised the contribution and conclusions but criticized the research design. There was even mention of turning the book into a Broadway play. Not surprisingly, the Kallikak study was a landmark event for the eugenicist movement. The Kallikak study was a powerful ally to the eugenicist movement and contributed to the environment in which compulsory sterilization laws were passed in 30 states (with many retaining the force of law for decades).
Deborah Kallikak
Goddard met Deborah Kallikak when she was a resident of the Vineland Training School. The genetic cause of her feeble-mindedness is the foundation of Goddard's theories of mental deficiency. Goddard begins Chapter One with "The Story of Deborah": "One bright October day, fourteen years ago, there came to the Training School at Vineland, a little eight-year-old girl. She had been born in an almshouse. Her mother had afterwards married, not the father of this child, but the prospective father of another child, and later had divoced him and married another man, who was also the father of some of her children.... One the plea that the child did not get along well at school and might possibly be feeble-minded, she gained admission to the Training School, there to begin a career which has been interesting and valuable to the Institution, and which has led to an investigation that cannot fail to prove of great social import. (pp. 1-2)". In the remainder of the chapter, Goddard provides a detailed account of Deborah's experiences at Vineland, with comments from staff notes, anecdotes, and photos of Deborah and samples of her work. Goddard also describes the events that led to the study. In brief, Vineland field workers, in the course of regular visits to relatives of Vineland residents, had difficulty tracing the family history. After considerable effort, Martin Kallikak's personal history came to light, as did the history of the two branches of his family. A more recent look at Deborah's school records reveals that her profile was inconsistent with that of a mentally retarded person; it is probable that she was actually learning disabled (Smith, 1985, pp. 23-26). Evidence for this is found in reports that although Deborah showed pronounced delays in reading and writing, she was a skilled woodworker and seamstress, and functioned so well socially that visitors to the school frequently mistook her for a member of the staff! This picture of Deborah was included as the Frontispiece in the 1912 and subsequent editions. Goddard also included four other pictures of Deborah in text, but these were not all reprinted in subsequent editions. An on-line version at Classics in the History of Psychology includes all of the original photographs.
Goddard's Recommendations
Early in his career, Goddard believed that feeble-mindedness was dangerous to society. He affirmed that feeble-minded people were "multiplying at twice the rate of the general population," (1912, p. 71) thus producing "more feeble-minded children with which to clog the wheels of human progress" (1912, p. 78). Moreover, since feeble-minded people were not able to control themselves, they were the principal cause of many social problems, including crime and illegitimacy. Goddard was hesitant to support compulsory sterilization, suggesting instead that the best cure for society's ills would be to build "colonies" where the feeble-minded could be segregated. He noted that the cost of these facilities could be offset: Such colonies would save an annual loss in property and life, due to the action of these irresponsible people, sufficient to nearly, or quite, offset the expense of the new plant … (1912, pp. 105-106). He reversed this opinion in the late 1920s.
Consequences of the Kallikak Family Study
The height of Goddard's success came at a time when America was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Europe. The Immigration Restriction Act, passed in 1924 (which remained in effect until 1965) was influenced by American eugenics' efforts. In 1913 Goddard was invited to Ellis Island to help detect morons in the immigrant population. In his Intelligence Classification of Immigrants of Different Nationalities (1917) he asserted that most of the Ellis Island immigrants were mentally deficient. For example, he indicated that 83% of all Jews tested were feeble-minded, as were 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and 87% of the Russians. The result was that many immigrants were turned away and sent back to Europe.
The Controversial Photos
A photographic expert from the Smithsonian Institution suggested that some of the Kallikak family photographs in Goddard's books were retouched to give them a more disturbing appearance, an observation that has been used as evidence for Goddard's zealous efforts in favor of the hereditarian nature of intelligence (Gould, 1981, pp.171; Smith, 1985, pp. 79-80). As can be seen in the photos below (taken from the 1935 edition at p. 88), close scrutiny reveals dark lines and shading added around their eyes. However, the assertion of fraud has only become more controversial over time. Photos in many books were retouched as part of the publishing process (Fancher, 1987), and little evidence exists that Goddard personally doctored the photographs to make the "bad" Kallikaks look more sinister than the "good" branch of the family. As Zederland (1998) observes, a main thrust of Goddard's work was to show that feeble-minded people looked normal and were often quite attractive; he was attempting to make a case for careful mental testing, not superficial visual inspection, to determine feeble-mindedness.
Goddard's Regrets
By the late 1920s, Goddard had reversed many of his early opinions, declaring in multiple public forums that he had been gravely mistaken in many of his most famous conclusions (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 324-326). He had begun to question the validity of the tests that were used to detect morons, and he stated emphatically that his former belief that morons could not be educated satisfactorily was wrong. In addition, he frequently voiced his new opinion that feeble-minded people should be allowed to have children, if they choose to do so. He asserted in a 1927 article for Scientific Monthly that the concept of segregation colonies had been a bad idea (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 324-326). However, Die Familie Kallikak was printed in Germany in 1914 and reprinted in 1933 shortly after the Nazis came to power. Goddard never intended for his book to be connected with Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust. In 1938 and 1939, he tried unsuccessfully to use his influence to help the daughter of a Jewish colleague escape from Austria (Zenderland, 1998, pp. 333-335). Subsequently, a psychology text by Columbia University psychologist Henry Garrett (1961) provided a brief, and rather embellished, overview of the Kallikak study to bolster his eugenicist arguments. Although these interpretations stood at odds with Goddard's opinions later in his life, these and related events have helped to paint the rather negative picture many people still hold of Goddard and his work.
References:
Fancher, R. E. (1987). Henry Goddard and the Kallikak Family photographs: "Conscious skullduggery" or "Whig history"? American Psychologist, 42, 585-590.
Garrett, H.E., & Bonner, H. (1961). General psychology (2nd rev. ed.). New York: American Book Company.
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak Family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1914). Feeble-mindedness: Its causes and consequences. New York: Macmillan
Goddard, H. H. (1917). Mental tests and the immigrant. Journal of Delinquency, 2, 243-277.
Goddard, H. H. (1927). Who is a moron? Scientific Monthly, 24, 41-46.
Goddard, H. H. (1942). In defense of the Kallikak study. Science, 95, 574-576.
Gould, S.J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Smith, J.D. (1985). Minds made feeble: The myth and legacy of the Kallikaks. Rockville, MD: Aspen.
Zenderland, L. (1998). Measuring minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the origins of American intelligence testing. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Written by Amber Esping, Kwame Dakwa, and Jonathan Plucker.
Henry Herbert Goddard
Henry Herbert Goddard (14 August 1866-1957) was an American Psychologist, mostly known as the one who translated Binet work on IQ testing in United States.
Student of: Hall
Influenced by: Galton
Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education:
B.A., Haverford College, Pennsylvania (1887)
M.A. in Mathematics, Haverford College (1889)
Ph.D. in Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (1899)
Career:
Football coach and Instructor of Latin, history, and botany, University of Southern California (1887-1888)
Teacher, Damascus Academy, Ohio (1889-1891)
Teacher and Principal, Oak Grove Seminary, Vassalboro, Maine, (1891-1896)
Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy, State Normal School, West Chester, Pennsylvania, (1899-1906)
Director of Research, Training School for Feeble-minded Girls and Boys, Vineland, NJ (1906-1918)
Invited to Ellis Island assist in identifying mental defectives (1910, 1912)
Member of Army Alpha and Beta Testing Team (1917-1919)
Ohio State Bureau of Juvenile Research (1918-1938)
Professor of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, Ohio State University (1922-1938)
Major Contributions:
Translated the Binet-Simon intelligence scale into English (1908)
Distributed 22,000 copies of the translated Binet scale and 88,000 answer blanks across the United States (1908-1915)
Established the first laboratory for the psychological study of mentally retarded persons (1910)
Helped to draft the first American law mandating special education (1911)
Strongly argued the hereditarian position
Definition of Intelligence:
"…our thesis is that the chief determiner of human conduct is a unitary mental process which we call intelligence: that this process is conditioned by a nervous mechanism which is inborn: that the degree of efficiency to be attained by that nervous mechanism and the consequent grade of intelligence or mental level for each individual is determined by the kind of chromosomes that come together with the union of the germ cells: That it is but little affected by any later influences except such serious accidents as may destroy part of the mechanism" (Goddard, 1920, p. 1).
Ideas and Interests:
It is no exaggeration to characterize Henry Goddard as the father of intelligence testing in the United States. His biographer points out that he was either a leader or a participant in every significant event occurring during the genesis of American psychometrics. In the years between 1908 and 1918 he translated the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale into English, distributed 22,000 copies of the test throughout the United States, advocated for its use in the public schools, established an intelligence testing program on Ellis Island, and served as a member of Robert Yerkes' Army Alpha and Beta testing team during World War One (Zenderland, 1998, p.2). Goddard's contributions to public education were considerable as well: He helped draft the first state law mandating that schools provide special education, and stressed the need for public school reform by suggesting that normal children could benefit from the instructional techniques originally developed for use with retarded students (Zenderland, p. 124, 63). When Goddard began working in education he was an unlikely candidate for such a distinguished career. He spent his 20s working as a Quaker schoolteacher and principal, and he didn't begin his Ph.D. work until he was 30 years old. He graduated in 1899 and took a job teaching psychology and pedagogy at a state normal school in Pennsylvania. In 1906 he was offered a position in a small New Jersey institution called the Training School for Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys. He enjoyed his work with the students there, and became very interested in the both the causes of mental deficiency and the teaching methods employed by the instructors. His research facility at the school was perhaps the first laboratory for the scientific study of mentally retarded persons. In 1908 Goddard traveled to Europe and secured copies of the Binet-Simon intelligence scales. Upon his return to the U.S., he translated the test and began using it with the mentally retarded children living at the school. Convinced of its effectiveness, he began distributing it widely across the United States (Fancher, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). The fact that it was Goddard who popularized the Binet scales offers an historical irony; Binet was extremely careful not to attribute students' test performance to any inherent or unchangeable factors. Goddard was a vociferous hereditarian. (Fancher, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). Goddard's views on intelligence were derived from Mendelian genetics. He believed that feeblemindedness was caused by the transmission of a single recessive gene. His 1912 book The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-mindedness purported to prove this through an examination the differences between two branches of a single family tree. (For More information about The Kallikak Family, please see our related Hot Topic.) Goddard was a eugenicist, and his views on population growth and control were very similar to those of the Englishman Francis Galton (1822-1911). Although both men were concerned with raising their respective country's national intelligence, they differed in their approach. Galton was more vocal about promoting population growth among highly intelligent people, whereas Goddard was more focused on preventing the breeding of feebleminded people (Fancher, 1984). Goddard believed that compulsory sterilization would solve the American problem (Goddard, 1912, p. 106-107). However, he understood that many Americans would find it offensive. As an alternative, he suggested that mentally deficient individuals should be kept, humanely, in institutions. Before considering any other method, the writer would insist that segregation and colonization is not by any means as hopeless a plan as it may seem to those who look only at the immediate increase in the tax rate. If such colonies were provided in sufficient number to take care of all the distinctly feeble-minded cases in the community, they would very largely take the place of our present almshouses and prisons, and they would greatly decrease the number in our insane hospitals. Such colonies would save an annual loss in property and life, due to the action of these irresponsible people, sufficient to nearly, or quite, offset the expense of the new plant. Besides, if these feeble-minded children were early selected and carefully trained, they would become more or less self-supporting in their institutions, so that the expense of their maintenance would be greatly reduced (Goddard, 1912, p. 105-6). Goddard's ideas were representative of the eugenicist zeitgeist in America. The American public had come to suspect that a disproportionately large percentage of the new Ellis Island immigrants were mentally defective. In 1882 the United States Congress had passed a law prohibiting mentally defective people from passing through the Ellis Island checkpoint. Enforcing this law proved to be difficult because as many as 5,000 immigrants needed to be inspected each day. In 1910 Goddard was among those invited to Ellis Island to investigate how the screening process might be expedited. In 1912 he returned to the Island, accompanied by two specially trained assistants. The procedure he developed was a two-step process: One assistant would visually screen for suspected mental defectives as the immigrants passed through the checkpoint. These individuals would then proceed to another location where the other assistant would test them with a variety of performance measures and a revised version of the Binet scales. Goddard believed that trained inspectors could be more accurate than the Ellis Island physicians; the key to their success was expertise developed through experience, and he likened the process to wine or tea-tasting (Zenderland, 1998, p. 268). The number of immigrants who were deported increased exponentially as a result of these screening measures (Zenderland, p. 273).
Selected Publications:
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak Family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1914). Feeble-mindedness: Its causes and consequences: New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1917). Mental tests and the immigrant. Journal of Delinquency, 2, 243-277.
Goddard, H.H. (1920). Human efficiency and levels of intelligence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
References:
Fancher, R.E. (1985). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H.H. (1920). Human efficiency and levels of intelligence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Strickland, B. (Ed). (2000). Kallikak family. In Gale encyclopedia of education (2nd ed). (pp. 352-353). New York: Gale Group.
www.intelltheory.com
Zenderland, L. (1998). Measuring minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the origins of American intelligence testing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zuzne, L. (1984). Goddard, Henry Herbert. In Biographical dictionary of psychology (pp. 158). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Student of: Hall
Influenced by: Galton
Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education:
B.A., Haverford College, Pennsylvania (1887)
M.A. in Mathematics, Haverford College (1889)
Ph.D. in Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (1899)
Career:
Football coach and Instructor of Latin, history, and botany, University of Southern California (1887-1888)
Teacher, Damascus Academy, Ohio (1889-1891)
Teacher and Principal, Oak Grove Seminary, Vassalboro, Maine, (1891-1896)
Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy, State Normal School, West Chester, Pennsylvania, (1899-1906)
Director of Research, Training School for Feeble-minded Girls and Boys, Vineland, NJ (1906-1918)
Invited to Ellis Island assist in identifying mental defectives (1910, 1912)
Member of Army Alpha and Beta Testing Team (1917-1919)
Ohio State Bureau of Juvenile Research (1918-1938)
Professor of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, Ohio State University (1922-1938)
Major Contributions:
Translated the Binet-Simon intelligence scale into English (1908)
Distributed 22,000 copies of the translated Binet scale and 88,000 answer blanks across the United States (1908-1915)
Established the first laboratory for the psychological study of mentally retarded persons (1910)
Helped to draft the first American law mandating special education (1911)
Strongly argued the hereditarian position
Definition of Intelligence:
"…our thesis is that the chief determiner of human conduct is a unitary mental process which we call intelligence: that this process is conditioned by a nervous mechanism which is inborn: that the degree of efficiency to be attained by that nervous mechanism and the consequent grade of intelligence or mental level for each individual is determined by the kind of chromosomes that come together with the union of the germ cells: That it is but little affected by any later influences except such serious accidents as may destroy part of the mechanism" (Goddard, 1920, p. 1).
Ideas and Interests:
It is no exaggeration to characterize Henry Goddard as the father of intelligence testing in the United States. His biographer points out that he was either a leader or a participant in every significant event occurring during the genesis of American psychometrics. In the years between 1908 and 1918 he translated the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale into English, distributed 22,000 copies of the test throughout the United States, advocated for its use in the public schools, established an intelligence testing program on Ellis Island, and served as a member of Robert Yerkes' Army Alpha and Beta testing team during World War One (Zenderland, 1998, p.2). Goddard's contributions to public education were considerable as well: He helped draft the first state law mandating that schools provide special education, and stressed the need for public school reform by suggesting that normal children could benefit from the instructional techniques originally developed for use with retarded students (Zenderland, p. 124, 63). When Goddard began working in education he was an unlikely candidate for such a distinguished career. He spent his 20s working as a Quaker schoolteacher and principal, and he didn't begin his Ph.D. work until he was 30 years old. He graduated in 1899 and took a job teaching psychology and pedagogy at a state normal school in Pennsylvania. In 1906 he was offered a position in a small New Jersey institution called the Training School for Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys. He enjoyed his work with the students there, and became very interested in the both the causes of mental deficiency and the teaching methods employed by the instructors. His research facility at the school was perhaps the first laboratory for the scientific study of mentally retarded persons. In 1908 Goddard traveled to Europe and secured copies of the Binet-Simon intelligence scales. Upon his return to the U.S., he translated the test and began using it with the mentally retarded children living at the school. Convinced of its effectiveness, he began distributing it widely across the United States (Fancher, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). The fact that it was Goddard who popularized the Binet scales offers an historical irony; Binet was extremely careful not to attribute students' test performance to any inherent or unchangeable factors. Goddard was a vociferous hereditarian. (Fancher, 1985; Zenderland, 1998). Goddard's views on intelligence were derived from Mendelian genetics. He believed that feeblemindedness was caused by the transmission of a single recessive gene. His 1912 book The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-mindedness purported to prove this through an examination the differences between two branches of a single family tree. (For More information about The Kallikak Family, please see our related Hot Topic.) Goddard was a eugenicist, and his views on population growth and control were very similar to those of the Englishman Francis Galton (1822-1911). Although both men were concerned with raising their respective country's national intelligence, they differed in their approach. Galton was more vocal about promoting population growth among highly intelligent people, whereas Goddard was more focused on preventing the breeding of feebleminded people (Fancher, 1984). Goddard believed that compulsory sterilization would solve the American problem (Goddard, 1912, p. 106-107). However, he understood that many Americans would find it offensive. As an alternative, he suggested that mentally deficient individuals should be kept, humanely, in institutions. Before considering any other method, the writer would insist that segregation and colonization is not by any means as hopeless a plan as it may seem to those who look only at the immediate increase in the tax rate. If such colonies were provided in sufficient number to take care of all the distinctly feeble-minded cases in the community, they would very largely take the place of our present almshouses and prisons, and they would greatly decrease the number in our insane hospitals. Such colonies would save an annual loss in property and life, due to the action of these irresponsible people, sufficient to nearly, or quite, offset the expense of the new plant. Besides, if these feeble-minded children were early selected and carefully trained, they would become more or less self-supporting in their institutions, so that the expense of their maintenance would be greatly reduced (Goddard, 1912, p. 105-6). Goddard's ideas were representative of the eugenicist zeitgeist in America. The American public had come to suspect that a disproportionately large percentage of the new Ellis Island immigrants were mentally defective. In 1882 the United States Congress had passed a law prohibiting mentally defective people from passing through the Ellis Island checkpoint. Enforcing this law proved to be difficult because as many as 5,000 immigrants needed to be inspected each day. In 1910 Goddard was among those invited to Ellis Island to investigate how the screening process might be expedited. In 1912 he returned to the Island, accompanied by two specially trained assistants. The procedure he developed was a two-step process: One assistant would visually screen for suspected mental defectives as the immigrants passed through the checkpoint. These individuals would then proceed to another location where the other assistant would test them with a variety of performance measures and a revised version of the Binet scales. Goddard believed that trained inspectors could be more accurate than the Ellis Island physicians; the key to their success was expertise developed through experience, and he likened the process to wine or tea-tasting (Zenderland, 1998, p. 268). The number of immigrants who were deported increased exponentially as a result of these screening measures (Zenderland, p. 273).
Selected Publications:
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak Family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1914). Feeble-mindedness: Its causes and consequences: New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H. H. (1917). Mental tests and the immigrant. Journal of Delinquency, 2, 243-277.
Goddard, H.H. (1920). Human efficiency and levels of intelligence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
References:
Fancher, R.E. (1985). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company
Goddard, H. H. (1912). The Kallikak family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness. New York: Macmillan.
Goddard, H.H. (1920). Human efficiency and levels of intelligence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Strickland, B. (Ed). (2000). Kallikak family. In Gale encyclopedia of education (2nd ed). (pp. 352-353). New York: Gale Group.
www.intelltheory.com
Zenderland, L. (1998). Measuring minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the origins of American intelligence testing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zuzne, L. (1984). Goddard, Henry Herbert. In Biographical dictionary of psychology (pp. 158). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
What is next?
I will begin to explore the French line of research related to gifted children, and we will touch personality like Charcot, Binet, Piaget, Goddard, but probably you will need to wait a while, as i am ready to go for a few days in London for a financial education course called Millionaire Mind Intensive, and it will take me busy for some insane amount of hours ( like 8.00 to 23.00 ). That's why i posted tonight for the whole week. I hope you will enjoy.
See you next week.
G.
See you next week.
G.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)