Since the horrors of WWII and the Nazi War Crimes, there has been a fear in society and academia of returning to the biological thinking that led to those extremes. However, recently there has been some popularity in the field of evolutionary psychology. Bruce Bower explains that evolutionary psychologists claim that social behavior comes from our biology (Bruce Bower (1991) “Darwin’s Minds” Science News: 140, pp 232-234). Bower also claims that these theories stem from the work of Charles Darwin. Over the past few decades this field has produced works detailing the evidence of heredity and biology, particularly in intelligence. Through these works the noticeable separations were attributed largely to race.
Recent claims around IQ start with …show more content…
Gould creates a scenario comparing the application of hereditary IQ to another hereditary trait, height. Gould describes a situation of a poor Indian village with ah highly heritable height. Tall fathers have tall sons and short fathers have short sons. However, Gould claims that better nutrition might raise the average of the village in just a few generations. “Similarly, the well-documented fifteen-point average difference in IQ between blacks and whites in America with substantial heritability of IQ in family lines within each group, permits no automatic conclusion that truly equal opportunity might not raise the black average enough to equal or surpass the white mean” (Stephen Jay Gould (1995) “Curveball,” in Steven Fraser, Ed. The Bell Curve Wars: race, Intelligence, and the Future of America [NY: Basic Books], pp. 11-22). Robert J. Sternberg furthers Gould’s scenario. Sternberg describes a scenario of if higher education, such as colleges and graduate programs, selected their applicants based upon height with each higher step having a taller requirement. Sternberg proposes that after some time you would find that people in higher and more prestigious positions would, on average, be taller. As you work your way down the chain, the average height will get shorter and shorter. This would be directly because of the selection process that allowed for access to those higher positions. “For better or worse, we enforce the process through our use of tests for occupational access routes” (Robert J. Sternberg (1995) “For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Review of The Bell Curve” Psychological Science: 6(5), pp. 257-261.). Gould and Sternberg’s theories create a loop with one another. If we select for those with prestigious academics, who were selected by the university based upon their IQ, then give those selected a better environment and social class their children will grow up following
Recent claims around IQ start with …show more content…
Gould creates a scenario comparing the application of hereditary IQ to another hereditary trait, height. Gould describes a situation of a poor Indian village with ah highly heritable height. Tall fathers have tall sons and short fathers have short sons. However, Gould claims that better nutrition might raise the average of the village in just a few generations. “Similarly, the well-documented fifteen-point average difference in IQ between blacks and whites in America with substantial heritability of IQ in family lines within each group, permits no automatic conclusion that truly equal opportunity might not raise the black average enough to equal or surpass the white mean” (Stephen Jay Gould (1995) “Curveball,” in Steven Fraser, Ed. The Bell Curve Wars: race, Intelligence, and the Future of America [NY: Basic Books], pp. 11-22). Robert J. Sternberg furthers Gould’s scenario. Sternberg describes a scenario of if higher education, such as colleges and graduate programs, selected their applicants based upon height with each higher step having a taller requirement. Sternberg proposes that after some time you would find that people in higher and more prestigious positions would, on average, be taller. As you work your way down the chain, the average height will get shorter and shorter. This would be directly because of the selection process that allowed for access to those higher positions. “For better or worse, we enforce the process through our use of tests for occupational access routes” (Robert J. Sternberg (1995) “For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Review of The Bell Curve” Psychological Science: 6(5), pp. 257-261.). Gould and Sternberg’s theories create a loop with one another. If we select for those with prestigious academics, who were selected by the university based upon their IQ, then give those selected a better environment and social class their children will grow up following