The science of biology and applied psychology were affected by the progression and impact of the science of Eugenics. Eugenics remained under the consideration of a communal faction in the late nineteenth century; asserting to perfect the genetic attributes of human populations via prudent propagation and sterilization, grounded by the idea of Francis Galton; who supposed that it was within the realm of science to extricate inferior elements of society and replace them with superior elements. An analysis of this concept will include Cattell’s, Galton’s, Darwin’s, and Spencer’s contributions whether direct or indirect, and due to the zeitgeist of the time.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century Wundt’s psychology and Titchener’s structuralism …show more content…
128). Spencer believed that Darwin’s theory in which all species either adapt in response to their environment or die, extended into the realm of human character and social institutions. Individuals, societies, industries, or conventions which were unable to acclimate would be incapable of existence and ought to be permitted to extinguish. Therefore, eugenics would be a logical assumption to be made by a thinking businessman or psychologist who wished to improve on the state of the human race. One could speed up the process by if you chose the best of the best and this could be determined by intellectual and physical …show more content…
The Stanford-Binet individual test sparked the creation of the Army Alpha and Army Beta group test, which served as the prototypes for future group tests of personality and intelligence. The American psychologist had not only physical exams to test strength, endurance, and speed but had ways of testing the intellect and personalities of individuals. The American zeitgeist reflected the necessity to evolve and these tests provided the information and data required determining who survived as the swiftest, stoutest, keenest and the supremely able.
If allowed, eugenics could have had a disastrous effect much like the World War II holocaust; where Hitler tried to create the perfect Arian race. All though, the idea of perfecting the human race sounds reasonable when put forth by minds such as Spencer, Cattell, and Galton, based on the findings of Darwin, we must let nature take its course and not tamper with the natural order by testing and limiting genetic distribution. Society remains obligated to remember that the zeitgeist of the time exists as evolutionary and what may appear to be a respectable concept in one era may plague us in another
Towards the end of the nineteenth century Wundt’s psychology and Titchener’s structuralism …show more content…
128). Spencer believed that Darwin’s theory in which all species either adapt in response to their environment or die, extended into the realm of human character and social institutions. Individuals, societies, industries, or conventions which were unable to acclimate would be incapable of existence and ought to be permitted to extinguish. Therefore, eugenics would be a logical assumption to be made by a thinking businessman or psychologist who wished to improve on the state of the human race. One could speed up the process by if you chose the best of the best and this could be determined by intellectual and physical …show more content…
The Stanford-Binet individual test sparked the creation of the Army Alpha and Army Beta group test, which served as the prototypes for future group tests of personality and intelligence. The American psychologist had not only physical exams to test strength, endurance, and speed but had ways of testing the intellect and personalities of individuals. The American zeitgeist reflected the necessity to evolve and these tests provided the information and data required determining who survived as the swiftest, stoutest, keenest and the supremely able.
If allowed, eugenics could have had a disastrous effect much like the World War II holocaust; where Hitler tried to create the perfect Arian race. All though, the idea of perfecting the human race sounds reasonable when put forth by minds such as Spencer, Cattell, and Galton, based on the findings of Darwin, we must let nature take its course and not tamper with the natural order by testing and limiting genetic distribution. Society remains obligated to remember that the zeitgeist of the time exists as evolutionary and what may appear to be a respectable concept in one era may plague us in another