Bell Curve Tolls Summary

In “For Whom The Bell Curve Tolls,” Robert J. Sternberg reviews The Bell Curve and gives his input on points such as the nature of intelligence, job performance, and IQ tests. The Bell Curve was one of the works by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray that showed the public a deeper view of psychological science. It begins with the topic of the general factor of intelligence and how it represents all the tests around intelligence. There were two disputes that followed along the general factor. These were established as statistical and psychological disputes. In the statistical sense, it is said that the unrotated factor solutions raise the probability to a maximum of obtaining the general factor. In the psychological sense, Gardner argued …show more content…
Murray and Herrnstein for instance believe that IQ scores line up with what people mean when they say intelligent/smart in our ordinary language. IQ scores reflect a great deal of verbal ability, but it is questionable if the scores display the ability to problem-solve. Its reflection on social competence is out of the question as well. Steinberg shares the views on intelligence of many other researchers and concludes back to the idea that Murray and Herrnstein’s statement on intelligence is incorrect. Steinberg claims that IQ tests are only capable of measuring a part of what people mean when they refer to intelligent in our ordinary language. Something seen as intelligent in one culture may not be seen as intelligent in another culture. There is a cross-cultural difference between …show more content…
I think Steinberg does a great job at breaking down his points and focusing on specific parts of The Bell Curve that he wishes to criticize. He set up a great format in the beginning to middle where he would include quotes and ideas from The Bell Curve and then brings up his own research to counteract their points. The structure that he organized his article in made it simple to follow along with the topic of discussion. I found it slightly amusing how we would always conclude one of the authors’ points by stating that it was “factually incorrect.” One interesting point that intrigued me in the reading was the idea of intelligence and how the factors that compose it are still confusing. It is not as simple as intelligence being how smart somebody is or how well they do on tests. There are multiple things that make up intelligence and the IQ tests are not enough to measure a person’s entire range of intelligence. I find this topic relatable with the standardized testing that most schools go through. These standardized tests are given out to assess students on their knowledge and understanding. For the most part, students must pass these standardized exams to proceed onto the next grade level. I feel as if this type of examination is very similar to the IQ tests and its assessment of an individual’s intelligence. Some individuals may be extremely intellectual but lack the test-taking skills. This is why I strongly feel