IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea

by Stephen Murdoch

Overview

Advance praise for

IQ A Smart History of a Failed Idea

"An up-to-date, reader-friendly account of the continuing saga of the mismeasure of women and men."
—Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons

"The good news is that you won't be tested after you've read Stephen Murdoch's important new book. The better news is that IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea is compelling from its first pages, and by its conclusion, Murdoch has deftly demonstrated that in our zeal to quantify intelligence, we have needlessly scarred—if not destroyed—the lives of millions of people who did not need an IQ score to prove their worth in the world. IQ is first-rate narrative journalism, a book that I hope leads to necessary change."
—Russell Martin, author of Beethoven's Hair, Picasso's War, and Out of Silence

"With fast-paced storytelling, freelance journalist Murdoch traces now ubiquitous but still controversial attempts to measure intelligence to its origins in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. . . . Murdoch concludes that IQ testing provides neither a reliable nor a helpful tool in understanding people's behavior, nor can it predict their future success or failure. . . . A thoughtful overview and a welcome reminder of the dangers of relying on such standardized tests."
—Publishers Weekly

"Stephen Murdoch delivers a lucid and engaging chronicle of the ubiquitous and sometimes insidious use of IQ tests. This is a fresh look at a century-old and still controversial idea—that our human potential can be distilled down to a single test score. Murdoch's compelling account demands a reexamination of our mania for mental measurement."
—Paul A. Lombardo, author of Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court&Buck v. Bell

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470468944
Publisher:	Trade Paper Press
Publication date:	05/18/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	906,427
File size:	467 KB

About the Author

Stephen Murdoch is a freelance journalist who has written for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and many other publications.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Preface.

Chapter 1: The Problem with Testing.

Chapter 2: The Origins of Testing.

Chapter 3: The Birth of Modern Intelligence Tests.

Chapter 4: America Discovers Intelligence Tests.

Chapter 5: Turning Back the Feebleminded.

Chapter 6: The Tests That Changed the World.

Chapter 7: Alpha and Beta.

Chapter 8: From Segregation to Sterilization: Carrie Buck’s Story.

Chapter 9: Nazis and Intelligence Testing.

Chapter 10: The 11-Plus in the UK.

Chapter 11: Intelligence Testing and the Death Penalty in America.

Chapter 12: What Do IQ Tests Really Measure?.

Chapter 13: Alternatives to IQ.

Chapter 14: The SAT.

Chapter 15: Black and White IQ.

Afterword.

Notes.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

* With fast-paced storytelling, freelance journalist Murdoch traces now ubiquitous but still controversial attempts to measure intelligence to its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He takes readers back to 1905 when French psychologist Alfred Binet first formulated tests to measure reasoning, language, abstract thinking and complex cognitive abilities. However, many psychologists began to use the tests as a device to separate the mentally retarded from the rest of society. As Murdoch points out, the tests were often administered unfairly to members of various races, offering proof to the test's administrators of their own theories that intelligence was linked to race. Murdoch also demonstrates that the tests were often used as eugenic devices. In the landmark case of Carrie Buck, faulty IQ testing was used as a justification for involuntary sterilization as part of a move to eliminate feeblemindedness in future generations. Murdoch concludes that IQ testing provides neither a reliable nor a helpful tool in understanding people's behavior, nor can it predict their future success or failure. While much of this material is familiar, this is a thoughtful overview and a welcome reminder of the dangers of relying on such standardized tests. (June) (Publishers Weekly, April 2, 2007)

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