The basic claims of The Bell Curve are contradicted. Studies are reviewed indicating that consensus does not exist that IQ tests measure intelligence. When sociocultural environment was held constant, differences in measured intelligence between groups were not present. Claims of 60% within group heritability are based on twin studies where a significant number of separated twins were reared in similar environments. Degree of African or European ancestry does not correlate with test scores. Environmental programs can bring about significant changes in the lives of the participants. The purpose of The Bell Curve is not to disseminate knowledge, but to provide a weapon to justify continued economic disenfranchisement of the low-income members of society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bodmer, W. F. , & Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (1970). Intelligence and race. Scientific American, 223, 19-29.
2.
Bouchard, T. J., Jr. , Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota study of twins reared apart. Science, 250, 223-228.
3.
Boyce, C. , & Darlington, R. (1981, March). Black proficiency in abstract reasoning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York City.
4.
Brooks-Gunn, J., Klebanov, P., & Duncan, G. J. (1993). Ethnic differences in children's intelligence test scores: Role of economic deprivation, home environment, and maternal characteristics. Unpublished manuscript, Columbia University Teacher's College, New York.
5.
Ceci, S. (1990). On intelligence—More or less: A bio-ecological treatise on intellectual development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
6.
Ceci, S., & Nightingale, N. (1990). Abstract reasoning and social differences: The eye of the beholder. Unpublished manuscript, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
7.
Chidley, J. (1994). The brain strain. Maclean's, 107, 72-73.
8.
Crane, J. (1994). Exploding the myth of scientific support for the theory of Black inferiority. Journal of Black Psychology, 20, 189-209.
9.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1964). The souls of Black folks: Essays and sketches. New York: Fawcett. (Original work published 1903)
10.
Duster, T. (1995). Symposium: The Bell Curve. R. J. Herrnstein and C. Murray (Eds.) New York: Free Press. Contemporary Sociology, 24, 158-161.
11.
Eyferth, K. (1961). Leistungen verschiedener gruppen von Hamburg-Weschsler Intelligenztest für Kinder [Performance of various groups on the Hamburg-Wechsler intelligence test for children]. Archiv fur die Gesamte Psychologie, 113, 222-241.
12.
Flynn, J. R. (1980). Race, IQ and Jensen. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
13.
Garber, H. , & Heber, R. (1981). The efficacy of early intervention with family rehabilitation. In M. J. Begab, H. C. Haywood, & H. L. Garber (Eds.), Psychosocial influences in retarded performance: Volume II. Strategies for improving competence (pp. 71-87). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
14.
Gardner, H. (1995). Cracking open the IQ box. In S. Fraser (Ed.), The Bell Curve wars: Race, intelligence and the future of America (pp. 23-35). New York: Basic Books.
15.
Graves, J. L. Jr., & Place, T. (1995). Race and IQ revisited: Figures never lie, but often liars figure. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Life Sciences, Arizona State University West.
16.
Herrnstein, R. J. (1971, September). IQ.The Atlantic Monthly, 228, 43-64.
17.
Herrnstein, R. J. , & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: Free Press.
18.
Hudson, J. B. (1995). Scientific racism: The politics of tests, race and genetics. The Black Scholar, 25, 3-9.
19.
Jensen, A. R. (1980). Bias in mental testing. New York: Free Press.
20.
Kamin, L. J. (1974). The science and politics of IQ. Potomac, MD: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
Lave, J. , Murtaugh, M., & de la Roche, D. (1984). The dialectic of arithmetic in grocery shopping. In B. Rogoff and J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday cognition: Its development in social context. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
22.
Loehlin, J. C. , Vandenberg, S., & Osborne, R. (1973). Blood group genes and Negro-White ability differences. Behavior Genetics, 3, 263-270.
23.
Mercer, J. (1971). I.Q.: The lethal label. Psychology Today, 5, 44, 46-47, 95-97.
24.
Mercer, J. (1972, August). Pluralistic diagnosis in the evaluation of Black and Chicano children: A procedure for taking sociocultural variables into account in clinical assessment. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
25.
Montagu, A. (Ed.). (1975). Race and IQ. New York: Oxford.
26.
Murray, C. (1984). Losing ground: American social policy, 1950-1980. New York: Basic Books.
27.
Omi, M. , & Winant, H. (1986). Racial formation in the United States. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
28.
Patterson, O. (1995). For whom the bell curves. In S. Fraser (Ed.), The Bell Curve wars: Race, intelligence, and the future of America (pp. 187-213). New York: Basic Books.
29.
Scarr, S. , Pakstis, A., Katz, S. H., and Barker, W. B. (1977). The absence of a relationship between degree of White ancestry and intellectual skills within the Black population. Human Genetics, 39, 69-86.
30.
Scarr, S. , & Weinberg, R. W. (1978). Attitudes, interests and IQ.Human Nature, 1, 29-36.
31.
Sternberg, R. J. (1988). The triarchic mind: A new theory of human intelligence. New York: Penguin.
32.
Snyderman, M. , & Rothman, S. (1988). The IQ controversy, the media and public policy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
33.
Wentworth. J. (1967). Dictionary of American slang. New York: Crowell.
34.
Williams, R. (1975). The bitch-100: A culture specific test. Journal of Afro-American Issues, 3, 103-116.
35.
Wilson, R. (1995). Good thing a bell curve didn't block the GI bill. Black Issues In Higher Education, 11, 42-43.
