How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?

Arthur Jensen

"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Achievement?" is a 1969 article by Arthur Jensen published in the Harvard Educational Review.^[1] It is among the most controversial^[2][3] in American psychology, and was largely responsible for initiating the current debate over race and intelligence.^[4][5]

Overview

Jensen's argument consisted of a series of related claims.^[6] IQ tests are reliable measurements of a real human ability — what people generally describe as "intelligence" — that is important to many parts of contemporary life. Intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, is about 80 percent heritable. Intelligent parents are much more likely to have intelligent children than other parents. Remedial educational programs have failed to raise the measured intelligence of individuals or groups. Indeed, one of the most inflammatory sentences is the opener: "Compensatory education has been tried and apparently has failed." The article generated extensive discussion and controversy both in the popular press^[7] and in the academic literature.^[8][9][10]

Jensen's critics argue that most aspects of his analysis were flawed: IQ tests do not provide a stable or meaningful measure of intelligence; IQ is affected by the environment and not solely or mainly a function of genetics; there is no evidence for genetic differences in racial intelligence; and that the entire topic was too controversial to be productively discussed.^[11]

Controversy over the article led to the coining of the term "Jensenism"^[12] defined as the theory that IQ is largely determined by genes, including racial heritage.^[13] The article generated significant attention to,^[14] and protests against, Jensen's work.^[15]

See also

• History of the race and intelligence controversy

References

1. Jensen (1969)
2. Richard E. Nisbett (9 December 2007). "All Brains Are the Same Color". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
3. Tucker 1996, p. 201
4. Hunt & Carlson 2007
5. David Kirp (16 April 2009). "Getting Smarter About IQ". The American Prospect.
6. Loehlin, Lindzey and Spuhler (1975)
7. Tucker 1996, p. 204
8. Jencks and Phillips (1998)
9. Susan Whitely, ed. (July 1980). "Book Review: Bias in Mental Testing". Applied Psychological Measurement. 4 (3): 403–406. doi:10.1177/014662168000400311.
10. Johnson, Wendy (2012). "How Much Can We Boost IQ? An Updated Look at Jensen's (1969) Question and Answer". In Slater, Alan M.; Quinn, Paul C. Developmental Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies. Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies. Thousand Oaks (CA): SAGE. ISBN 978-0-85702-757-3. Lay summary (19 May 2013).
11. Lee Edson (31 August 1969). "Jensenism". The New York Times. p. SM10.
12. Miele, Frank (2002). "Jensenism: A New Word in the Dictionary". Intelligence, Race, and Genetics: Conversations with Arthur R. Jensen. Westview Press. kindle loc. 418-23. ISBN 0-8133-4274-0.
13. "Jensenism". Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. United States of America: Barnes and Noble Books. 1996. p. 1026. ISBN 0-7607-0288-8.
14. Austin Wehrwein (4 March 1970). "Genetics, IQ Study Proposed". The Washington Post. p. A3.
15. Lawrence E. Davies (19 May 1969). "Harassment Charged by Author Of Article About Negroes' I.Q.'s". The New York Times. p. 33.

Bibliography

• Hunt, Earl; Carlson, Jerry (June 2007). "Considerations Relating to the Study of Group Differences in Intelligence". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2 (2): 194–213. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00037.x.
• Jencks, Christopher; Phillips, Meredith, eds. (25 August 1998). The black-white test score gap. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0-8157-4609-1. Retrieved 15 October 2014. Lay summary – New York Times (15 October 2014).
• Jensen, Arthur R. (Spring 1969). "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?". Harvard Educational Review. 39 (1): 1–123. ISSN 0017-8055. Retrieved 15 October 2014. reprinted in Jensen, Arthur (1969). "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?". In Harvard Educational Review. Environment, Heredity, and Intelligence. Harvard Educational Review Reprint Series. 2. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Educational Review. pp. 1–123. ISBN 0916690024. LCCN 71087869. Lay summary (PDF) (27 June 2010).
• Johnson, Wendy (2012). "How Much Can We Boost IQ? An Updated Look at Jensen's (1969) Question and Answer". In Slater, Alan M.; Quinn, Paul C. Developmental Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies. Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies. Thousand Oaks (CA): SAGE. ISBN 978-0-85702-757-3. Lay summary (19 May 2013).
• Loehlin, John C.; Lindzey, Gardner; Spuhler, J. N. (1975). Race Differences in Intelligence. Books in Psychology. San Francisco (CA): W. H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-0754-7. Lay summary (PDF) (2 September 2010).
• Tucker, William H. (1996). The Science and Politics of Racial Research. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06560-6. Lay summary (7 November 2010).