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A Smart History of a Failed Idea
Wiley
June 2007
On Sale: June 15, 2007
288 pages ISBN: 0471699772 EAN: 9780471699774 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
IQ scores have the power to determine the chances we have in
life: the people we meet, the schools we attend, the jobs we
get, the lives we live. Very few of us, however, understand
what IQ tests and ratings really mean. In this fascinating,
provocative book, Stephen Murdoch explains the turbulent
history and controversial current uses of intelligence testing. At the turn of the previous century, so-called experts
assessed people's mental abilities by measuring the strength
of their hands, the size of their heads, even the swiftness
of their blows. A few years later, when psychologists
started measuring problem-solving with their newfangled IQ
tests, the fledgling field took a radical leap forward at
just the right time. American institutions thought they
needed the novel intelligence tests because they had more
people in new situations than they knew what to do with:
immigrants were pouring into Ellis Island, public schools
were overflowing, young women seemed to be promiscuous, and
the U.S. Army was hopelessly unprepared for World War I. In
response, psychologists persuaded everyone—including
themselves—that they could actually measure intelligence and
that intelligence testing could solve many of society's
problems. In IQ, Stephen Murdoch explores how and why IQ tests were
created and how they have been widely used and misused over
the past century. IQ is richly detailed and filled with
insightful profiles of both the test takers and the
intelligence experts who developed and continue to promote
intelligence testing. Ultimately, Murdoch argues,
intelligence testing is not anywhere near as reliable or
important as we have been led to believe. Revealing the wide-ranging and powerful impact intelligence
testing has had on public policy and private lives—and
showing why we need a whole new model of explaining
intelligence—IQ is important reading for psychology and
history buffs, parents, and anyone who has ever sweated
through the SATs.
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