9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In 1905, psychologists Alfred Binet and[br]Théodore Simon 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 designed a test for children who were [br]struggling in school in France. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Designed to determine which children[br]required individualized attention, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their method formed the basis[br]of the IQ test. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Beginning in the late 19th century, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 researchers hypothesized that cognitive[br]abilities like verbal reasoning, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 working memory, and visual-spatial skills 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reflected an underlying general [br]intelligence, or g factor. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Simon and Binet designed a battery of [br]tests to measure each of these abilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and combine the results [br]into a single score. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Questions were adjusted for each [br]age group, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a child’s score reflected how they [br]performed relative to others their age. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Dividing someone’s score by their age [br]and multiplying the result by 100 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 yielded the intelligence quotient, or IQ. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, a score of 100 represents [br]the average of a sample population, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with 68% of the population [br]scoring within 15 points of 100. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Simon and Binet thought the skills [br]their test assessed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would reflect general intelligence. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But both then and now, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there’s no single agreed upon [br]definition of general intelligence. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that left the door open for people[br]to use the test 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in service of their own preconceived [br]assumptions about intelligence. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What started as a way to identify those[br]who needed academic help quickly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 became used to sort people in other ways, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 often in service of deeply flawed ideologies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of the first large-scale [br]implementations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 occurred in the United States during WWI, [br]when the military used an IQ test 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to sort recruits and screen them [br]for officer training. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At that time, many people [br]believed in eugenics, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the idea that desirable and [br]undesirable genetic traits 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could and should be controlled in [br]humans through selective breeding. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There were many problems with [br]this line of thinking, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 among them the idea that intelligence[br]was not only fixed and inherited, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but also linked to a person’s race. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Under the influence of eugenics, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 scientists used the results of the[br]military initiative 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to make erroneous claims that certain[br]racial groups 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were intellectually superior to others. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without taking into account that [br]many of the recruits tested 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were new immigrants to the United States 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who lacked formal education [br]or English language exposure, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they created an erroneous [br]intelligence hierarchy of ethnic groups. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The intersection of Eugenics and IQ[br]testing influenced not only science, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but policy as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In 1924, the state of Virginia created [br]policy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 allowing for the forced sterilization of [br]people with low IQ scores— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a decision the United States [br]supreme court upheld. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In Nazi Germany, the government [br]authorized the murder of children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 based on low IQ. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Following the Holocaust and the [br]civil rights movement, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the discriminatory uses of IQ tests were[br]challenged 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on both moral and scientific grounds. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Scientists began to gather evidence [br]of environmental impacts on IQ. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For example, as IQ tests were periodically[br]recalibrated over the 20th century, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 new generations scored consistently[br]higher on old tests 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than each previous generation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This phenomenon, known [br]as the Flynn Effect, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 happened much too fast to be caused [br]by inherited evolutionary traits. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Instead, the cause was likely [br]environmental – 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 improved education, better [br]healthcare, and better nutrition. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the mid-twentieth century, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 psychologists also attempted to use [br]IQ tests 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to evaluate things other than [br]general intelligence, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 particularly schizophrenia, depression,[br]and other psychiatric conditions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These diagnoses relied in part on the[br]clinical judgment of the evaluators, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and used a subset of the tests used [br]to determine IQ–– 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a practice later research found does [br]not yield clinically useful information. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, IQ tests employ many similar[br]design elements and types of questions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as the early tests, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 though we have better techniques for[br]identifying potential bias in the test. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They’re no longer used to diagnose[br]psychiatric conditions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But a similarly problematic practice [br]using subtest scores 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is still sometimes used to diagnose[br]learning disabilities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 against the advice of many experts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Psychologists around the world [br]still use IQ tests 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to identify intellectual disability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the results can be used to [br]determine appropriate educational support, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 job training, and assisted living. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 IQ test results have been used [br]to justify horrific policies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and scientifically baseless ideologies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That doesn’t mean the test itself [br]is worthless— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in fact, it does a good job of measuring[br]the reasoning and problem-solving skills 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it sets out to. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that isn’t the same thing as[br]measuring a person’s potential. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Though there are many complicated[br]political, historical, scientific, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and cultural issues wrapped up [br]in IQ testing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more and more researchers [br]agree on this point, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and reject the notion that individuals[br]can be categorized 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by a single numerical score.