School genetics is changing. Nowadays, students are more likely to be introduced to the idea that many characteristics of organisms, including those of humans, are not determined by the actions of just one or two genes but result from interactions between the products of many genes and the environments of each organism. This article asks whether…

This research examines how the human genome and SES jointly and interactively shape verbal ability among youth in the U.S. The youth are aged 12-18 when the study starts. The research draws on findings from the latest GWAS as well as a rich set of longitudinal SES measures at individual, family and neighborhood levels from Add Health (N = 7194).…

Lewis Terman is widely seen as the "father of gifted education," yet his work is controversial. Terman's "mixed legacy" includes the pioneering work in the creation of intelligence tests, the first large-scale longitudinal study, and the earliest discussions of gifted identification, curriculum, ability grouping, acceleration,…

This article traces the personal as well as the intellectual and scientific relationship between Charles Darwin and his younger half-cousin Francis Galton. Although they had been on friendly terms as young men, and Darwin had in some ways been a role model for Galton, the two did not share major scientific interests until after the publication of…

An examination of the historical record fails to uncover any support for the claim that the racially biased Immigration Act of 1924 was passed with the help of the intelligence testing community. (GC)

Data from a previous adoption study using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised show that the genetic effect is reflected by psychometric "g" (general intelligence) to a greater degree than is the environmental effect. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that "g" largely reflects the genetic component…

The author examines and rebuts arguments advanced by Michael Matthews, a Marxist critic of intelligence testing and IQ research. Arthur Jensen's views on the nature, heritability, and social importance of IQ are defended. (BS)

Taylor (1980) claims to show that the similarity in IQ between monozygotic twins reared apart found in prior studies is due to similarity in their environments. A reanalysis using Taylor's classification of environments but an alternative IQ measure shows that his findings do not constructively replicate. (Author/RD)

Article gives a brief history of intelligence testing and enters a plea for a better use of testing to meet the individual needs of students. (GB)

Outlines eight premises of individuals who believe racial differences influence mental ability (e.g., IQ tests accurately measure mental ability and IQ tests are equally valid across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups), challenging the classicist model of intelligence on which hereditarian assumptions of racial disparity are based. Refutes each…

Three articles discuss "The Bell Curve" and its theory that IQ is an inherited trait rather than an acquired skill. Topics include implications for educational designers, IQ tests, cognitive architecture, learning mechanisms, and abstract knowledge structures. (LRW)

In the United States, IQ tests are developed by and for whites. IQ tests and their derivates have been used on minorities not so much for prescriptive intervention purposes as for confirmation of suspiciously different behavior and for placement into special education and out of programs for the gifted, higher education, and advanced occupational…

The issue of race differences in intelligence, especially with respect to American black and white populations, is adjudged to be "nonsensical" in terms of the framing of the question, the populations sampled, the testing instruments utilized, and the concept of "intelligence" postulated. (Author/EH)

The genetic relationship between intelligence and components of cognition remains controversial. Conflicting results may be a function of the limited number of methods used in experimental evaluation. The current study is the first to use CANTAB (The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery). This is a battery of validated computerised…

Appraised cognitive patterning and development for 142 pairs of twins at 4, 5, and 6 years of age. From the results it was inferred that within a broad range of home environments, the genotype exerts a significant influence on the child's cognitive development. (Author/SDH)