Mis-Measuring Intelligence

Abstract

Intelligence is perhaps the most controversial topic in modern psychology. It has created furious debate throughout this century and continues to do so. The issue that creates this controversy concerns whether intelligence is inherited or not. Although this is the way the question is usually framed, the real debate is about whether the differences between individuals can be explained by genetic or environmental causes. You might well ask whether this matters at all, but the paper by Gould, which is a short article taken from his book The Mismeasure of Man, illustrates how this question can have large social consequences.