An analysis of the controversial findings concerning IQ, as discussed in the book, “The Bell Curve” by Murray and Herrnstein.
This paper reviews Murray and Herrnstein’s, The Bell Curve, a book which created a huge controversy when the research findings described how some races are more intelligent than others. The paper outlines the many factors that the authors of this book failed to take into account, and illustrates how this encouraged a biased and controversial outcome.
In the book, The Bell Curve, Murray and Herrnstein state their findings on intelligence and factors that influence it as well as factors that intelligence influences. The authors base a lot of their research on Spearman’s controversial general intelligence (g factor) theory of a general mental capacity(Myers). According to Murray and Herrnstein, the g factor can be measured by standard intelligence tests. Their research resulted in findings such as: Blacks’ IQ scores are about 15 points lower than whites; low IQ causes social problems such as poverty, crime, illegitimacy, etc.; high IQ is the main contributing factor in success and income level; and social programs are pointless because nothing can be done to raise IQ. They also stress an ever increasing gap between the those with high IQs, called the cognitive elite, and those with low IQs. They claim that this is happening because of the heritability of intelligence, the tendency of those with high intelligence to marry others of high intelligence, and those with low or average intelligence seem to marry others with low or average intelligence.