Word: jensenism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...prediction largely on the basis of the high heritability of I.Q. He cites intelligence tests which measured the I.Q.'s of identical twins who were brought up in different homes. The data he cites is drawn from a study in the Harvard Educational Review, by Berkeley geneticist Arthur Jensen who compiled statistics and conclusions from four different studies done...
Comparing the variation of I.Q.'s in this sample of 122 sets of identical twins, Herrnstein (through Jensen) finds that "more than four times out of five the difference between identical twins raised apart fell short of the average difference between fraternal twins raised together by their own parents...
Based on these and other data Herrnstein says that Jensen and most other experts in the field agree that inheritance counts for about 80 per cent of an individual's I.Q., and all other factors around 20 per cent, including education, nutrition...
...Jensen weighed the factors that determine I.Q. and concluded that 80% are hereditary and only 20% environmental. Herrnstein goes beyond Jensen in stating that heredity will become even more important if scientists find external ways to improve intelligence. His reasoning: "Suppose we do find an environmental handle on I.Q.-something, let us say, in the gestating mother's diet. Presumably society would try to give everyone access to the favorable factor. But if we make the environment much more uniform, then an even larger proportion of the variation in I.Q. will be attributable to the genes. The average person...
...studies that preceded it. Many blacks and whites will be angered by his defense of intelligence testing because they believe that the racial characteristics it discloses reflect no real differences in ability but only the cultural deprivation of blacks and the cultural bias of I.Q. tests. Because Herrnstein accepts Jensen's ideas about heredity and intelligence, as well as Jensen's contention that compensatory education has failed, he is likely to be criticized by some scientists who, like Nobel Geneticist Joshua Lederberg, have already labeled Jensen's findings "premature" and "inconclusive...