OK, I'm having a slow day here :) Well, Galton predates modern psychology, but I suspect you can make a case that he was heavily responsible for the genetic view of "IQ" variability. And Eysenck pushed for a biological view of personality, and Lorenz and Tinbergen paved the way for biologically based social psychology. On the other hand (to take just the IQ example) many people on this side of the pond (Terman, Goddard, ...) took a genetic stance as well. The particular decade may matter more. Certainly under the influence of behaviorism there was a bias against genetics, that lastest for several decades. I still remember influential learning experts making (post hoc) explanations for correlations between MZ twins in the late 1970s.
I don't know about Snow. But the "superiority" thing is an old issue. There are racial differences, they have not changed much, the last I knew. The good questions revolve around description versus explanation (where do the differences come from), and also questions about the importance of the differences. The genetic basis of "IQ" within a group is very well established. The genetic basis of differences between groups is more difficult to address since - who wants to do the research? It is interesting to cite Arthur Jensen's original 1973 Harvard Ed Review article "How much can we boost ...?"; since IQ had a heritable component within groups, and, attempts to train away group differences failed, it is "not an unreasonable hypothesis" that some portion of group (racial) differences are genetic. The furor that followed ignored the fact that this was his "hypothesis." Jumping ahead, it matters whether we use the language "different" versus "superior". I have little doubt that general cognitive ability served the fitness of our ancestors well, though, so did aggression, jealousy, not to mention obsessive-compulsive behavior (It's not just a disorder!). Many traits contribute to fitness and reproductive success, but I would hesitate to label the "Adrian Monk" type obsessive behavior of my ancestors as creating a "superior" being (if it were shown that an entire group were higher in OCD). The groups we use in everyday language are also imprecise. It is an over simplification to say there is a "Jewish" group, just as it oversimplified to refer to "black" and "asian" groups. As far as the magnitude of the group differences, they simetimes seem minor, but, as an interesting "intellectual exercise" in the importance of group differences, start with a 1 SD difference between groups (or even 1/2 SD), and look at the amount of overlap between the curves. THEN (fair and balanced ..) compute the RATIO of people in one group relative to another in the tails (start with 2 SD above average, then do 3 and 4 SD). Then do the lower tail the same way. You can do this with a chart of normal probabalities. The group differences get frightingly large the farther out you do on either tail. You can do the same thing, btw, with slight MF differences in verbal and spatial ability. ----------------------------- John W. Kulig Professor of Psychology Director, Psychology Honors Plymouth State University Plymouth NH 03264 ----------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 3:32 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] info:British/European approaches Would I be right in assuming that Europeans place more emphasis on the hereditary-genetic aspect of behavior and we ,on this side of the Atlantic ,believe in the power of environmental determinism- a legacy of functionalism and constitutional Americanization? Would Galton be considered the quintessential representative of this British-Euro biological bias? And where would CP Snow (who believed in the intellectual superiority of the Jewish tradition) fit? Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=engl ish --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
