High IQs have often been compared equally to having a high intelligence. In the media, ‘Nerds with high IQs’ often appear to show an almost superhero levels of genius that dazzle the people around them. IQ tests have provided the basis for standardised testing in schools, they are qualifying factor in being able to join intellectual societies in Mensa, and they have been a factor in Western society for over a century. Yet the real history of the IQ tests is often glossed over and is allowed to be swept under the rug. So, how did it become so prevalent, resulting in a century of bias against minority racial groups and neurodivergence?
IQ (Intelligence quotient) Tests were pioneered by French Psychologist Alfred Binet, who, in 1899, when schooling became compulsory for children in France from 6-14 years of age, joined the Free Society for the Psychological Study of the Child. The intention of the society was working out how to separate children with neurodivergence and different intellectual ability in the classroom, so that children could be taught in a manner that best suited them. Together with Theodore Simon they created the Simon-Binet scale which was set to estimate a child’s mental age based on a selection of children being tested on different areas including maths and literacy and comparing the scores. Three versions of the test were published between 1905 and 1911, with majority white students used as the baseline. Crucially, Binet emphasised that his IQ test measured intelligence at a specific point in a child’s life, not the child’s potential, as intelligence was subject to change with time.
Unfortunately, this concept of ever-changing intelligence and potential became distorted over the next few decades. In 1908 the IQ was brought to America for the first time, by noted Eugenicist H.H Goddard, who believed that the test could provide foundation for his idea that white children had higher intelligence that people of colour. The encouragement of the pseudo-science increased when Charles Spearman, another American psychologist and believer in Eugenics, saw that neurotypical children performed similarly in all domains, and founded the idea of ‘General Intelligence.’ ‘General Intelligence’ reinvigorated the concept of fixed intelligence and could be used to measure a child or adult’s potential as well as their intelligence. His colleague Brigham used the IQ test as the basis for his new test, SATs, which was used by the American Government to test soliders in the military and resulted in the segregation of 1.5 million soldiers into units of ‘intelligence,’ and in race, as people of colour tended to perform worse in standardised testing.
Events came to a head for discriminatory IQ testing in 1927, during the American Supreme Court Case, Buck vs Bell. Carrie Buck, 18, was said to have possessed a ‘mental age of nine.’ According to the case, this ‘intellectual disability,’ was passed down from her mother, who was also tested to have a similar intelligence level. Carrie Buck was later committed to an asylum after being sexually abused by her mother’s adoptive nephew. A court order passed in 1927 for the forced sterilization of Buck was approved by the Supreme Court, and was later carried out, despite many now believing her actual incarceration was a way to cover up her assault. Sterilization of the ‘feeble-minded’ (or those who tested poorly on the IQ scale) was in use until 1963. As a result, 70,000 people had to go under sterilization procedures, disproportionately affecting minorities, women, and disabled people.
IQ tests are still in use today, and still rely on knowledge of Western Cultures only. However, in 1986 in California, after five black families sued the state for IQ testing their children without their consent, only to receive very poor results, it became illegal in the state to IQ test black children. In 2002, testing criminals with learning difficulties on Death row also became outlawed. The tests themselves in modern times can generate positive effects, with children from minority or lower-income families who test highly given more academic opportunities. IQ test training has also been used in the last few decades to improve concentration in children with ADHD, and can help education authorities find those with neurodivergence that otherwise may not have been diagnosed.
The importance of IQ tests must revert, in modern times, to the IQ test theology first explored by Binet, that intellectual ability is not permanent, and frequently tests cannot measure a child’s potential, instead only providing a screenshot of a child’s abilities at a particular date and time, in non-creative fields. If such tests are to continue, a wider base group must be selected, be developed without cultural or ethnic bias, and cater to those with neurodivergence.
