Eugenics and IQ testing
How the implementation of the Binet-Simon test in the US was used to sterilize thousands
Measurement can be a great way to collect data and thus, improve our pool of knowledge on various subjects. Nonetheless, it has been used in history for less admirable purposes. The eugenics movement, for instance, has used measurement — more specifically the Binet-Simon test, precursor to the IQ test — to justify their reprehensible actions, such as the sterilisation of individuals deemed “feeble-minded” (literally, “imbeciles” or “mentally deficient”).
In a nutshell, the term “eugenics” was introduced by Francis Galton (remember him, from the introductory class this semester?) in 1883 (Normandin, 1998). It is used to promote the reproduction of individuals strong, qualified as “fits”, through positive eugenics, but also to reduce the number of members of the society considered “unfits”, through negative eugenics (Normandin, 1998). Through the principle of natural selection proposed by Charles Darwin, his cousin, as well as the genetic theory of Mendel, Galton developed his ideology which ultimately desires to improve the human race (Normandin, 1998). The laws of Mendel stipulate that certain traits, such as alcoholism or intelligence, are hereditary and transmitted from generation to generation (Normandin, 1998). Forced sterilization was amongst the eugenic methods most widely used to prevent the reproduction of the “feeble-minded”. The eugenics movement grew in popularity in the United States at the beginning of 1910, with the introduction of the Binet-Simon test by Henry Herbert Goddard (Ladd-Taylor, 2005; Grenon & Merrick, 2014). The latter used the test to justify the sterilisation of thousands of “feeble-minded” individuals. At the time, an abundance of articles written by fervent eugenicists reinforced the idea that the movement had legitimate concerns about the fast reproduction of the “unfits”. They used figures and numbers, such as those obtained by the calculation of the QI, in order to warrant their ideology as being scientific. For instance, Goddard tested 378 residents of the Vineland Training School for the “feeble-minded” and classified them by mental age (Gregory, 2011). He then proceeded to test 1547 children considered “normal”, outside of the walls of the school. He concluded that 3% of those “normal” children were “feeble-minded”, supporting the idea that this category of individuals was reproducing at an alarming rate in the general population and that something had to be done about that (Gregory, 2011). Because the Binet-Simon test was established as able to diagnose the intellectual level of an individual in a reliable manner, Goddard and other eugenicists used that test to justify their massive number of sterilizations (Hood, 1912). This is an example of the dark side of measurement.
Normandin, S. (1998). Eugenics, McGill, and the Catholic Church in Montreal and Quebec, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 15, No. 1: 61
Ladd-Taylor, M. (2005). Eugenic Sterilization in Minnesota: coping with a “public menace”, Minnesota History, 59, N.6: 238
Grenon, I, Merrick, J. (2014). Intellectual and developmental disabilities: eugenics. Front. Public Health 2:201
Gregory, R. J. Psychological testing: History, principles, and applications, 6th edition. Boston: Pearson Education, 2011: 55
Hood, C. (1912). Four hundred feeble-minded children classified by the Binet method, Journal of Educational Psychology, 3, No. 2: 110
McGill ID: 260536084
