Credit: Robert M. Yerkes (1921) “Psychological Examining n the United States Army,” Memoirs of the National
Academy of Sciences, Vol. XV. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Beginning in the 1900s, scientists began to develop different methods for measuring intelligence. These tests were used often to justify racial and ethnic discriminationpolicies and practices that harm and disadvantage a group and its members. More. The results of these intelligence tests were influential in shaping U.S. immigrationthe act of entering a country of which one is not a native to become... More policy that limited immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, and in justifying race-based segregation in public education, and U.S. conscription during World War I. Previously, the scientific debate centered largely on perceived differences in racial intelligence based on cranial size.
Harvard-educated psychologist, ethologist and primatologist, Robert Means Yerkes, known for his work in Army intelligence testing in World War I and in the field of comparative psychology, was an early standout in the field of primate intelligence and chimpanzee and gorilla behavior. The theory of behaviorismA school of thought in psychology emphasizing the importance of overt behavior responses over conscious... More was developed by Yerkes and his colleague John B. Watson.
- In 1917, Yerkes, as the president of the American Psychological Association, urged the group to initiate several programs during World War I. The Army’s Alpha and Beta intelligence tests were his creation, and they were administered to over a million U.S. soldiers during the war. The results of the tests led to the conclusion that recent immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe had considerably lower scores than earlier immigrants from Northern Europe. Eugenicists relied on these results as ammunition for their campaign for immigrationthe act of entering a country of which one is not a native to become... More restrictions. The test results, however, were later criticized as having been more a measure of acculturationCultural exchange and change that results from sustained contact between different groups. More than of intelligence, since the test scores correlated closely with the number of years spent living in the U.S.
- Psychologist Cyril Burt was influenced by the British class system, and decried what he saw as the decline of the “British racea recent idea created by western Europeans following exploration across the world to account for... More.” Influenced by Francis Galton’s work, Burt was also drawn to the theories of Charles Spearman-and in fact tried to claim Spearman’s-factor theory of intelligence as his own-in an effort to substantiate his theory of the heritabilityin biology, the proportion of variation of a trait due to genetic variation in a... More of intelligence with quantitative analysis. Burt was a member of the British Eugenicsfrom Greek eugenes meaning wellborn; The eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth... More Society. He was appointed professor and chair of psychology at University College, London, in 1931 taking over Spearman’s position. At the university, Burt influenced many students, among them Arthur Jensen and Chris Brand.
Credit: Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library
… the term intelligence designates a complexly interrelated assemblage of functions, no one of which is completely or accurately known to man…”
– From The Great Apes: A Study A of Anthropoid Life byRobert Yerkes, co-authored with Ada Yerkes, his wife.
Known for his work in comparative psychology involving primates, Robert Yerkes chaired the committee of the American Psychological Association that developed World War I army intelligence tests. Although he was influenced by Darwin, Yerkes subscribed to eugenicists ideas and believed that genetics would improve society.
