A PSYCHOLOGICAL WITNESS

I

ndividual diff erences in human intelligence may be obvious to most

people; but behavioral ge ne ticists have claimed to mea sure and

explain them scientifi cally, meaning objectively and authoritatively.

Th e conclusion, that at least half of the variation in mea sured intelli-

gence is due to diff erences in genes, is also rigorously scientifi c, they

argue. It is also unfortunate, but true, that, by claiming pristine scien-

tifi c status, behavioral ge ne ticists have had im mense, and sometimes

damaging, eff ects on the lives of millions of people over a long period

of time.

Such infl uence now goes back a long way. As early as 1909, the British

psychologist Cyril Burt was advising policy makers that diff erences in

intelligence are innate, and that diff erences in mental potential between

groups and social classes are largely immutable. As a young man, Burt

had visited the eugenicist Francis Galton and was strongly drawn to his

ideas. Later, he was taken on as advisor to the Consultative Commission

on Education in 1938. It reported how “intellectual development” is “gov-

erned by a single central factor, usually known as ‘general intelligence.’ ”

Th ey went on, “Our psychological witnesses assured us that... it is

pos si ble at a very early age to predict with accuracy the ultimate level of a

child’s intellectual powers.” Th e verdict we have heard many times since,

and the “new” recommendations of today’s research on genes and brains,

was that “it is accordingly evident that diff er ent children... require types

of education varying in certain impor tant re spects.”

2. PRETEND GENES

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