THE REAL ERROR OF CYRIL BURT 3 OI
On the average of all the tests, the colored were about two years behind
the white; their inferiority extended through all ten tests, but it was most
marked in just those which are known to be most saturated with g.
In other words, blacks performed most poorly on tests having
strongest correlations with g, or innate general intelligence.
Of whites from southern and eastern Europe, Spearman wrote
(1927, p. 379), praising the American Immigration Restriction Act
of 1924:
The general conclusion emphasized by nearly every investigator is that,
as regards "intelligence," the Germanic stock has on the average a marked
advantage over the South European. And this result would seem to have
6*9 Racist stereotype of a Jewish financier, reproduced from the first
page of Spearman's 1914 article (see Bibliography). Spearman used this
figure to criticize beliefs in group factors for such particular items of intel-
lect, but its publication illustrates the acceptable attitudes of another age.