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of eugenics led the U.S. Congress to pass laws designed to restrict immigration from other
countries supposedly marked by low intelligence, particularly those in eastern and southern
Europe. And because more than one-half of the U.S. states passed laws requiring the sterilization
of low-IQ individuals, more than 60,000 Americans, mostly African Americans and other poor
minorities, underwent forced sterilizations. Fortunately, the practice of sterilization was
abandoned between the 1940s and the 1960s, although sterilization laws remained on the books
in some states until the 1970s.
One explanation for race differences in IQ is that intelligence tests are biased against some
groups and in favor of others. By bias, what psychologists mean is that a test predicts
outcomes—such as grades or occupational success—better for one group than it does for
another. If IQ is a better predictor of school grade point average for Whites than it is for Asian
Americans, for instance, then the test would be biased against Asian Americans, even though the
average IQ scores for Asians might be higher. But IQ tests do not seem to be racially biased
because the observed correlations between IQ tests and both academic and occupational
achievement are about equal across races (Brody, 1992). [24]
Another way that tests might be biased is if questions are framed such that they are easier for
people from one culture to understand than for people from other cultures. For example, even a
very smart person will not do well on a test if he or she is not fluent in the language in which the
test is administered, or does not understand the meaning of the questions being asked. But
modern intelligence tests are designed to be culturally neutral, and group differences are found
even on tests that only ask about spatial intelligence. Although some researchers still are
concerned about the possibility that intelligence tests are culturally biased, it is probably not the
case that the tests are creating all of the observed group differences (Suzuki & Valencia,
1997). [25]
Research Focus: Stereotype Threat
Although intelligence tests may not be culturally biased, the situation in which one takes a test may be. One
environmental factor that may affect how individuals perform and achieve is their expectations about their ability at a
task. In some cases these beliefs may be positive, and they have the effect of making us feel more confident and thus
better able to perform tasks. For instance, research has found that because Asian students are aware of the cultural