Intelligence, Race, and Genetics: Conversations with Arthur R. Jensen

by Frank Miele

Book Overview

In a series of provocative conversations with Skeptic magazine Ssenior editor Frank Miele, renowned University of California-Berkeley psychologist Arthur R. Jensen details the evolution of his thoughts on the nature of intelligence, tracing an intellectual odyssey that leads from the programs of the Great Society to the Bell Curve Wars and beyond. Miele cross-examines Jensen's views on general intelligence (the g factor), racial differences in IQ,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081334008X
• ISBN13: 9780813340081
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful introduction to one of 20th century's greatest psychometricians

Among personal characteristics of any individual, none is more sensitive topic of discuss than that of intelligence. We all have a somewhat schizophrenic attitude towards it, at the same time considering everyone to be equal while constantly measuring ourselves to others. And, of course, we all think that we are above the average when it comes to intelligence. However, all our scientifically based attempts to quantify intelligence have shown what all of us would expect to find if we were just more honest with ourselves: intelligence varies, sometimes substantially, it is fairly stable throughout our lives, and it has a large heritable component. It is possible to conceive that these psychometric findings would have been accepted by now in public discourse were it not for the persistent and sometimes significant race and sex differences. These differences go against everything that our PC culture has taught us, and people who dare to even hint at them are permanently branded as racist and sexist in public discourse. Even being in top echelons of intellectual elite does not inoculate you from this, as a president of Harvard and co-discoverer of DNA have recently found out. In the light of this, it is not surprising that Arthur Jensen, one of the foremost authorities on individual differences in cognitive ability, has been one of the most controversial figures in science for the past forty years. A former University of California at Berkeley professor of Psychology, he became almost a household name in the late 60s upon the publication of an article in which he speculated about the genetic basis of large racial differences in IQ. Ever since then his scientific work and has been maligned in popular press, and the term "jensenism" entered the English language. The aim of this book is to provide a critical look at this controversy, and to provide an opportunity for Jensen himself to answer some of his critics. The book consists of a series of interviews, conducted by Frank Miele, through which most of Jensen's controversial research and statements are examined. Miele does not pull any punches, and throws almost every at Jensen almost every criticism that he had been faced with over the past several decades. Jensen, meanwhile, passes all the challenges. He provides us with very convincing and well-researched arguments that strongly support his position. One of the most controversial aspects of the intelligence research is the existence of general intelligence, or the so called "g-factor." This is the idea that all of our mental abilities are very strongly correlated with each other, and the ability to excel at one set of mental tasks is the best predictor of our ability to excel at others. There is over a century of hard quantitative research that strongly supports this view, and Jensen in his answers to the critics provides all the relevant information showing why that is the case. Even though g-factor has been inferred from statistical analysis, it

One for the archives

Great book/interview/introduction to Dr. Jensen's work. Miele has done a masterful job presenting a human side to the too-often vilified caricature of Dr. Jensen. Anyone (e.g., admirers and antagonists, alike) who reads it will learn something new about one of psychology's most fascinating scientists, and, personally, I think it should be a mandated read for any Introduction to Intelligence course.

An excellent treatise on nature vs. nurture

Frank Miele (the author) acts as a "devil's advocate" in this book, as he interviews psychologist Arthur R. Jensen, who is a well-known geneticist. Miele says, in his preface, "In this book, I skeptically cross-examine Arthur R. Jensen on Jensenism' how and why he believes the scientific evidence is even stronger today that: "'IQ is real, biological, and highly genetic, and not just some statistic or the result of educational, social, economic, or cultural factors: "race is a biological reality, not a social construct; and, most controversially of all, "the cause of the 15-point average IQ difference between Blacks and Whites in the United States is partly genetic.'" Jensen went from being a highly respected but little-known educational psychologist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, until he was solicited, in 1969, to write a 123-page article for the prestigious Harvard Educational Review which began with the opening sentence, "Compensatory education has been tried and it apparently has failed." With that article he became a highly controversial figure because of his contention, which runs counter to the institutionalized politically correct view among social scientists, that heredity is of more importance than environmental factors in determining human intelligence. Jensen, no racist by any stretch of the imagination, demonstrates throughout this book "the interviews which were conducted through e-mail" mainly through statistical analysis and other valid research methodology, the care with which he had arrived at his tentative conclusions. As with The Bell Curve, by Herrnstein and Murray, The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker, and Race Evolution and Behavior, by J. Philippe Rushton, all scholarly, well-researched books on similar subject matter, the advocates of the more politically correct view that the races may differ in virtually every other respect except intellectually, are attacking the message by attempting to kill the messenger. The interviews that comprise this book are just short of hostile to Dr. Jensen in their tone, never granting agreement or accord, and with every answer, no matter how persuasive, the author merely changes the direction of attack. In fact, in the beginning, he announces his skepticism. But, Dr. Jensen more than holds his own. The e-mail interview method seems to be a good one, since obviously both parties are enabled to be precise in their quotes and double-check everything before sending the question or answer. We are given little information about the author, Frank Miele, except that he is a senior editor of Skeptic magazine, that his articles have appeared on "many web-pages," and that he lives in Sunnyvale, California, with his Great Dane dog, Payce. However, his questions of Dr. Jensen seem relevant and well-researched. The book is important, however, only because of Dr. Jensen's answers, which are invariably direct, careful, and backed up with very persuasive data and

Arthur Jensen face to face

Arthur Jensen, a man of impeccable credentials among his peers, psychometricians, a man completely devoid of racist thought, a meticulous scientist who has been maligned and indeed slandered by the PC "no nothings" in furtherance of their "feel good" political agenda speaks directly to a very bright and well prepared interviewer in this book. The result, to the fair minded, is a powerful and compelling argument for his science and a devastating put down of those whose opposition to him is mere name calling. They have repeatedly violated the cardinal rule of science, compile the data honestly and let the results speak for themselves, free of prejudice, personal preference, superstition and political posturing. In hundred years, or perhaps in just a few decades his critics will be considered by intelligent laypersons, as they are now by professionals in the discipline, to be the creationists of the human genome.

A fair look at an issue that's tough to be fair about.

The interviewer did an excellent job of being the polite skeptic, which enabled me to get a balanced, clear-headed look at the incendiary but crucial question of the roles of genetics and environment in intelligence, and even more controversial, in the well-established racial differences in intelligence. I was impressed with Jensen's extraordinary intelligence and surprised at how socially conscious he is, contrary to the media's portrayal of him.