Citizendia
Your Ad Here

For the Danish actor, see Arthur Jensen (actor).


Arthur Jensen (born August 24, 1923) is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Educational psychology is the study of how Humans learn in Educational settings the effectiveness of educational interventions the psychology of teaching and the The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley [1] Jensen is known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, which is concerned with how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another. Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of Educational and Psychological Measurement, which includes the measurement The science of psychology studies people at three levels of focus captured by the well known quote “Every man is in certain respects (a like all other men (b like some other men (c like no He is a major proponent of the hereditarian position in the nature versus nurture debate, the position that concludes genetics play a significant role in behavioral traits, such as intelligence and personality. Hereditarianism is the doctrine or school of thought that Heredity plays a significant role in determining human nature and character traits such as intelligence The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature" i Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Personality psychology studies personality based on theories of individual differences He is the author of over 400 scientific papers published in refereed journals[2] and currently sits on the editorial boards of the scientific journals Intelligence and Personality and Individual Differences. For a broader class of publications which include scientific journals see Academic journal. Intelligence is a Psychology journal that addresses Intelligence and Psychometrics. Personality and Individual Differences ( PAID) is a Scientific journal published bi-monthly by Elsevier and founded in 1980 [3]

While he has been rated an eminent psychologist,[4] Jensen remains a controversial figure, largely for his opinions on race-based differences in intelligence.

Contents

Biography

Jensen was born August 24, 1923, to a father of Danish ancestry and a mother who was half Polish Jewish and half German (non-Jewish). Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar 's General Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a Millennium. [5]. Jensen studied at University of California, Berkeley (B. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley A. 1945), San Diego State College (M. History Established on March 13 1897 San Diego State University first began as the San Diego Normal School intended to educate local future female elementary school teachers A. , 1952) and Columbia University (Ph. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. D. , 1956). Jensen did his doctoral thesis on the Thematic Apperception Test. The Thematic Apperception Test is an example of a Projective test. From 1956 through 1958, Jensen did his postdoctoral research at the University of London, Institute of Psychiatry. The University of London is a university based primarily in London, England, UK. Upon returning to the United States, Jensen became a researcher and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focused on individual differences in learning, especially the influences of culture, development, and genetics on intelligence and learning. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Jensen received tenure at Berkeley in 1962 and was given his first sabbatical in 1964. Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior Academic 's Contractual right not to have their position terminated A sabbatical (from the Latin sabbaticus, from the Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbathon, i He has concentrated much of his work on the learning difficulties of culturally disadvantaged students. In 2003, Jensen was awarded the Kistler Prize for original contributions to the understanding of the connection between the human genome and human society. The Kistler Prize (created 1999 is awarded annually to recognize original contributions "to the understanding of the connection between human heredity and human society" and In classical genetics the genome of a Diploid Organism including Eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a Gamete, thereby A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions

Jensen has had a life long interest in classical music and was, early in his life, attracted by the idea of becoming a conductor himself. At fourteen, Jensen conducted a band that won a nationwide contest held in San Francisco. Later, Jensen conducted orchestras and attended a seminar given by Nikolai Sokoloff. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Nikolai Sokoloff ( 28 May 1886 &ndash 25 September Soon after graduating from Berkeley, Jensen moved to New York, mainly to be near the conductor Arturo Toscanini. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Arturo Toscanini (ɑrˈturɔ ˌtɔskɑˈnini (March 25 1867 &ndash January Jensen was also deeply interested in the life and example of Gandhi, producing an unpublished book-length manuscript on his life. During Jensen's period in San Diego he spent time working as a social worker with the San Diego Department of Public Welfare. Social work is a discipline involving the application of Social theory and research methods to study and improve the lives of people groups and societies

IQ and academic achievement

Jensen's interest in learning differences directed him to the extensive testing of black, Mexican-American, and other minority-group school children. The results led him to distinguish between two separate types of learning ability. Level I, or associative learning, may be defined as retention of input and rote memorization of simple facts and skills. Level II, or conceptual learning, is roughly equivalent to the ability to manipulate and transform inputs, that is, the ability to solve problems. Statistical analysis of his findings led Jensen to conclude that Level I abilities were distributed equally among members of all races, but that Level II occurred with significantly greater frequency among whites and Asian-Americans than among African-Americans and Mexican-Americans.

Later, Jensen was an important advocate in the mainstream acceptance of general intelligence factor, a concept which was essentially synonymous with his Level II conceptual learning. The general intelligence factor (abbreviated g) is a controversial construct used in the field of Psychology ( see also Psychometrics General intelligence factor, or g, is an abstraction that stems from the observation that scores on all forms of cognitive tests correlate positively with one another. Jensen claimed, on the basis of his research, that general cognitive ability is essentially an inherited trait, determined predominantly by genetic factors rather than by environmental conditions. He also contended that while associative learning, or memorizing ability, is equally distributed among the races, conceptual learning, or synthesizing ability, occurs with significantly greater frequency in whites than in blacks. He suggested that from the data, one might conclude that on average, white Americans are more intelligent than African-Americans. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa [6]

Jensen's most controversial work, published in February 1969 in the Harvard Educational Review, was titled "How Much Can We Boost I. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Harvard Educational Review is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal of opinion and research dealing with education published by the Harvard Education Publishing Group Q. and Scholastic Achievement?" It concluded, among other things, that Head Start programs designed to boost African-American IQ scores had failed, and that this was likely never to be remedied, largely because, in Jensen's estimation, heritability of IQ was over 0. For the Australian television series see Head Start (TV series Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa An Intelligence Quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different Standardized tests attempting to measure Intelligence. 7 of the within-race IQ variability, and the 0. 3 left over was due to non-shared environmental influences.

The work became one of - if not the most - cited papers in the history of psychological testing and intelligence research. [7] The release of Jensen's paper, How Much Can We Boost I. Q. and Scholastic Achievement?, sparked a huge academic controversy. Although his paper was widely cited, a random selection of 60 of these citations revealed that 29 of the papers were direct rebuttals or criticisms of Jensen's arguments, 8 cited the paper as an "example of controversy," 8 used it as a background reference. Only 15 citations of Jensen's paper were in any way supportive of his theories, and 7 of these 15 were only in relation to minor points. [8]

After the paper was released, students and faculty staged large protests outside Jensen's U.C. Berkeley office. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley There may have been death threats against him. Jensen was denied reprints of his work by his publisher and was not permitted to reply in response to letters of criticism -- both extremely unusual and exceptional policies for their day. Many colleagues at the time felt that even if Jensen's work contained no scientific merit, his treatment was itself against the spirit of science and the free exchange of ideas. In a later article, Jensen argued that his claims had been misunderstood:

. . . nowhere have I "claimed" an "innate deficiency" of intelligence in blacks. My position on this question is clearly spelled out in my most recent book: "The plain fact is that at present there exists no scientifically satisfactory explanation for the differences between the IQ distributions in the black and white populations. The only genuine consensus among well-informed scientists on this topic is that the cause of the difference remains an open question" (Jensen, 1981a, p. 213).

Thomas Sowell wrote:

Professor Jensen pointed out back in 1969 that black children's IQ scores rose by 8 to 10 points after he met with them informally in a play room and then tested them again after they were more relaxed around him. Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is an American Economist, social commentator and author of dozens of books He did this because "I felt these children were really brighter than their IQ would indicate. " What a shame that others seem to have less confidence in black children than Professor Jensen has had. [4]

However, Jensen's 1998 The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability gives his position suggesting a genetic component is implicated in the white-black difference in IQ:

In Chapter 12: Population Differences in g: Causal Hypotheses, Jensen writes: "The relationship of the g factor to a number of biological variables and its relationship to the size of the white-black differences on various cognitive tests (i. The g Factor is a book by Arthur Jensen on the general factor of human mental ability (or g) e. , Spearman's hypothesis) suggests that the average white-black difference in g has a biological component. The English Psychologist Charles Spearman, in his 1904 book General Intelligence - Objectively Determined and Measured, described his two-factor theory of intelligence Human races are viewed not as discrete, or Platonic, categories, but rather as breeding populations that, as a result of natural selection, have come to differ statistically in the relative frequencies of many polymorphic genes. The genetic distances between various populations form a continuous variable that can be measured in terms of differences in gene frequencies. Racial populations differ in many genetic characteristics, some of which, such as brain size, have behavioral and psychometric correlates, particularly g. "

In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "Mainstream Science on Intelligence," an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson and published in the Wall Street Journal, which defended the findings on race and intelligence in The Bell Curve. "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on December 13, 1994. Linda Susanne Gottfredson (born 24 June 1947) is a professor of Educational psychology at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Delaware- The study of race and intelligence is a controversial field which seeks to determine whether or not human intellectual abilities vary between races The modern controversy See Normal distribution for the "bell curve" in Statistics and see Bell curve grading for the "bell curve" in grading [9]

In 1995 an American Psychological Association task force published a paper titled "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" which concluded that within the white population the heritability of IQ is "around . The American Psychological Association (APA is a professional organization representing psychologists in the U Intelligence Knowns and Unknowns is a report of a Task Force established by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association. 75" but also "It is sometimes suggested that the Black/White differential in psychometric intelligence is partly due to genetic differences (Jensen, 1972) There is not much direct evidence on this point, but what little there is fails to support the genetic hypothesis. "

Criticism

Melvin Konner wrote in the notes to his book The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit:

"Statements made by Arthur Jensen, William Shockley, and other investigators in the late 1960s and early 1970s about race and IQ or social class and IQ rapidly passed into currency in policy discussions. Many of these statements were proved wrong, but they had already influenced some policymakers, and that influence is very difficult to recant. "

Many studies that purport to be both science-based and attempt to influence public policy have been accused of scientific racism. Konner wrote:

"What of the latest currents of thought? Are they likely to lead to, or at least encourage, further distortions of social policy? The indications are not all encouraging. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published a book in 1994 clearly directed at policy, just as Jensen and others had in the 1960s and 1970s. The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (New York: Free Press, 1994) teamed a psychologist with a conservative policy advocate to try to prove that both the class structure and the racial divide in the United States result from genetically determined differences in intelligence and ability. "
"Their general assertions about genes and IQ were not very controversial, but their speculations on race were something else again. "

Jensen, 84, and retired, has co-authored recent articles with J. Phillipe Rushton. John Philippe Rushton (born December 3, 1943) is a Psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, most widely Konner wrote:

"Also in the 1990s, Phillipe Rushton has tried to couch racial differences in IQ in a theory drawn from evolutionary biology. This theory takes the concepts of r and K selection, crudely useful when applied to a vast range of living creatures considered on a continuum, and apply it to subtle differences in skull form, mental test results, and sexual behavior within our one species. This theory has no academic legitimacy and little relationship to real evolutionary theory, but it taints the whole Darwinian enterprise, strongly recalling the “scientific anthropology” of the era of slavery. "
"The reality is quite different. As argued by George Armelagos in his Presidential Address to the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (“Race, Reason and Rationale,” Evolutionary Anthropology 4, 1995, pp. 103–109) race itself is a dubious concept for the human species. Obviously it is sociologically meaningful, but even in the social realm it is a constantly moving target with little or no core biological legitimacy. [10] [5]"

Lisa Suzuki and Joshua Aronson of New York University wrote in 2005 that Jensen has largely ignored evidence that fails to support his position that IQ test score gaps represent a genetic racial hierarchy unwaveringly for over 30 years. New York University ( NYU) is a private, Nonsectarian, Coeducational Research University in New York City. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is [11] During this time Jensen has received more than a million dollars from the often-criticized Pioneer fund. The Pioneer Fund is a US non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences [12]

Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, attacked Jensen's work in his 1981 book The Mismeasure of Man. Stephen Jay Gould (September 10 1941 &ndash May 20 2002 was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The Mismeasure of Man is a controversial 1981 book written by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002 Gould writes that Jensen misapplies the concept of "heritability", which is defined as a measure of the variation of a trait due to inheritance within a population (Gould 1981: 127; 156-157). In Genetics, Heritability is the proportion of phenotypic variation in a population that is attributable to genetic variation among individuals Jensen uses heritability to measure differences between populations. Gould also disagrees with Jensen's belief that IQ tests measure a real variable, g, or "the general factor common to a large number of cognitive abilities" which can be measured along a unilinear scale. The general intelligence factor (abbreviated g) is a controversial construct used in the field of Psychology ( see also Psychometrics This is a claim most closely identified with Charles Spearman. Charles Edward Spearman, FRS ( September 10 1863 - September 17 1945) was an English Psychologist known for work According to Gould, Jensen misunderstood the research of L. L. Thurstone to ultimately support this claim; Gould however argues that Thurstone's factor analysis of intelligence revealed g to be an illusion (1981: 159; 13-314). Louis Leon Thurstone ( 29 May 1887 &ndash 30 September 1955) was a U Factor analysis is a statistical method used to explain variability among observed Variables in terms of fewer unobserved variables called factors Gould criticizes Jensen's sources including his use of Catharine Cox's 1926 Genetic Studies of Genius, which examines historiometrically the IQs of historic intellectuals after their deaths (Gould 1981: 153-154). Catharine Morris Cox Miles ( May 20, 1890 - October 11, 1984) was an American psychologist known for her work on intelligence Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Historiometry is the historical study of human progress or individual personal characteristics using Statistics to analyze References to famous people

In a 1982 review of The Mismeasure of Man, Jensen gives point-by-point rebuttals to much Gould's critique, including Gould's treatment of heritability, the "reification" of g, and the use of Thurstone's analysis. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Gould's responses appear in the 1996 edition of The Mismeasure of Man. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) The Mismeasure of Man is a controversial 1981 book written by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002

Jensen's response and criticism

In Arthur Jensen's response to Gould's criticisms, in the paper titled The Debunking of Scientific Fossils and Straw Persons. [6], Jensen begins his paper with this observation

"Stephen Jay Gould is a paleontologist at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and offers a course at Harvard entitled, "Biology as a Social Weapon. Zoology (from Greek ζῷον, zoon, "animal" + λόγος, " Logos " "knowledge" is the branch of " Apparently the course covers much the same content as does the present book. Having had some personal cause for interest in ideologically motivated attacks on biologically oriented behavioral scientists, I first took notice of Gould when he played a prominent role in a group called Science for the People and in that group's attack on the theories of Harvard zoologist Edward O. Wilson, a leader in the development of sociobiology. Science for the People is a left-wing organization that emerged from the antiwar culture of the Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist researcher ( Sociobiology, Biodiversity) theorist ( Sociobiology is a neo-Darwinian and Socialism Synthesis of Scientific disciplines that attempts to explain Social behavior . . "

While Jensen recognizes the validity of some of Gould's claims, in many places, he criticizes Gould's general approach

"This charge of a social, value-laden science undoubtedly contains an element of truth. In recent years, however, we recognize this charge as the keystone of the Marxist interpretation of the history of science. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. "

Jensen adds that Gould made a number of misrepresentations, whether intentional or unintentional, while purporting to present Jensen's own positions

"In his references to my own work, Gould includes at least nine citations that involve more than just an expression of Gould's opinion; in these citations Gould purportedly paraphrases my views. Yet in eight of the nine cases, Gould's representation of these views is false, misleading, or grossly caricatured. Nonspecialists could have no way of knowing any of this without reading the cited sources. While an author can occasionally make an inadvertent mistake in paraphrasing another, it appears Gould's paraphrases are consistently slanted to serve his own message. "

See also: the discussion of intelligence testing, Science wars, and race and intelligence. An Intelligence Quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different Standardized tests attempting to measure Intelligence. The Science wars were a series of intellectual battles in the 1990s between " Postmodernists " and " realists " (though neither party would likely The study of race and intelligence is a controversial field which seeks to determine whether or not human intellectual abilities vary between races The modern controversy

Recent books

The g Factor

The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability (1998) is considered by supporters to be Jensen's magnum opus on the general intelligence factor (g). The general intelligence factor (abbreviated g) is a controversial construct used in the field of Psychology ( see also Psychometrics The book deals with the intellectual history of the discovery of g and various models of how to conceptualize intelligence, and with the biological correlates of g, its heritability, and its practical predictive power.

Clocking the Mind

Clocking the Mind : Mental Chronometry and Individual Differences (2006) deals with mental chronometry (MC), and covers a variety of techniques for measuring the speed with which the brain processes information. Mental chronometry is the use of response time in perceptual-motor tasks to infer the content duration and temporal sequencing of cognitive operations Whereas IQ merely represents an ordinal (ranking) scale and thus possesses no true ratio scale properties, Jensen argues mental chronometry represents a true natural science of mental ability. An Intelligence Quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different Standardized tests attempting to measure Intelligence.

Further reading

Interviews

Selected Articles, Books, & Book Chapters

References

  1. ^ http://www.edb.utexas.edu/robinson/danr/JEBS%2031(3)%20-06_Jensen%20profile.pdf
  2. ^ Sailer 1998
  3. ^ Intelligence[1] and Personality and Individual Differences[2] publisher's pages.
  4. ^ Jensen is listed in a study by Haggblom et al. (2002), [3] of the 100 most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century, at number 47.
  5. ^ Miele 2002
  6. ^ Encyclopedia of Psychology
  7. ^ While only limited inference can be drawn from citation analysis, the paper has received over 1262 citations according to the ISI citation index (Aug. A citation index is an index of Citations between publications allowing the user to easily establish which later documents cite which earlier documents 2006), compared with the other influential figures in the area, Hans J. Eysenck's 821 citations of "A Revised Version of the Psychoticism Scale" (1987; lead author Eysenck, S. Hans Jürgen Eysenck ( March 4, 1916 in Berlin, Germany - September 4, 1997 in London, UK) was a B. G. ), Charles Spearman's 644 of "General Intelligence Objectively Determined and Measured" (1904), James Flynn's 402 citations of "Massive IQ gains in 14 Nations - What IQ Tests Really Measure" (1987), J. Phillipe Rushton's 394 of "Behavioral-Development and Construct-Validity: the Principle of Aggregation" (1983; lead author with Brainderd C. Charles Edward Spearman, FRS ( September 10 1863 - September 17 1945) was an English Psychologist known for work James Robert Flynn (born 1934 aka Jim Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, researches John Philippe Rushton (born December 3, 1943) is a Psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, most widely J. , Pressley M. ), "Linda Gottfredson's 358 of "Circumscription and Compromise: A Developmental Theory of Occupational Aspirations" (1981), and Robert J. Sternberg's 239 of "People's Conceptions of Intelligence" (1981; lead author with Conway, BE, Ketron, JL, et al. Linda Susanne Gottfredson (born 24 June 1947) is a professor of Educational psychology at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Delaware- Robert J Sternberg (born December 8, 1949) is an American psychologist and psychometrician and the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University ).
  8. ^ High Impact Science and the case of Arthur Jensen
  9. ^ Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994). Mainstream Science on Intelligence. "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on December 13, 1994. Wall Street Journal, p A18.
  10. ^ The Tangled Wing Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit Times Books Pub: 2002 ISBN 0-7167-4602-6
  11. ^ The cultural malleability of intelligence and its impact on the racial/ethnic hierarchy L Suzuki, J Aronson - Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2005
  12. ^ The Pioneer Fund: Bankrolling the Professors of Hate Adam Miller The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 6 (Winter, 1994-1995), pp. 58-61

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic