User:JussyIndy/sandbox

Intellectual Testing and Research Practices of Blacks between 1914-1964
During the years spanning between 1914 and 1964, Blacks experienced increasingly more contextually and culturally sensitive testing practices. This is a précis of some of the published articles at the time.

Years Spanning from 1910-1929
During the years spanning from 1910 to 1929, there was a clear shift in testing and interpretation practices concerning black children. In 1914,, Morse conducted a study comparing the intellectual ability of Blacks versus Whites using the Binet and Point Scales. Morse conceded that the testing measures used were normed for Whites and that the administrators themselves were also White; however, according to Morse, the differences in intelligence scores obtained were too great to be accounted for by the aforementioned confounding issues. Morse further noted that the black and white children in his study were served in the same school system, and therefore, the results of his tests were both fair and valid. His findings suggested that Blacks were best suited to activities requiring rote ability; while the white students appeared to possess a natural aptitude for higher order thinking. Another study during this early time period, which did not appear to take cultural or societal factors into account included a study conducted by Reuter. In his 1917 article, Reuter reported that the intelligence of Blacks were naturally inferior to Whites, using a review of previous research studies to substantiate his claim. However, such articles would have been saturated in racial bias. Arlitt (1922), in his study, reported that the intelligence of Blacks decreased with age, relegating this decrease to Blacks' inherent inability to develop adequate verbal ability overtime. However, like the previous articles, this study did not adequately expound on the lack of educational resources available to Blacks at the time. Sunne (1925) in his study asserted that different racial norms were not needed to assess intelligence in Black children; however, he did concede that a more holistic view of the child, which included cultural factors, was necessary to allow for adequate interpretations to be made. According to Sunne, these factors would have influenced the observed abilities in the child. A further shift towards culturally sensitive interpretation occurred in an article published by Davis (1928), where he found a positive correlation between school attendance and performance on the Terman Group Intelligence Examination among Black school aged children and asserted that future intellectual tests should take the child’s school attendance into account, rather than relying solely on the grade of the child for norms. He went on to note that, “In fact, there is great doubt if any intelligence tests as yet devised is well adapted to the Southern Negro… when and only when we have equalized the character as well as the amount of education possessed by the colored and the white races can we draw distinct lines between them with reference to intelligence” (p.129). Although these later articles reflected a move towards culturally sensitive research, a study conducted by Young (1929), reflected some of the earlier lack of attention to cultural and societal influences. In his study, the National Intelligence Test, a standardized test in use at the time, was used to demonstrate that lighter skin Blacks possessed greater intellectual ability when compared to their darker skin cohort; furthermore, his findings indicated that they possessed lower cognitive ability than their same aged White peers. However, like the earlier studies, this study did not take into account the cultural, societal and economic influences of the time.

1930-1949
The period spanning between 1930 and 1949 demonstrated an even stronger move towards culturally sensitive and ethically informed research practices. However, not all of the articles during this time took into account confounding variables. Park (1931), in his study, cited the common belief that multiracial individual’s such as Fredrick Douglas, owed their intelligence to their white ancestry, from earlier archival work saturated in racial biases. Charles (1936) in his study also reviewed past literature for and against the hypothesis that Blacks inherently possess inferior intelligence to Whites. In his study, he reviewed the vast literature of intellectual tests indicating an inherent deficit in Blacks; however, in his article, he noted the lack of relevant racial norms. In conclusion, Charles (1936) found that Blacks and Whites of comparable social status performed almost equal, with whites out performing Blacks only marginally so. According to Charles, it was difficult to say whether these observed differences were due to inherent differences in the individual, societal influences, or problems with the psychometric properties of the test. According to Canady (1942), Blacks attending college from a higher SES tended towards higher intellectual scores than their same raced peers. Canady goes on to relegate observed disparities between Blacks and Whites to their respective positions in the American social system. Alper and Boring (1944) in their study found that cultural influences did indeed impact previous test results. In another article, Witty (1945) determined from results obtained via the Army General Classification tests, that test performances were linked to educational accessibility. Furthermore, they found that when educational capital was standardized, Blacks performed equal and at times better than their White counterparts. However, according to Garrett (1945), previous studies that stressed that the standardization of tests made it impossible to generalize findings to Blacks were wrong. According to him, the inter-correlations present made such generalizations tenable, and therefore, results demonstrating that Blacks were inherently less intelligent than Whites were in fact believable.

1950-1964
During the period of time spanning from 1950 to 1964, it is clear that researchers were more knowledgable regarding possible confounding variables that could influence and sometimes hinder result interpretation. However, much like the earlier articles, this was not always the case. Davidson, Gibby, McNeil, Segal, & Silverman (1950) in their study found that Blacks did considerably lower with timed tasks, than Whites. According to the authors, this was due to a lack of an acculturated need to hurry, which was then relegated to their lack of connection between hurrying and success. Whites, according to the authors, could see the purpose for expedited work, because the culture rewarded this perspective in them. However, Blacks did not experience this cause and effect relationship in their respective lives. However, the authors did not note any possible contextual or other confounding variables that may have influenced the results of their study. According to Plotkin (1959), observed differences between Black and White intelligence was due to geographical differences, education accessibility, language, SES, cultural factors and motivation in the individual, rather than due to any inherent differences in the discrete races. Plotkin criticized previous researchers who blindly accepted the results of previous researchers, and who did not take into consideration the aforementioned variables. Roen (1960), after obtaining results from a comparison of Blacks’ with Whites’ intelligence using the Army Classification Battery (ACB) hypothesized that the observed differences were due to a disparaging and racially charged environment, which resulted in a self-defeating personality trait amongst Blacks, a sentiment shared by Pettigrew (1963). Deutsch & Brown (1964) in their study examining the influence of contextual factors on observed intellectual differences between Blacks and Whites maintained that SES, an instable home life, lack of accessibility to pre-k and race combined to affect a cumulative deficit on the child’s observed intellectual ability. Lastly, in a study conducted by Levinson (1964), homeless Whites and homeless Blacks’ WAIS test score results were compared and found comparable. Levinson relegated the results of the study to the common societal difficulties experienced by the two groups.

Conclusion
The purpose of this short literature review was to provide a glimpse into the intellectual testing and research practices of blacks between the period spanning from 1914-1964. It appears that overtime, cultural and societal influences were taken into account when interpreting the intellectual test results of Blacks.