Intelligence, Genes, and Success

This is author-approved bcc. If it is too long, delete the last sentence in each of the biographies. THE BELL CURVE by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, a best selling book published in 1994, set off a hailstorm of controversy about the relationships among IQ, genetics, and various social outcomes, including welfare dependency, crime, and earnings. Much of the public reaction to the book was polemical and did not focus on the details of the science and in particular on the validity of the statistical arguments that underlie the books's conclusions. A detailed understanding of the arguments in THE BELL CURVE requires knowledge about (i) statistical models for genetic heritability, (ii) factor analysis, especially as it has been applied to the analysis of IQ tests, (iii) logistic regression and multiple regression analyses,and (iv) causal modelling and alternative statistical frameworks for making inference from longitudinal data. In this volume a group of statisticians and social scientists have assembled a scientific response to THE BELL CURVE. The sixteen chapters begin by presenting an overview of the scientific and statistical issues and summarize the material in Herrnstein and Murray's book. Then separate chapters by various experts deal with more focused issues, including reanalyses of data relied upon by the authors of THE BELL CURVE. The final chapters consider some of the implications of the work described in the book for American public policy and scientific research. BERNIE DEVLIN is Program Director of the Computational Genetics Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He serves on

"The Bell Curve" by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray argued that IQ in largely genetically inherited, that low IQ is correlated with criminality and other measures of social failure. Therefore, socioeconomic successes are largely genetically inherited and many public policies are a waste of money. This volume analyses the same data and comes to very different conclusions. Written at a level suitable for upper-division students, it will be of great interest to students and researchers in statistis, education, psychology, sociology, and public policy.

I Overview.- 1 Reexamining The Bell Curve.- 2 A Synopsis of The Bell Curve.- II The Genetics-Intelligence Link.- 3 Of Genes and IQ.- 4 The Malleability of Intelligence Is Not Constrained by Heritability.- 5 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Health: Environmental, Psychosocial, and Physiological Pathways.- III Intelligence and the Measurement of IQ.- 6 Theoretical and Technical Issues in Identifying a Factor of General Intelligence.- 7 The Concept and Utility of Intelligence.- IV Intelligence and Success: Reanalyses of Data from the NLSY.- 8 Cognitive Ability, Wages, and Meritocracy.- 9 The Hidden Gender Restriction: The Need for Proper Controls When Testing for Racial Discrimination.- 10 Does Staying in School Make You Smarter? The Effect of Education on IQ in The Bell Curve.- 11 Cognitive Ability, Environmental Factors, and Crime: Predicting Frequent Criminal Activity.- 12 Social Statistics and Genuine Inquiry: Reflections on The Bell Curve.- V The Bell Curve and Public Policy.- 13 A "Head Start" in What Pursuit? IQ Versus Social Competence as the Objective of Early Intervention.- 14 Is There a Cognitive Elite in America?.- 15 Science, Public Policy, and The Bell Curve.- Contributor Biographies.- Author Index.