Jensenism

The gap of the IQ between white and black students was a subject of debate in the United States, particularly around the 1970s. One view, which is referred to among behavioral geneticists as the genetic position, holds that IQ is determined by hereditary factors - about 80 percent of the variability of intelligence while 20 percent is attributed to environmental factors.[3] The gap, therefore, was associated with race. Jensenism was as one of the most notable theories to have emerged from this sector. It was based on Arthur Jensen's 1969 article that talked about the failure of compensatory education. He cited several evidence that demonstrated how IQ is inherited. For instance, he said that if one looks at studies of adopted children, "you find that their intelligence relates more closely to their natural parents."^[4] He also proposed that the measured 15-point difference between American blacks and whites could never be eliminated by education.^[5]

Reception

Many reactions to Jensen's article and the arguments it contained quickly ensued, some highly favorable and others relentlessly negative, with some directly equating it with

More recently, several favorable articles defending Jensen and his ideas have criticized the frequent negative use of the term "Jensenism".[10]^[11] These include the journal Intelligence, which devoted an entire issue honoring Jensen and his work.^[12] Linda Gottfredson also claimed:

Arthur Jensen is a masterful scientist whose work broke a social taboo. Jensenism refers to the aspect of his work that violated the [social] taboo, specifically his conclusion that individual differences in intelligence are highly heritable and group differences may be too.^[13]

Despite such defenses, however, the current scientific consensus is that genetics do not explain IQ differences between racial groups.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

References