Section 4 Darwin, Galton and Individual Differences

Physiognomy

A persons facial features reflect their character

Uniformitarianism

The earths major features have resulted from gradual processes occurring over vast stretches of time, which continue in the present much as they have in the past

Catastrophism

Geological features arose because of a few relatively sudden and massively cataclysms or catastrophes on the earths surface

Darwin found great _____ discoveries

Geological

Darwin raises questions about the possible ____ of all animal characteristics and then asked about the ______

Function; usefulness

Who first brought up the idea of evolution?

Darwins Grandfather

Lamarck says there are _____ changes produced by the voluntary ______ or _______ of certain organs

Bodily; exercise; disuse

Who came up with the idea of natural selection?

Darwin

Natural selection means

survival of the fittest

Sexual selection

The gradual selection and evolution of characteristics that are specifically favorable for reproductive success

Sociobiology

The unit of evolution to the individual gene

Who had a functionalist approach?

Lamarck

Punctual equilibrium

Slow evolution with periodic dramatic change

Land is not ____ and it is constantly _____

Static; changing

Creationism

The world was created by a powerful being

What made Darwin famous?

His mechanism of evolution

What is unique about Darwin?

The variation in individuals which gives rise to natural selection (mechanism)

Darwin believes once we are born along with animals we go through:

Stages of development

Darwin thinks all humans come from the same ______.

Origin

Darwin thinks men and women were ________ different suggesting that women should not have the kinds of ____ that men have.

Biologically; jobs

Who introduced mental tests?

Galton at Landon's international health exhibition

What did Galtons mental tests measure?

Physical traits: head size, reaction time and sensory acuity as proxies for intelligence

Galtons rationale

He believed the intellectual ability correlated with the efficiency of the nervous system, sensory perception and head size

Criticism of early intelligence tests

These tests reflected physical capabilities rather than higher cognitive processes, which latter proved to be an incorrect approach to measuring intelligence

Galton background

Born into a wealthy family, cousin of Darwin. Was highly curious and pursued a variety of fields such as geography, meteorology and psychology

Hereditary genius

Galton studied prominent families, claiming that intellectual ability was hereditary. He used statistical methods to suggest that eminence runs in families and proposed the normal distribution of abilities.

Nature vs nurture debate

Galton says ability is mostly inherited, later he says that environmental factors do play a role. His work started long term debates about the balance of genetics and environment in shaping human intelligence.

Twin studies

Galton

Pioneered research into the effects of genetics versus environments. He argues that identical twins exhibited more similarities regardless of upbringing, supporting his hereditarian viewpoint.

Introduction of eugenics

Galton

Advocates for the selective breeding of humans to improve societal intellectual abilities.

How did Galtons ideas about improving human population through "better breeding" become controversial?

They were misused by Nazi ideology

Intelligence testing

Galtons initial tests were flawed, but he initiated the concept of measuring mental abilities. Alfred Binet would invent more and refine some ideas of galtons.

Statistical innovations

Galton

Regression and correlation, which became foundational tools in psychology, biology and social sciences

Controversy and legacy of Galton

Galtons work on heredity and intelligence remains influential but controversial.

Nature vs nurture debate

Intelligence testing

Role in eugenics

The expression of ______ can be _______ by minor things

Traits; affected

Twin studies can show ______ in environmental factors vs ______

Differences; dna

What did Galton think was more important when it came to intelligence?

Genes

He refers to genes as heritability

Why was eugenics a popular movement?

it was considered the science of better breeding and was thought to improve the genetic quality of the human population.

Why did eugenics freak out Americans?

Because the 4 million immigrants were catholic and Americans were Protestant

Binet created:

An assessment for grade placement when public schools were starting

What did Galton study in intelligence tests also?

Sensory perception

Why did Galton study sensory perception?

He thought that you would be smarter if you had sharper vision

Who was one of first to use word association method?

Galton

Anthropometric

Measuring height and weight

Why did Galton think reaction time was important?

It shows that your nervous system is fast

Quick reaction time =

A faster nervous system

What did Galton do about fingerprints

He thought they were unique

So he fingerprinted people he worked with

Galton created ____ ____ and they showed that his theory has ___ ____

Scatter plots; no correlation

Galton was important for:

Intelligence testing, making questionnaires, word associations, twin studies and investing family genetics

Who did Galton want to sterilize? Why?

People with low IQ scores and were not considered smart so they could not reproduce

Why is Galton interested in height?

Tall people have tall kids, unless unhealthy diet. The potential to be tall is genetic but there is an environmental component

Is there a relationship between height and intelligence?

If you have a normal distribution of height and a normal distribution of intelligence, a person who has a high height will tend to be closer to the mean on intelligence. Extremes on one variable does not affect another even if they have a relationship.

Who created the first correlation coefficient?

Galton

Galtons ideas relation to who's idea?

Darwin's

How do Galton and Darwins ideas relate?

Darwin's idea is of evolution, Galton is interested in heritability and individual differences. Darwins theory gives him ideas of heritability. Darwins theory of variability gives him the idea that his question of why ppl differ in ability, intelligence and personality can happen. Focusing on heritability and variation (which variation is one of Darwin's major contributions).

There can be no difference in _____ without _____

Intelligence; variation

industrialization

War, immigration, race, mental illness and mental retardation

Overview of Galton

Interested in fingerprints, developing questionnaires, looking into family relationships and twin studies

Morton is an example of a person who believed in polygenism, the theory that ___________, while Darwin supported monogenism. Monogenism is the theory that ________.

Different varieties of human have different origins; different varieties of humans have a common origin

For Darwin individual differences in ability come from

Variation in each generation of offspring

Galtons idea that individual differences in intelligence might be inherited was inspired by the work of _____ while his idea that intelligence would be associated with faster reaction times was inspired by the work of ____ and _____

Darwin; Helmoltz and Wundt

The anthropologist Gould concluded that there was evidence of racist bias in Mortons skull measures because _________________. Pseudoscience, such as that practiced by Morton (and Gall) in his craniometry, often impresses because of its use of _________.

His errors in measurements were larger for "African" skulls when he moved to a more reliable measure (BBs); very precise measurements

Mortons primary reason for studying the differences in the "races" he identified was to

Explain how human differences fit into a biblical timeline

Galtons intelligence tests showed once and for all that

Head size is not related to intelligence

The phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" suggests that the development of individuals resembles the evolution of species. This idea is reflected in many psychological theories of development and comes from the work of Darwin with what research subject?

Human baby

Darwin provided evidence that humans and animals are similar in psychology in his reports on their _______. We see the influence of Darwin in his psychologists such as ______, who stated that comparative psychology was within the scope of psychology.

Mental ability and emotion; Titchener

Galton was a proponent of eugenics because he believed intellectual characteristics were ________. Eugenics is a form of ________ used to increase the occurrence of preferred traits. Galtons idea _____ with those of the philosopher Locke.

Largely inherited; selective breeding; disagreed

Which of the following is NOT a contribution of Galton to psychology and science in general?

Intelligence testing

Scatterplot and correlation coefficients

Twin studies

Self- report questionnaires

Claims of Morton

Morton said that human skulls classify race and argue that skull size correlates with intelligence.

Showing that different races have different intelligences.

Polygenism

races have different origins

What does Gould say about Mortons craniometry?

Morton was influenced by racial biases. Made systematic errors, particularly in the measurements of "African" skulls.

This led to an underestimation of the size of their skulls compares to other races

Lewis review of Gould showed that

The size of the skulls Morton measured were accurate bc they remeasured and they found no significant changes and no bias.

Difference between Lewis and his team and Gould

Lewis team found no substantial evidence for bias, however, Gould did.

Criticism of Gould

Lewis and his team said he found evidence to fit his argument

Overview of Morton, Gould & Lewis

Lewis critiques Gould, but does not agree with Morton either. They say that Gould did not need to make Morton a bad scientist but dont rule out his biases completely