[tips] Re: Golden Door - Addendum

roig-reardon Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:24:53 -0700

Ok, Im up to 1982 now and Ive discovered a couple of additional relevant 
entries on this question. It seems that a 1917 paper by Goddard is consistent 
the notion that immigrants from certain countries were more likely to be 
feeble-minded (see Dorfman, 1982). There were two other relevant comments on 
this matter in American Psychologist, one by Kamin and one by Samelson.


References

Dorfman, D. D. (1982). Henry Goddard and the feeble-mindedness of Jews, 
Hungarians, Italians and Russians. American Psychologist, January, 96-97.

Goddard, H. H. (1917). Mental tests and the immigrant. Journal of Delinquency, 
2, 243-277.

Kamin, L. J. (1982). Mental testing and immigration. American Psychologist, 
January, 97-98.

Samelson, H. H. (1982). H. H. Goddard and the immigrants. American 
Psychologist, January, 1291-1292.

Miguel



 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> What a coincidence!  Last night I was browsing through old copies of American 
> Psychologist that I was getting ready to discard when I came upon a 
> commentary 
> by Herrnstein on a sentence similar to the one below that shows the same 
> percentages of mentally deficient from various nationalities and that has 
> been 
> attributed to Goddard at various times. The commentary ends as follows:
> 
> "In summary, the familiar sentence attributed to Goddard on excessive 
> retardation in the IQs of immigrants is (a) not Goddard's sentence, but 
> Kamin's; 
> (b) not found in any form in the reference to Goddard made by Kamin; (c) 
> almost 
> certainly not based on IQ scores, assuming Kamin did find something relevant 
> someplace in Goddard; and (d) probably based on a long-gone test known by 
> Terman 
> and others to overestimate adult retardation seriously even in native 
> American 
> populations" (p. 424).
> 
> Reference:
> 
> Herrnstein, R. J. (1981). Try again, Dr. Albee. American Psychologist, April, 
> 424-425.
> 
> 
> Miguel
>  
> 
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: "Christopher D. Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
> Mike Palij wrote: 
> 
> 
> http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/kallikak.shtml
> >From the latter website we have the following text that may help
> set the context for what immigrants may have had to expect on
> reaching Ellis Island:
> 
> "The height of Goddard's success came at a time when America
> was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Europe. The
> Immigration Restriction Act, passed in 1924 (which remained in
> effect until 1965) was influenced by American eugenics' efforts.
> In 1913 Goddard was invited to Ellis Island to help detect morons
> in the immigrant population. In his Intelligence Classification of
> Immigrants of Different Nationalities (1917) he asserted that most
> of the Ellis Island immigrants were mentally deficient. For example,
> he indicated that 83% of all Jews tested were feeble-minded, as
> were 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and 87% of the
> Russians. The result was that many immigrants were turned away
> and sent back to Europe."
> 
>   
> Regretible as the experiment with Godard's test at Ellis Island was, my 
> understanding is that it was relatively limited in duration (although it has 
> gotten an enormous amount of "play" since Gould's _Mismeasure of Man_ was 
> published). Unfortunately, I don't have a reliable source ready to hand. Does 
> someone have a copy of Leila Zenderland's biography of Goddard?
> 
> Chris
> 
> -- 
> 
> Christopher D. Green
> Department of Psychology
> York University
> Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
> Canada
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
> 416-736-5115 ex. 66164
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
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--- Begin Message ---
What a coincidence! Last night I was browsing through old copies of American Psychologist that I was getting ready to discard when I came upon a commentary by Herrnstein on a sentence similar to the one below that shows the same percentages of mentally deficient from various nationalities and that has been attributed to Goddard at various times. The commentary ends as follows:

"In summary, the familiar sentence attributed to Goddard on excessive retardation in the IQs of immigrants is (a) not Goddard's sentence, but Kamin's; (b) not found in any form in the reference to Goddard made by Kamin; (c) almost certainly not based on IQ scores, assuming Kamin did find something relevant someplace in Goddard; and (d) probably based on a long-gone test known by Terman and others to overestimate adult retardation seriously even in native American populations" (p. 424).

Reference:

Herrnstein, R. J. (1981). Try again, Dr. Albee. American Psychologist, April, 424-425.

Miguel
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Christopher D. Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Mike Palij wrote:
http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/kallikak.shtml
>From the latter website we have the following text that may help
set the context for what immigrants may have had to expect on
reaching Ellis Island:

"The height of Goddard's success came at a time when America
was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Europe. The
Immigration Restriction Act, passed in 1924 (which remained in
effect until 1965) was influenced by American eugenics' efforts.
In 1913 Goddard was invited to Ellis Island to help detect morons
in the immigrant population. In his Intelligence Classification of
Immigrants of Different Nationalities (1917) he asserted that most
of the Ellis Island immigrants were mentally deficient. For example,
he indicated that 83% of all Jews tested were feeble-minded, as
were 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and 87% of the
Russians. The result was that many immigrants were turned away
and sent back to Europe."

  
Regretible as the experiment with Godard's test at Ellis Island was, my understanding is that it was relatively limited in duration (although it has gotten an enormous amount of "play" since Gould's _Mismeasure of Man_ was published). Unfortunately, I don't have a reliable source ready to hand. Does someone have a copy of Leila Zenderland's biography of Goddard?

Chris

--

Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada

 

416-736-5115 ex. 66164
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
======================================

 

 

 

 
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[tips] Re: Golden Door - Addendum

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