The History and Controversy of IQ Tests

By Laura Knoy on Thursday, January 17, 2008.

IQ tests have been used to measure children’s mental abilities, played a role in capital punishment cases and affected government mental health benefits and company hiring decisions. And while there's a general awareness of their shortcomings of intelligence testing, author Stephen Murdock says the tests remain as ubiquitous and important as ever. We look at the long and often controversial history of the IQ test.

Guest

  • Stephen Murdock, author and journalist who has written for many publications, including Newsweek, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe

Author and Journalist Stephen Murdock will speak at the Massachusetts School of Law, located at 500 Federal Street in Andover, MA, in the new courtroom today at 6 p.m. He will discuss his new book, "IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea." The public is invited to attend and admission is free. No reservations required. Books will be for sale and Murdock will sign copies.

MP3
Audio Help
Comments (1)
Article Tools
Email
Print

Public Insight
comments

All comments are moderated before appearing on the site. Comments must adhere to the NHPR.org comment guidelines and terms of use.

I am very suspicious of IQ
dan@dstreamd.com - Thu, 01/17/2008 - 10:16

I am very suspicious of IQ tests. I see them as a very narrow and poor way of measuring a person's potential. That being said, I once heard of a very interesting, perhaps even disturbing use of IQ tests that proved very effective for the company administering them:

I once spoke with a person who had worked with American Airlines. He told me that AA had been having trouble retaining people as ticket entry clerks because the job was so tedious. This position required entering ticket information into computers for eight hours a day. To solve the retention problem, AA started giving applicants IQ tests. They only hired people who received low test scores on the tests. Their retention of people hired to those positions then went up dramatically resulting in a substantial reduction in hiring and training costs.

Dan in Concord