Reviews Richard Herrnstein's article and book concerning I.Q. and argues that the questions of the nature of intelligence and the respective influences of environment and heredity are important not just in the interpretation of statistical evidence but because these questions have implications in the lives of human beings. (Author/JM)

THE REPORT OF UNESCO COMMITTEE STATED THAT THERE WERE NOT MEASURABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHAT IS DUE TO INNATE CAPACITY AND WHAT IS THE RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION. TESTS WHICH HAVE MADE ALLOWANCE FOR MOST DIFFERENCES IN ENVIRONMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES HAVE SHOWN ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY IN MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AMONG ALL…

Suggests that until some meaning of innate capacity is included, the word intelligence has little precision separate from its use in a social or cultural context. The culture that evolves its definition of intelligence will identify the tasks that fulfill that definition. (Author/AM)

Pseudoscience, or the process of persuasion by establishing a pretense of scientific discovery, is examined in this book in an effort to dispel false notions about the validity of various measures of intelligence and the correlations of genetics to mental ability. The history and development of concepts related to hereditary intelligence and…