Intelligence in the United States

About this book

"Dr. Miner's study of intelligence testing and the concept of intelligence appears at a time when the validity of existing standards is being challenged. The book gives substance to the growing debate; it also reviews the status of contemporary investigations of intelligence and provides a bibliography of the literature since 1940. The theory of intelligence, as formulated by the author, postulates that native intelligence depends for its development on the availability of learning opportunities and on individual motivation. The theory is employed in a nationwide survey of a representative sample of the U.S. population; methods of public opinion research were used in administration the intelligence test, a brief but highly reliable measure of verbal ability. The 1500 persons tested march the U.S. population aged ten and over. The author investigated the significance of their intelligence scores in relation to education, sex, marital status, age, race, occupation, geographical area, religion, class identification and city size. An original contribution of the book is the formulation of models of the educational system and occupational structure that permit detailed estimates of the extent to which intellectual resources are being wasted in this country. Suggestions for full use of these resources are made throughout the book and, especially, in the concluding chapter" -- Dust jacket.