Harold M. Skeels

Harold Manville Skeels (born March 8, 1901 in Denver , † 1970 ) was an American psychologist. His research was mainly concerned with research into human intelligence.

Scientific work

Research on the careers of children in care

In 1940, under the direction of Skeels, research was carried out into the effects of growing up in homes on child development. Skeels described the environment in the orphanage as clean but unemotional. The children were taken care of, washed and fed, but no one gave them emotional devotion. Skeels was able to determine that the children in the orphanage had a very low IQ on average. Many could be described as mentally handicapped.

By chance, Skeels made an interesting observation. Two girls (13 and 16 months old) who lived in the orphanage were diagnosed as terminally mentally disabled. To save costs, they were sent to a home for mentally handicapped women. Something remarkable happened there. The two girls developed very positively. After six months they had developed according to their age and there were no longer any signs of intellectual disability.

Skeels assumed the reason for this was the affection of the mentally handicapped women. He assumed that other “feeble-minded” home children could also be cured in this way.

Based on this assumption, Skeels gave it a try. 13 other mentally handicapped children (average IQ: 64) were referred to the home for the mentally handicapped women. There the women showed them a lot of affection. This experimental group was compared with a control group. The children in the control group stayed in the home. Initially, they had a higher IQ than the children's experimental group.

Changes in IQ
group	IQ before starting the experiment	IQ after two years
Experimental group	64	92
Control group	87	61
Skeels, Harold (1942): A Study of the Effects of Differential Stimulation on Mentally Retarded Children . In: American Journal of Mental Defiency, 66

In adulthood, people from both groups were compared with one another. People from the experimental group had an average IQ. They could be seen as well integrated into social life. No delinquent behavior could be determined among them and they were psychiatrically normal. Almost all of them had a job and were married. They were to be regarded as members of the middle or working class. Their own children were normally intelligent.

It looked completely different in the control group. Four of the twelve people from the control group lived in homes (three in homes for the mentally ill, one in a home for the incurably mentally handicapped), the others were casual workers and repeatedly received support from the state. They were to be regarded as members of the lower class . Only one man was an exception. He was married and worked in the technical field. This man can be described as resilient .

Research on the inheritance of intelligence

In addition, Skeels does research to determine whether intelligence is hereditary. Skeels concluded that the environment plays a major role. He wasn't sure about the role of genes. It could be clearly established that the children of intelligent birth mothers were themselves also more intelligent than the children of mentally disabled birth mothers. But at that time it was American adoption practice to place the children of intelligent mothers in the richest families. Lewontin took up the work of Skeels again and said it was proven by this work that the environment played the main role.

credentials

1. ^ Skeels, Harold (1942): A Study of Differential Stimulation on mentally retarded children, in: American Journal of Mental Defiency, 66
2. ^ Marie Skodak and Harold Skeels: A Final Follow-Up Study of One Hundred Adopted Children . In: Journal of Genetic Psychology . Volume 75, 1949, p. 85
3. ^ Lewontin with Steven Rose and Leon J. Kamin: Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature . 1984, ISBN 0-394-72888-2

literature

• Elaine Fletcher-Janzen and Cecil R. Reynolds: Concise Encyclopedia of Special Education . John Wiley & Sons, New York 2004, p. 875, ISBN 0-471-23218-1 ( Google Book Search )
• Who's Who in the South and Southwest . 6th edition, Marquis - Who's Who, Chicago [1959]