Terman study

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The Terman Study is a long-term study started and carried out by Lewis Terman (1877–1956) in 1928 and continued after his death . It is entitled Genetic Studies of Genius . The result of the study was that those selected as highly gifted at the time were mostly more successful in school and professionally than those who were normally gifted at the time. They were also healthier physically and mentally. However, this is largely explained by the fact that they came from particularly supportive family backgrounds. The study is often criticized because Terman was a well-known member of the eugenic society Human Betterment Foundation and his methodology was impure.

Methodical approach

Terman and his co-workers examined the life paths of gifted children. To identify these, they asked California teachers to name the smartest, second smartest, youngest, and oldest child in the class. These children were subjected to several intelligence tests. Terman also tested these children's siblings and many of them turned out to be highly gifted. 1528 gifted children took part in the study. There were also control groups of normally gifted children. Investigations were carried out at 12-year intervals. In between, less time-consuming surveys were carried out by post. The last follow-up examination took place 35 years after the first survey. 98% of the original participants were still in the sample.

Results

The gifted children came from a good family. The socio-economic level of their families of origin was well above the population average. There was an above-average number of academics among her parents. The number of famous relatives and ancestors far exceeded what one would randomly expect. Many of their families had very distinguished pedigrees. It could be proven that the living and family situation of the gifted children was unusually good. The standard of living was far higher than in families of the normally gifted, the homes were cleaner and larger, and the parent-child relationships were better.

The gifted developed well: “Physical examinations showed for the group (the gifted) overall above-average health and freedom from disabilities. Features such as nervousness, stuttering, headaches, general weakness and poor nutritional status were also less common in the gifted than in the Kgn (control groups). "

It turned out that the gifted were very successful at school. In addition, they often had specialist knowledge that they would actually only have learned in school in higher grades, so they had a great deal of knowledge acquired outside of class. “Overall, the gifted children are mostly excellent in all school subjects; One-sidedness is not characteristic of these children. However, their superiority is greatest in subjects such as language use, reading and other abstract achievements and least in work, sewing, cooking and other craft subjects ”. The gifted had a variety of hobbies and interests. You liked reading and a lot. A two-month reading report showed that the gifted read three times as many books as the normal. It was also shown that they do not tend to read junk literature, but rather read books of higher quality than the normal. Gifted children were also interested in collections. They created collections almost twice as often as normal children. The collections of gifted children were also extensive and more of a scientific nature.

The gifted child grows up

It turned out that gifted people often grow up to become academics. They were eight times more likely to become academics than the normal. They reached graduate degrees and received academic honors more often than the normal gifted. Highly gifted men were about five times as likely to receive the Ph.D. (which corresponds to our Dr. title), like normally gifted men. Gifted men were often employed in academic professions. However, the thesis that all gifted people become academics must be rejected. They were also often found in other professions. They were very rarely found in low-status occupations.

The professional history of gifted women is difficult to interpret, as housewife and mother were still a recognized goal in life at that time. In 1955, 60% of gifted women were housewives. If they were employed, they were also employed as secretaries or in similar professions (despite university degrees). Other professions were social work, painting, writing and research.

In terms of health, the gifted were still doing well: “The mortality rate in the gifted group was below that of the general public. The physical and mental health remained above average. The incidence of delinquency [and] alcoholism [...] was lower than in the general population. There is strong evidence of good emotional and social development and broad interests. "

It was found that the gifted particularly often chose spouses who were above average intelligent. Their children were also often very intelligent.

Highly gifted people

A special investigation within the study looked at people whose IQs were higher than 170. They had an advantage over the rest of the gifted. They had shortened their time at school even more frequently, had even better grades and an even better education. They were just as well adjusted emotionally as the rest of the gifted and even more successful professionally.

Gifted underachievers

Terman compared the most successful among the gifted (group A) with the “least successful” (group C). It must be emphasized here that the men in Group C were by no means totally unsuccessful. Rather, her professional success was "mediocre". It was shown that the gifted in group A came from their parents' homes with the higher socio-economic status compared to those in group C. There were large differences in the characteristics “focus on a goal”, “perseverance” and “self-confidence”, both in the self-assessment and in the assessment by family and friends. “In summary, the factors of home background appear to play the most significant role in the performance of adult men, all of whom are of higher intelligence. For these men, motivational factors - which themselves are probably often related to environmental conditions - often led to the differences between excellent performance and mediocrity. "

criticism

It has been criticized that the teachers' pre-selection of candidates for the intelligence tests may have overlooked complicated children. This may have resulted in an overly optimistic picture of giftedness. One should also not overlook the possible effects of participating in the study on the later development of the gifted. Every gifted person knew of their extraordinary talent (possible self-fulfilling prophecy ). It may also falsify the results that Terman felt called to be the personal mentor of his protégés; he helped them, for example, by writing letters of recommendation for prestigious universities. Many of the gifted believed that taking part or having taken part in the study had a major impact on their lives.

Finally, it should be noted that most of the gifted came from the higher socio-economic classes. It is possible that a large part of her good physical and mental health had more to do with her shift position than with giftedness as such. This was suggested by a study by Bonsall and Stefflre in 1955. They compared the gifted with people of similar high socio-economic origin, but who were normally gifted. They couldn't find any differences in mental health. Terman is also described as a dogmatic man who was often unwilling to give up an opinion once formed. Terman was a believer in eugenic theories . Two boys named Luis Walter Alvarez and William B. Shockley were not allowed to participate in the study because their measured IQ was too low. Both were later awarded the Nobel Prize. Not a single one of Terman's gifted people won the Nobel Prize.

See also

Web links

  • Stanford Magazine: The Vexing Legacy of Lewis Terman - The legendary Stanford psychologist helped hundreds of gifted children and showed America that it's okay to be smart. But behind his crusade was a disturbing social vision
  • Stanford Magazine: A Tale of Two Termites- Lewis Terman promised anonymity, but several of his kids later went public. Two made names in Hollywood
  • Joanna Schaffhausen: Child Prodigies (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joanna Schaffhausen: Child Prodigies ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of March 6, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.brainconnection.com
  2. ↑ a b Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 465.
  3. ↑ Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 468
  4. ↑ a b c Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 466.
  5. ↑ Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 467.
  6. ↑ Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 469.
  7. ↑ Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , pp. 469/470.
  8. ↑ a b Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 470.
  9. ↑ a b c d Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 471.
  10. ↑ The test used for identification did not have the standard deviation of 15 that is common in science today, but an SD of 24. That is, the most gifted had an IQ of at least 144 with a standard deviation of 15.
  11. ↑ a b Anne Anastasi: Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 472.
  12. ↑ a b c Anne Anastasi (1976): Differential Psychology - Differences in the behavior of individuals and groups - Volume 2 . Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag. ISBN 3-407-51102-7 , p. 473
  13. ^ A b c Mitchell Leslie: The Vexing Legacy of Lewis Terman . In: Stanford Magazine (online) ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2011 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stanfordalumni.org
  14. ↑ Marcella R. Bonsall, Buford Stefflre: The temperament of gifted children . In: California Journal of Educational Research , September 6, 1955, pp. 162-165; Joan Freeman: Gifted Children: Their Identification and Development in a Social Context . 1980, p. 233 f. (online) .
  15. ↑ Mitchell Leslie: Lewis Terman . In: Stanford Magazine , July / August 2000.