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The Vanishing Genius: Lewis Terman and the Stanford Study
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Extract
The idea of genius has intrigued and baffled generations of thinkers interested in the problems of human excellence, leadership, and creativity. Until the early twentieth century, it was generally assumed that the man of genius, whatever his mode of expression, was qualitatively different from the rest of humanity—that he possessed some mysterious, inborn element that made his achievements possible. Because of the supposed mystery surrounding the origin and nature of genius, there grew up over the years a veritable mythology linking the man of genius with phenomena ranging from Deity to insanity.
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- Copyright © 1962, University of Pittsburgh Press
References
Notes
1. Terman, Lewis, The Measurement of Intelligence (New York, 1916), 12.Google Scholar
2. Wolfe, Don M. has included a chapter on “Lewis Terman and the Definition of Genius” in his book, The Image of Man in America (Dallas, 1957). His conclusions are quite different from mine. Mr. Wolfe sees the Terman study of gifted children as a significant effort at quantification of human behavior and hence as an important step toward the realization of a “science of man.” He never raises the question that is crucial to Terman's work: has the study really been measuring what it purports to measure? Mr. Wolfe has, I think, viewed the experiment statically and, as I shall show below, has ignored changes that have occurred over time—changes that cause me to doubt the validity of Terman's assumptions.Google Scholar
3. Terman, , 13.Google Scholar
4. “Commercialism: the Educator's Bugbear,” School Review, XVII (March, 1909), 195; “Education Against Nature,” Harpers Weekly LIII (Nov. 20, 1909), 17; “Pathology of School Discipline,” New England Magazine, XXXXI (Dec, 1909), 479–84; “Tragedies of Childhood,” Forum, XXXXIX (Jan., 1913), 41–47; “Precocious Children,” Forum, LII (Dec, 1914), 893–98.Google Scholar
5. Terman, Lewis, “Genius and Stupidity,” Pedagogical Seminary, XIII (June, 1906), 307.Google Scholar
6. Terman, Lewis, “New Approach to the Study of Genius,” Psychological Review, XXIX (July, 1922), 311.Google Scholar
7. Ibid., 318.Google Scholar
8. Wolfe, , whose work on Lewis Terman is cited above, ignores this confession of arbitrariness and quite erroneously says that Terman's canvassings proved that “at least one child of genius potential may be found among 250 pupils in many communities of average American citizens.” Wolfe, 374.Google Scholar
9. Among these early critics of Terman's philosophy and that of the mental testing movement as a whole are William C. Bagley, Determinism in Education (Baltimore, 1928); Wooster Curti, Margaret, “The Intelligence of Delinquents in the Light of Recent Research,” Scientific Monthly, XXII (Feb., 1926), 132–38; and Wallin, J. E. W., Problems of Sabnormality (Yonkers-on-Hudson, 1917).Google Scholar
10. Terman, Lewis and others, Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted Children, vol. 1 in Genetic Studies of Genius (Stanford, 1925), 631–35.Google Scholar
11. Ibid., 641.Google Scholar
12. See, for example, “Bright Children Upset Notions About Genius,” New York Times (July 19, 1925), sec. 8, 14; Terman, Lewis, “The Influence of Nature and Nurture Upon Intelligence Test Scores,” Journal of Educational Pyschology, XIX (1928), 362–73; “The Possibilities and Limitations of Training,” Journal of Educational Research, XIII (1926), 371–73.Google Scholar
13. Terman, Lewis and others, Intelligence Tests and School Reorganization (Yonkers-on-Hudson, 1923), 30.Google Scholar
14. Ibid., 21.Google Scholar
15. Terman, Lewis and others, The Promise of Youth, vol. 3 in Genetic Studies of Genius (Stanford, 1930), 62, 76. Volume 2 does not concern Terman's 1,000 children but is instead a collateral study of historical geniuses made by one of Terman's associates, Catherine Cox.Google Scholar
16. Ibid., 127.Google Scholar
17. Ibid., 148.Google Scholar
18. Ibid., 480.Google Scholar
19. Ibid., 481–482.Google Scholar
20. Terman, Lewis, “Intelligence in a Changing Universe,” School and Society, LI (1940), 470.Google Scholar
21. Ibid. Google Scholar
22. Terman, Lewis and Oden, Melita, The Gifted Child Grows Up, vol. 4 in Genetic Studies of Genius (Stanford, 1947), 156.Google Scholar
23. Ibid., 208.Google Scholar
24. Ibid., 312.Google Scholar
25. See, for example, “Adventures in Stupidity,” Scientific Monthly, XIV (Jan., 1922), 24–40.Google Scholar
26. Terman, Lewis, “The Discovery and Encouragement of Talent,” American Psychologist, IX (June, 1954), 227.Google Scholar
27. Terman, and Oden, , The Gifted Child Grows Up, 358.Google Scholar
28. Terman, Lewis and Oden, Melita, The Gifted Group at Middle Life, vol. 5 in Genetic Studies of Genius (Stanford, 1955), p. 109.Google Scholar
29. Ibid., 129.Google Scholar
30. Ibid., 152.Google Scholar
31. Terman, Lewis, “Genius and Stupidity,” Pedagogical Seminary, XIII (Oct., 1906), 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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