The Story of Different Minds  ·  Modern psychology  ·  1905 onwards

The Invention of IQ and Its Misuse

A tool intended for support became a tool for ranking, exclusion and control.

A test made to help children was used to judge human worth.

Simple version

Alfred Binet developed early intelligence testing in France to help identify children who needed educational support.

But intelligence testing was quickly used in far more dangerous ways: ranking people, judging immigrants, supporting segregation, and feeding eugenic arguments.

The harm

When a test score becomes a measure of human value, harm follows. People can be labelled deficient, uneducable, defective or unfit.

The problem is not assessment itself. The problem is when assessment becomes destiny.

Awareverse lens

Awareverse should be clear: tools are only as humane as the system using them.

A score can describe something. It should never replace the person.

Deep dive topics from this chapter