PSY 425: Tests and Measures
Discussion Questions
- Stephen Jay Gould defines objectivity as a "fair
treatment of data, not absence of preference" (p. 36).
Do you agree or disagree with this definition? If you do,
then, are modern scientists objective in their studies?
- The nature vs. nurture argument, which seeks to distinguish between an
"innate" and an
"acquired" trait, is an ongoing controversy in
science. Instead of "Nature" and "Nurture," Gould
offers the terms "biological determinism" and
"biological potentiality" (p. 360). Are these terms
a better description of the debate over the heritability
if characteristics, or do they add confusion to this
discussion?
- How are students currently being placed into different academic
"tracks"? Are they even placed into track systems anymore? How can educators avoid the
inclination to favor students of certain academic
"status"?
- How can prejudice and racism affect how experiments are
set up and how data from these experiments are
interpreted? Consider the research on IQ differences as an example.
- Every year the number of female entrants in the fields of
science and engineering is less than the number of male
entrants by a huge factor. Does this mean that women are
intrinsically less suited to science and engineering than
men, or are there other factors that interact in such
complex ways that there is no way to isolate the true
causes of this disparity?
- How do the issues that Gould raises apply to practices
like criminal profiling carried out by the police and FBI?
- A recent example of profiling occurs when trying to identify potential
terrorists. Does our assessment history provide any cautionary examples for
this practice?
Stephen Jay Gould died at the age of 60 on May 20, 2002.
For more information on Gould see the following links:
http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/gould/
http://www.annonline.com/interviews/961009/biography.html
For an alternative perspective on the Mismeasure of Man:
http://www.mugu.com/cgi-bin/Upstream/Issues/psychology/IQ/carroll-gould.html