Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ncar!gatech!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!pyramid!prls!philabs!aecom!werner
From: werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner)
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Bias on IQ tests
Message-ID: <1689@aecom.YU.EDU>
Date: 23 Mar 88 09:53:55 GMT
References: <153reneerb@byuvax.bitnet> <20779@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <3943@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 44

In article <3943@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, sethg@athena.mit.edu (Seth A. Gordon) writes:
> In article <3933@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> 
> lazarus@athena.mit.edu (Michael Friedman) writes:
> 
> >It is often claimed that blacks do worse than whites on tests like the
> >SAT's and Civil Service tests, etc. because the tests are biased. Does
> >anyone out there have a list of supposedly biased questions?

	The question on the Wechsler IQ test which shows the most 
performance difference between blacks and white, and thus should be 
considered the most "biased" is the following: it is the verbal repetition
of a string of numbers 5 or greater in the REVERSE order, as in:
	
Tester says:  5 2 7 3 4
Examinee responds:  4 3 7 2 5

	It's not easy, for one.  Two, don't confuse this exercise with
repeating the numbers in the same order.  There is no black-white
difference in repeated the string of numbers in the forward direction,
making that exercise the least racially biased question.

	I make no attempt at trying to figure the above paradox out.

	And one other supposedly biased question: there appears on the
Wechsler test, the question "Who wrote Hamlet."  While this seems like
a bit of cultural imperialism, looks can be deceiving.  Not only does
this question show no black-white racial bias,  but it is almost culture
fair, showing only minimal bias against non-English speakers.  It appears
the knowledge that Christopher Marlowe wrote Hamlet (no, wait a minute,
wasn't it that Shakespeare person, I'm not sure) is almost a cultural
universal, and knowing or not knowing the answer is a measure of
intelligence, not upbringing.  I think Shakespeare would be proud.

Just a final aside: it seems that most of the people who vociferously attack
IQ tests, as well as many of those who steadfastly defend them, have
absolutely no idea what is actually in them.  It doesn't make for
rational or enlightened discussion.
~.

-- 
	        Craig Werner   (future MD/PhD, 3.5 years down, 3.5 to go)
	     werner@aecom.YU.EDU -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
              (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517)
                   "Low-tech is a lot more effective than low-cal."