Moron (psychology)
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Moron is a controversial term once used in psychology to denote a category of mental retardation.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community.
Origin and uses
"Moron" was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard[3] from the Greek word moros, which meant "dull" (as opposed to "sharp"), and used to describe a person with a mental age located between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale.[4] It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51-70, being superior in one degree to "imbecile" (IQ of 26-50) and superior in two degrees to "idiot" (IQ of 0-25). The word moron, along with others including "retarded", "idiotic", "imbecilic", "stupid", and "feeble-minded", was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated by psychologists.[5]
Following opposition to Goddard's attempts to popularize his ideas,[6] Goddard recanted his earlier claims about the moron: "It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case. The danger is probably negligible."[7]
References
- ^ Rafter, Nicole Hahn (1998). Creating Born Criminals. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252067419
- ^ Black, Edwin (2004). War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 9781568583211
- ^ Trent, James W. Jr. (1995). Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States. University of California Press, ISBN 9780520203570
- ^ Goddard, Henry H. Heredity of feeble-mindedness. American Breeders' Magazine 1:165-78.
- ^ Zenderland, Leila (2001). Measuring Minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the Origins of American Intelligence Testing. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521003636
- ^ Goddard, Henry H. Who Is a Moron? The Scientific Monthly, Volume 24, Issue 1, pp. 41-46.
- ^ Chase, Allan (1977). The Legacy of Malthus: The Social Costs of the New Scientific Racism. Knopf/Random House, ISBN 9780394480459
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