Historicizing IQ Testing : Intelligence Assessments and Their Role in Norwegian Society from the 1900s to the Present.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aamot Caspersen, Håkon.

Contributor:

Aamot Caspersen

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intelligence tests--Norway--History.

Intelligence tests.

Intelligence tests--Social aspects--Norway.

Intelligence tests--History.

Intelligence tests--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (498 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK : Open Book Publishers, 2026.

Summary:

"Intelligence testing has shaped modern society in profound ways, influencing education, psychology, law, and governance. This volume offers the first comprehensive study of the history of IQ testing in a Nordic country, shedding new light on its development, adaptation, and societal impact in Norway. By tracing the evolution of intelligence tests--from their role in schools and special education to forensic psychiatry and criminal law--the book uncovers the tensions surrounding their use. Are these tests instruments of empowerment or tools of control? How have they shaped access to education, healthcare, and legal rights? A key focus of this study is the transnational movement of intelligence tests, particularly between Norway, the USA, and other Nordic nations. It explores how tests have been translated, adapted, standardized, and used, raising questions about their claims to measure universal intelligence. This volume challenges assumptions about IQ testing, placing practices of testing and the tests themselves at the center of historical analysis. By examining the Norwegian case, it contributes fresh insights to international scholarship, offering a vital perspective on the global history of intelligence measurement. Essential reading for historians, psychologists, and educators, this book redefines our understanding of intelligence testing in a changing world."--Page 4 of cover.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors

List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Historicizing IQ Testing in Norway: Introduction

1. Between Change and Stability: The Thorny Adaptation Process of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in Norway

2. The Scandinavian Space of IQ Testing: Between Normal and Special Education, 1918-1940

3. A Legal History of Intelligence, Testing, and Criminal Unaccountability

4. IQ Testing and Sterilization in Norway, 1930 to 1960

5. Tools of the Trade: Psychotechnics, IQ Testing and the Making of the Psychological Profession in Norway, 1925-1947

6. From Segregation to Integration and the Role of Testing in a Norwegian Educational Psychology Office, 1953-1980

7. IQ Testing Today in Norway's Educational Psychological Services

8. 'Children Got Slightly Smarter with Fish for Lunch': The WPPSI Test, Randomized Trials, and Optimized Kindergartens

9. A Norwegian Terman-Merrill and the Shelf Life of Intelligence Tests

10. "Culture" and Representability in the Norwegian Standardization of WISC-R

11. 'A Violation of the Child's Integrity and of Parental Rights': The 1959 Controversy on IQ Testing of Norwegian Schoolchildren

12. Tests, Metrics, and the Making of the Norwegian School, 1950-2025

13. Drawing Boundaries, Building Barriers: Twentieth-Century US and Norwegian Intelligence Testing from a Comparative Perspective

14. IQ Testing, Education, Reification, and "Race" in Norway's Social Democratic Welfare State

Afterword

Index.

Notes:

Creative Commons * https://creativecommons.org/licenses/*

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-80511-618-5

1-80511-619-3

9781805116196