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152

(1944) [MARC] Author: Gunnar Myrdal
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152 An American Dilemma
isolated. Two of the specific questions which should be asked—from the
point of view discussed here—to determine the role of heredity in intelli-
gence and personality have been stated in a report sponsored by the Social
Science Research Council:
In studying this problem two questions should be considered. First, to what extent
do individuals differ in degree of flexibility to environmental influences—i.e., are
the congenital attributes of some persons less subject to modification by environ-
mental forces than are those of other persons? Secondly, to what extent does the
congenital equipment of the person determine his subsequent environment—i.e., to
what extent do his congenital traits predispose him to select or modify various
aspects of his environment?^®
Little of the existing research on the role of heredity in the determination
of psychic traits and capacities has been undertaken with either of these
two questions in mind. As we have seen, the presumption has been—^and
still is, among most students—^that, because there are certain physical differ-
ences between Negroes and whites, there may also be expected to be certain
psychological differences. This does not necessarily follow, however, and
the use of the presumption as a working hypothesis is a source of bias, for
the following reason: Everything we know—from the work of the child
psychologists, the psychiatrists, and the social psychologists—about develop-
ment in the individual indicates that specific psychic traits, especially
personality traits, but also the components of intelligence,®® are not present
at birth and do not ^‘maturate” but actually develop through experience.
Specific psychological traits, therefore, cannot be compared with specific
physical traits in respect to their hereditary determination.
Whether underlying capacities and the most general personality traits

speed of reaction, for example—differ in average between the two races
is not known, but it should not be forgotten that they are never subject to
direct observation in the same sense that physical traits are. Thus, even if
there were some hereditary differences in psychic traits and capacities, it
would still not be necessary for empirically observable traits and capacities
to differ at all between the two races. It is possible that we shall never know
if there are hereditary differences in psychic traits between the average
Negro and the average white man. The fact of being a Negro is so inter-
woven with all other aspects of a Negro’s life that to hold constant these
other aspects (e.g., economic and social status, education, and so on) would
be equivalent to holding the racial factor constant also.
From the standpoint of the attainment of pure scientific knowledge, it
is, of course, unfortunate that the early measurement of psychic traits of
different social groups was guided by biased assumptions. When viewed in
an historical context, however, it becomes apparent that biased popular
opinion gave psychologists the stimulus to go out and try to measure the
things which were previously only the subjects of impression. After the

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