{"id":219372,"date":"2025-05-26T04:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T04:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=219372"},"modified":"2025-05-26T04:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T04:54:13","slug":"what-was-the-most-controversial-conclusion-made-by-arthur-jensen-with-regard-to-level-1-and-level-ii-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/26\/what-was-the-most-controversial-conclusion-made-by-arthur-jensen-with-regard-to-level-1-and-level-ii-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"What was the most controversial conclusion made by Arthur Jensen with regard to Level 1 and Level II intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What was the most controversial conclusion made by Arthur Jensen with regard to Level 1 and Level II intelligence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>African Americans, as a group, had the lowest amount of Level II intelligence. Level I intelligence could only be mastered by those who were socioeconomically advantaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those without Level II intelligence should be sterilized so that they could not reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Level I intelligence at higher levels should exempt citizens from military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct Answer:<\/strong><br><strong>African Americans, as a group, had the lowest amount of Level II intelligence. Level I intelligence could only be mastered by those who were socioeconomically advantaged.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arthur Jensen was an educational psychologist best known for his controversial work on intelligence, particularly his 1969 article <em>\u201cHow Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?\u201d<\/em> In this publication, Jensen introduced the concepts of <strong>Level I<\/strong> and <strong>Level II intelligence<\/strong>, based on the work of psychologist J.P. Guilford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Level I intelligence<\/strong> refers to rote learning and memory \u2014 the ability to retain and reproduce information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Level II intelligence<\/strong> involves abstract reasoning, problem-solving, and conceptual learning \u2014 skills typically associated with IQ tests and academic success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The most controversial conclusion Jensen drew was his assertion that <strong>there were racial differences in the distribution of Level II intelligence<\/strong>, with <strong>African Americans, as a group, scoring lower than Whites and Asians<\/strong>. He attributed a significant portion of this gap to <strong>genetic factors<\/strong>, suggesting that environmental interventions alone (such as improving schools) would have limited impact in closing the achievement gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This conclusion sparked intense public and academic backlash. Critics argued that Jensen\u2019s claims <strong>reinforced racist stereotypes<\/strong>, lacked sufficient evidence, and failed to account for <strong>systemic social and economic inequalities<\/strong>, including the effects of <strong>poverty, discrimination, and educational disparities<\/strong>. Many psychologists and educators warned that such views could be used to justify inequality and limit educational opportunities for marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to note that while Jensen discussed differences in average test scores, his interpretation that genetics played a substantial role in these differences was the core of the controversy \u2014 not merely the observation of group differences. His work contributed to a long-standing debate about nature vs. nurture in intelligence research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, the other options presented in your question \u2014 sterilization and military exemption based on intelligence \u2014 <strong>do not reflect Jensen\u2019s documented views<\/strong> and appear to be misattributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/learnexams-banner9-14.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-219373\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What was the most controversial conclusion made by Arthur Jensen with regard to Level 1 and Level II intelligence? African Americans, as a group, had the lowest amount of Level II intelligence. Level I intelligence could only be mastered by those who were socioeconomically advantaged. Those without Level II intelligence should be sterilized so that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}