BRAINS AND SOCIAL STATUS 



Children of Professional and Upper Commercial Classes Found to be the Most 



Intelligent — Possible Reasons 



A RE there considerable differences parents of the children, and six groups 



l\ in natural intelligence between of fathers were made, as follows : 



/ JL the various social classes of the A. Professional (including higher of- 



population? If so, where is the ficials, lawyers, doctors, engineers, ac- 



most mental ability found? Do the countants, artists, magistrates, officers, 



children of traveling salesmen, for professors etc.). 



instance, staiid above or below those -q ^pper commercial (merchants, 



of lawyers ? Do the boys of the poorer j^anaging directors, people of independ- 



classes, who roam the streets really ent means, etc.). 



secure that sharpening oi the wits ^ t • i /■ ^ 



,.,• ,.^ ^-i- A 4- 4^u ^ ^- b/Ower commercial (agents, repre- 



which IS sometimes credited to them, ^ ^. ■ ■, \ ^ - 



or are they actually inferior in Intel- f ^tatives, commercial travelers m- 



ligence to the children of the well-to-do ^^rior and private officials and employes, 



middle classes, who are carefully kept superior skilled labor such as electricians, 



at home? mechanics and engravers). 



All these and similar questions are D- Tradespeople (vendors, innkeep- 

 of importance in many ways, and in ers, butchers, grocers, milkmen, drug- 

 recent years a beginning has been made gists, etc.). 



at answering them, in a number of E. Artisans (including mechanics and 



psychological researches where mental manual laborers, smiths, carpenters, 



tests have been used, of a kind that are bricklayers, shoemakers, hairdressers, 



believed to measure the real mental etc.). 



ability, and not merely the results of F. Servants (domestic employes, shop 



formal education. assistants, porters, commissionaires, 



1. A suggestive contribution is that etc.). 

 of F. Umberto Saffiotti and his asso- The children were then classified in 

 ciates of the Laboratory of Pure and three groups, according as the mental 

 Applied Psychology at Milan, Italy. ^ tests and, apparently, the school stand- 

 Mental tests were given to the pupils in ing showed them to be dull, mediocre, 

 four elementary schools, a modified or bright. They were further classified 

 form of the Binet scale being used, according to their parents' occupations. 

 Information was also secured as to the The results from the first grade only 

 social and economic status of the will be cited here; they are as follows: 



Mentality of Children from Various Social Classes 



Social group No. tested Dull Mediocre Bright 



A. Professional 37 16.2% 32.4% 513% 



B. Upper commercial 35 22.8 22.8 54 2 



C. Lower commercial 71 26.8 29.6 43.7 



D. Tradespeople 35 40 40.0 20 



E. Artisans 144 38.9 26.4 34 7 



F. Servants 56 30.3 33.9 35.7 



The figures are small, but Saffiotti mentality, the three upper classes form 

 believes the children represent fair a somewhat sharply defined group, set 

 samples of their social groups. In off from the lower ones by a well- 



1 Saffiotti, F. Umberto. Contributo alio Studio dei Rapporti tra ITntelligenza e i Fattori 

 Biologico-sociali. Rivista di Antropologia, xviii, fasc. 1, 2, Roma, 1913. The account herewith 

 presented is taken from one by Cyril Burt in the Eugenics Review, pp. 365-373, London, January, 

 1917. 



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