HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT— THEIR RELATIVE ROLES IN 

 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN 



CHILDREN 



LESTER R. WHEELER 



State Teacher's College, Johnson City, Tennessee 



The Southern Highlands have presented many interesting romances and 

 legends which have pictured the mountaineer as a unique individual, — self- 

 satisfied, extremely independent, superstitious, and above all, backward. 

 Sociological studies have added to this picture much subjective evidence to 

 strengthen the characterization of the Highlanders, and have endeavored to 

 point out many explanations for their peculiar personalities, habits, speech, 

 songs, feuds, and economic status. During the past three years, by ob- 

 jectively measuring intelligence, physical development, and special abilities, 

 we have endeavored to learn something more about these people who live 

 under the direct influence of isolated mountain environment. 



Time will permit neither a complete survey of the literature, nor the pres- 

 entation of full data. A comprehensive discussion of the study of the in- 

 telligence of mountain children is found in the Journal of Educational Psy- 

 chology for May, 1932, and similar discussions on the other two problems 

 are being prepared for publication. We will attempt to give here only a 

 brief summary of our studies of the mountain people. 



The Illinois Intelligence Test was given to 845, and the Dearborn Test to 

 946 mountain children. The results show the IQ rating of the mountain 

 children is higher on the Dearborn Test. The median IQ for the Illinois is 

 78±.47, and for the Dearborn 82±.40. An analysis of the Dearborn Test 

 shows it is less dependent upon schooling than the Illinois, and that various 

 items on this test seem to be materially influenced by environmental factors. 

 Of the seventeen different items, the seven missed most frequently by moun- 

 tain children are largely dependent upon environment, such as the recogni- 

 tion of stamps, telling the time of day, handling money, etc. 



A marked decrease in IQ with an increase in chronological age was shown 

 on both the Illinois and the Dearborn Tests. The median IQ on the Dear- 

 born Test at age six is 95±2.03 and decreases to 74i2.41 at age sixteen. If 

 the average mountain child when he enters school at age six falls within the 

 limits of normality, or only five points below perfect normality, it seems 



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