How have IQ tests come into being?
What are IQ tests composed of?
How have IQ tests affected and been affected by our various understandings of intelligence, abilities, and inner lives?
INSIDE THE BOX? Invites you to explore these questions through a selection of historical tests from the Department of Education at the University of Oslo. Such tests have been put to use in research and higher education, in the health care system, courthouses, the military, and in work life. Despite their widespread use, intelligence tests have been controversial throughout their lives. Their long history connects them to debates over the role of heredity and environment, the politics of segregation and integration, and policies related to sorting and accommodation.
These tests are at once products of science and commerce. They have borrowed elements from one another and have been revised numerous times. They have migrated between countries and become adapted to new local circumstances. One trait, nevertheless, remains the same: Intelligence tests still frame human minds. They place us inside or outside the box.
The exhibition is located at University of Oslo, Campus Blindern, Kristian Ottosens hus, in the hallway vis-a-vis Akademika. It is made by the Museum of University history (MUV) in collaboration with the Department of Education (UiO) and the University of Oslo Library, as part of the research project Historicizing Intelligence.
