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Historicizing Intelligence - Tests, metrics and the shaping of contemporary society

The project addresses ongoing debates and processes around IQ testing, explores the long history behind the rise of the tests and IQ-scales and examines what kind of work IQ tests and related test-technologies have done and are doing in our society.

Photo: Helge Brekke/MUV

The purpose of this project is to study the historical development of intelligence tests, IQ-scales and concepts of intelligence that such tests are based on, and have helped to produce. It deals with how the scientific research object “intelligence” has arisen and developed, how it has acquired its various roles and functions in today's Norway, and addresses the values and relations of authority and legitimacy into which intelligence measurements are woven.

The project includes a series of case studies that address ongoing debates and processes around IQ testing, explore the long history behind the rise of the tests and IQ-scales and examine what kind of work IQ tests and related test-technologies have done and are doing in our society. We focus in on the school system and testing of school children, IQ as a diagnostic tool for mental disability, the use of IQ tests for assessments of criminal responsibility in the judicial system, and the role of intelligence measurements in eugenic thinking and sterilization practice in Norway. Based on these sub-studies, the project aims to write a synthesizing account of the development of IQ tests in Norway, from around 1900 to the present, situated in an international and transnational context.

With Norway as a starting point, we will explore the transnational contexts, processes and actors that have shaped local developments, including the transnational companies that own and market the tests, and the international organizations, professions and professional networks involved in creating, evaluating, translating, adapting and approving tests and measurement scales. By examining the historical conditions that have given rise to test methods, measuring scales and concepts of intelligence, we aim to produce new insights into what these technologies, practices and concepts are and what kind of social role they have and should have.

The project builds on source material related to the University of Oslo and emanates from the Museum of University History's mandate, which is to manage, disseminate and research the historical legacy of the University of Oslo.

The project is organized into five work packages

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Collaborating projects

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Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne (2022). The Norwegian Association for Heredity Research and the Organized International Eugenics Movement. Expertise, Authority, Transnational Networks and International Organization in Norwegian Genetics and Eugenics (1919-1934). Perspectives on Science. ISSN 1063-6145. 30(1), p. 77–107. doi: 10.1162/posc_a_00403.
Helsvig, Kim Gunnar (2021). Det lange 1968 i norsk pedagogikk og skole. In Dørum, Knut; Tønnesson, Øyvind & Vaags, Ralph Henk (Ed.), Arven etter 1968. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202700546. p. 233–255. Show summary
Deler av den sosialpedagogiske vendingen i norsk pedagogikk fra 1970-tallet kunne etter finne sammen med nyliberalismen i et felles mål om at skolen skal utvikle de kompetanser som gir elevene og de framtidige arbeidstakerne både evne og vilje til stadig omstilling i et dynamisk og stadig mer konkurranseutsatt kunnskapssamfunn. Til tross for angrep fra både høyre og venstre i det politiske landskapet lever derfor arven etter det anti-autoritære og elevsentrerte 1968 i norsk pedagogikk og skole videre inn i 2020-årene. Nå under OECDs internasjonale skolehimmel, og i samspill med en test- og målingsorientert pedagogikk som 1968 i norsk pedagogikk og skole i utgangspunktet var et opprør mot.

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Lefkaditou, Ageliki; Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne; Caspersen, Håkon Aamot & Vaalund, Anne (2023). Intelligence Tests In and Out of the Box: University Material Heritage between Disruption and Repair.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki (2023). Intelligence Testing as a New Tool for Crisis Resolution in School Psychiatry: Johan Lofthus and the Norwegian Standardization of the Stanford – Binet Intelligence Scale, 1923–1931.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki (2023). Intelligence Testing from the US to Norway: Producing the Norwegian Standard of the Stanford – Binet scale, 1920s–1930s.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki (2023). Between Change and Stability: Producing the Norwegian Standard of the Stanford – Binet Intelligence Scale, 1920s–1930s.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki (2023). Mellom Amerika og Norge, skole og psykiatri: Hvordan intelligensmåling ble en del av norsk skolehistorie.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki & Haave, Per (2023). Intelligenstester både ødela og reddet liv. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Apollon.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki; Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne; Haave, Per & Caspersen, Håkon Aamot (2023). Innafor boksen? - Måling av intelligens i 100 år.
Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne; Caspersen, Håkon Aamot & Vaalund, Anne (2023). Material heritage and the historicization of the present. Show summary
The exhibition “Inside the box? Over 100 years of measuring intelligence” shows a selection of psychometric tests. Such tests have been used as a diagnostic tool in the healthcare system, in forensic psychiatric assessments, in medical and psychological research as well as in the military, and the education system. 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. The exhibition is based on the research project “Historicizing intelligence” which explores the long history of IQ-testing and “intelligence” in Norway. But neither the research project, nor the exhibition would have been possible without historical sources. Such historical sources - the historical heritage of universities - are often in a state of continuous crisis. Universities seldom prioritize material heritage and its preservation is often a matter of an emergency operation. Using this exhibition and the process of making it as starting point, this session will discuss how university material heritage is not only an indispensable resource for research, but also an important moment for institutions and disciplinary communities to reflect on their history, practices and social role. The session includes a guided tour of the exhibition and an open discussion with the curators and researchers.
Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne (2023). ‘Culture,’ representability and nation in the Norwegian versions of WISC 1978-2009. . Show summary
Contribution to exhibition session: ‘Inside the Box? Over 100 years of measuring intelligence’. Historicizing Intelligence introduction and exhibition presentation: On the making of an exhibition of psychological tools of measurement (Ageliki Lefkaditou, Jon Røyne Kyllingstad, and Håkon Caspersen)
Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne (2023). "Kultur", representasjon og nasjon i de norske versjonene av WISC 1978-2009. Show summary
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) er den vanligste IQ-testen for barn i verden. De er standardverktøy både i det norske helsevesenet og skolens PP-tjeneste for utredning av barn med spesielle behov og for diagnostisering av psykisk utviklingshemming. Innlegger presenterer noen tanker og funn fra en studie av oversettelsen og tilpasningen av norske versjoner av denne testen fra 1978 til 2009, med særlig fokus på begrepene om «kultur», «befolkning» og «representabilitet» som ligger til grunn for denne prosessen.
Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne (2022). Adaptation and Norming of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) in Norway: 1970s to the Present. Show summary
The Wechsler tests are the internationally dominating IQ-tests. They are generally regarded as scientific tools that measure universal, culture-independent aspects of the human mind. This claim rest partly on cross-national comparison of test results from culturally and linguistically different populations. The translation, adaptation, and use of the same tests in nations worldwide is therefore an important element in the development of the tests and in establishing and validating the universality of the constructs that the tests measure. This talk presents findings from a historical study of the translation and adaptation of shifting Norwegian versions of the WISC tests (WISC-R, WISC III, WISC IV, AND WISC V). It aims to explore the explicit and implicit methodological and theoretical premises upon which these processes have been based, focusing in particular on the concepts of culture, representativeness, ethnicity, and class that are at play.
Lefkaditou, Ageliki (2021). Intelligence Testing in Norway: Tracing Connections between Tests and People from the early 1910s to the 1960s.
Kyllingstad, Jon Røyne (2021). Historicizing intelligence: Tests, metrics and the shaping of contemporary society.