Suchergebnisse

Explores the development of medical genetics & genetic counseling in the US & GB & its association with eugenics. The beliefs of noted scientists of the time -- eg, reproduction was not a private but a social matter, & medical genetics should serve to improve the race -- are examined, focusing on geneticists' commitment to birth control & their concern with mental over physical traits. The connotations associated with the term eugenics & distinguishing good from bad eugenics are also discussed. An analysis is presented of the changes in the use of genetic services, which now show a concern for the welfare of individual families over society & benefit women's choices, since the legalization of abortion in 1973. C. Haywood

In 1920, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner reported the results of an experiment with an eleven-month old infant, "Albert B" (Watson and Rayner, 1920). Their study of this single subject was methodologically flawed and produced ambiguous results. Nevertheless, it became the psychology textbook classic case of conditioned emotional responses. With the exception of Pavlov's dogs, probably no story has been cited more often than that of "Little Albert."I was led to the Little Albert story as the result of an earlier study of genetics textbooks. Some years ago, I began work on a history of the "nature-nurture" controversy. One aspect of this project involved an analysis of textbook treatments of the genetics of intelligence. I had expected to find a rough continuity of views from the 1920s until the late 1970s, when the effects of the Cyril Burt scandal should have been fully felt in genetics texts. (The claim of a high heritability for I.Q. was supported primarily by Burt's [fabricated] studies of separated identical twins. Leon Kamin identified serious problems with Burt's results in 1974, although actual fraud was not proved until 1979 [see Kamin, 1974; Hearnshaw, 1979].)

"This volume explores the history of eugenics in four Dominions of the British Empire: New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and South Africa. These self-governing colonies reshaped ideas absorbed from the metropole in accord with local conditions and ideals. Compared to Britain (and the US, Germany, and Scandinavia), their orientation was generally less hereditarian and more populist and agrarian. It also reflected the view that these young and enterprising societies could potentially show Britain the way -- if they were protected from internal and external threat. This volume contributes to the increasingly comparative and international literature on the history of eugenics and to several ongoing historiographic debates, especially around issues of race. As white-settler societies, questions related to racial mixing and purity were inescapable, and a notable contribution of this volume is its attention to Indigenous populations, both as targets and on occasion agents of eugenic ideology."--