Seymour Itzkoff

{{short description|American psychologist and writer (born 1928)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Seymour William Itzkoff

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1928}}Lynn, R. (2001), The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, p. 417.

| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, United States

| field = Educational psychology

| work_institution = Smith College

| alma_mater = University of Hartford (BA)
Columbia University (MA, PhD)

| doctoral_advisor =

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = Research on intelligence

| prizes =

}}

Seymour William Itzkoff (born 1928) is an American psychologist and writer who has published research on intelligence. He has taught at Smith College since 1965 and is professor emeritus of education and child study.

Life and career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Itzkoff earned a B.A. degree from the University of Hartford.Staff report (September 18, 1948). [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/873887532.html?dids=873887532:873887532&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+18%2C+1948&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Music+School+Awards+Five+Scholarship&pqatl=google Music School Awards Five Scholarship.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026092532/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/873887532.html?dids=873887532:873887532&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+18,+1948&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Music+School+Awards+Five+Scholarship&pqatl=google |date=2012-10-26 }} The Hartford Courant His master's thesis in philosophy from Columbia University was published in 1956.{{citation |mode=cs1 |last1=Itzkoff |first1=Seymour W. |title=A critical comparison and analysis of the philosophies of Pierre Duhem and Emil Meyerson |date=1956 |oclc=56144059}} While studying for his doctorate, he taught education at Hunter College, CUNY. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1965, and took a position at Smith College that year. Itzkoff was married while attending Columbia and subsequently had two children.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Itzkoff is an advocate of the effects of biological determinism on intelligence.{{cite news |last1=Dembart |first1=Lee |title=Book Review : Author Votes for Nature Over Nurture |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-13-vw-13881-story.html |access-date=January 9, 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 13, 1987}} Itzkoff suggests in Why Humans Vary in Intelligence that hereditary factors probably account for 70% to 80% of variability in IQ.Seligman, Daniel (October 12, 1987). [https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/10/12/69619/index.htm Some Think Smarter Than Others.] Fortune He has stated that standardized test ability is difficult to improve, especially verbal ability.Calem, Robert E. (April 27, 1995). [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/27/garden/sat-software-does-it-work.html S.A.T. Software: Does It Work?] The New York Times

Itzkoff's work on intelligence has been published in Mankind Quarterly. Itzkoff has received funding from the Pioneer Fund, which has been closely associated with eugenics and white nationalism since its founding.{{cite web |title=Pioneer Fund |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/pioneer-fund |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=21 December 2018 |language=en}}Fischel, Jack (February 10, 1995). Strange 'Bell' fellows. Commonweal

According to science journalist Malcolm Browne, Itzkoff's 1994 book The Decline of Intelligence in America was one of a series of books that year which claimed Americans "probably no longer have the intellectual capital that can profit from the available educational resources."Browne, Malcolm W. (October 16, 1994). [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/16/books/what-is-intelligence-and-who-has-it.html What Is Intelligence, and Who Has It?] The New York Times In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "Mainstream Science on Intelligence", an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson and published in the Wall Street Journal. This statement claimed that the academic consensus was that black people have lower average IQs than white people of the same economic background.Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994). Mainstream Science on Intelligence. Wall Street Journal, p A18.{{cite journal |title=Who Are the Academic Proponents of the Theory of Inferior IQs of Black People? |journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |date=1995 |issue=10 |pages=18–19 |doi=10.2307/2962744|jstor=2962744 }} The editorial was published in response to the controversy over the publication of the book The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray.

Itzkoff wrote the preface to John Glad's 2006 book advocating for eugenics, Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century.{{cite book |last1=Glad |first1=John |author-link1=John Glad |title=Future human evolution : eugenics in the twenty-first century |publisher=Hermitage Publishers |isbn=9781557791542 |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/futurehumanevolu00glad }}

Itzkoff has published works on Jewish identity and Jewish intelligence, as well as books outlining his predictions about 21st-century global crises and his recommended responses. He has also written about music, including a biography of cellist Emanuel Feuermann.

Reception

In 1983 Itzkoff's published The Form of Man: The Evolutionary Origins of Human Intelligence (Paideia Publishers). In 1985 Bioanthropologist Brian T. Shea reviewed the book for American Anthropologist. Shea described it as badly written and containing many remedial errors and conclusions based on outdated findings. Itzkoff cited Carleton Coon's biased racial categorizations and, according to Shea, dismissed or ignored modern research which contradicted Itzkoff's assumptions. Shea suggested that the work was an extensions of the same racialized philosophy of Itzkoff's prior works on education.{{cite journal |last1=Shea |first1=Brian T. |title=Reviewed Work: The Form of Man: The Evolutionary Origins of Human Intelligence |journal=American Anthropologist |date=June 1985 |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=434–436 |language=en |jstor=678602 |doi=10.1525/aa.1985.87.2.02a00430|doi-access=free }}

Itzkoff's 1986 book How We Learn to Read (Paideia Publishers) was reviewed by early education professor Robert C. Cooter for American Secondary Education. Cooter said the book was historically useful, but relied on outdated findings and ignored modern research. According to Cooter, the book "fails to offer the reader any new insights and does a rather poor job of packaging the old (and sometimes bitter) wine in new bottles".{{cite journal |last1=Cooter |first1=Robert |title=Reviewed Work: How We Learn to Read by Seymour W. Itzkoff |journal=American Secondary Education |date=1986 |volume=15 |issue=2 |page=20 |language=en|jstor=41063779 }}

Humanity's Evolutionary Destiny: A Darwinian Perspective (2016, Peter Lang) is an overview by Itzkoff of evolution, specifically human evolution, with some discussion of Itzkoff's opinions on the genetic future of humanity. Philosopher Michael Ruse praised the book's writing and optimistic tone as appropriate for high school students or early undergrads, while saying that Itzkoff did not support many of his arguments and assumptions.{{cite journal |last1=Ruse |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Ruse |title=Reviewed Work: Humanity's Evolutionary Destiny: A Darwinian Perspective. |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |date=March 2018 |volume=93 |issue=1 |page=34 |doi=10.1086/696747}}

Bibliography

{{cite book |title=Cultural Pluralism and American Education |publisher=International Textbook Company |isbn=978-0-7002-2216-2 |date=1969}}
{{cite book |title=Ernst Cassirer: Scientific Knowledge and the Concept of Man |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |isbn=978-0-268-00937-3 |orig-year=1971 |year=1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/ernstcassirersci00itzk }}
{{cite book |title=A New Public Education |publisher=McKay |isbn=978-0-679-30303-9 |date=1976 |url=https://archive.org/details/newpubliceducati0000itzk }}
{{cite book |title=Ernst Cassirer, Philosopher of Culture |publisher=Twayne Publishers |isbn=978-0-805-77712-3 |date=1977}}
{{cite book |title=Emanuel Feuermann, Virtuoso |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-817-36450-2 |orig-year=1979 |year=1995}}

;The Evolution of Human Intelligence series:

{{cite book |title=The Form of Man, The Evolutionary Origins of Human Intelligence |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99300-2 |date=1983 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_j9r2 }}
{{cite book |title=Triumph of the Intelligent, The Creation of Homo sapiens sapiens |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99301-9 |date=1985 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofintelli0000itzk }}
{{cite book |title=Why Humans Vary in Intelligence |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99309-5 |date=1987}}
{{cite book |title=The Making of the Civilized Mind |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-0-913-99311-8 |date=1990}}

{{cite book |title=How We Learn to Read |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99304-0 |date=1986 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/howwelearntoread0000unse }}
{{cite book |title=The Road to Equality, Evolution and Social Reality |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-275-94400-1 |date=1992}}
{{cite book |title=The Decline of Intelligence in America, A Strategy for National Renewal |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-275-94467-4 |date=1994}}
{{cite book |title=Children Learning to Read, A Guide for Parents and Teachers |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-275-95436-9 |date=1996}}

;The Human Prospect series:

{{cite book |title=The Inevitable Domination by Man, An Evolutionary Detective Story |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99316-3 |date=2000}}
{{cite book |title=2050: The Collapse of the Global Techno-Economy |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99319-4 |date=2003}}
{{cite book |title=Intellectual Capital in Twenty-First-Century Politics |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99320-0 |date=2003}}
{{cite book |title=Rebuilding Western Civilization, Beyond the Twenty-First-Century Collapse |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99321-7 |date=2005}}

;Who Are The Jews? series:

{{cite book |title=Soul of the Israelites |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99317-0 |date=2004}}
{{cite book |title=A Nation of Philosophers |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99318-7 |date=2004}}
{{cite book |title=Fatal Gift, Jewish Intelligence and Western Civilization |publisher=Paideia Press |isbn=978-0-913-99322-4 |date=2006}}

{{cite book |title=The World Energy Crisis and the Task of Retrenchment |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |isbn=978-0-773-45056-1 |date=2008}}
{{cite book |title=The End of Economic Growth: What Does It Mean for American Society? |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |isbn=978-0-773-44668-7 |date=2009}}
{{cite book |title=Judaism's Promise, Meeting the Challenge of Modernity |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-433-12006-0 |date=2014}}
{{cite book |title=Liberty's Dilemma: America, Two Nations Dependent/Independent |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-433-12529-4 |date=2014}}
{{cite book |title=Humanity's Evolutionary Destiny: A Darwinian Perspective |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-433-12545-4 |date=2016}}
{{cite book |title=2284: World Society, Iaian Vernier's Memoir |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-433-13397-8 |date=2016}}