Herman Heinrich Spitz (March 2, 1925 – February 11, 2019) was an American psychologist known for his work measuring

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

among those with

developmental disability Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

. He was director of research at the E.R. Johnstone Training and Research Center, which was a state institution for adolescents and young adults with upper-level intellectual disability in Bordentown, New Jersey, until he retired in 1989. He worked under the direction of the Superintendent John M. Wall, who retired in 1990 having served from August 1969. Spitz studied concepts such as

mental age Mental age is a concept related to intelligence. It looks at how a specific individual, at a specific age, performs intellectually, compared to average intellectual performance for that individual's actual chronological age (i.e. time elapsed sin ...

,Spitz HH (1982). Intellectual Extremes, Mental Age, and the Nature of Human Intelligence. ''Merrill-Palmer Quarterly'' v28 n2 p167-92 Apr 1982 and the abilities of

autistic savant Savant syndrome ( , ) is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, despite significant social or intellectual impairment. Those with the condition generally have a neurodeve ...

s.Spitz HH (1995). Calendar calculating idiots savants and the smart unconscious. ''New Ideas in Psychology'' He co-authored a survey of attempts to raise intelligence among people with

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

.Spitz HH (1986). The Raising of Intelligence: A Selected History of Attempts to Raise Retarded Intelligence. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. He reported on programs like the Carolina Abecedarian Early Intervention Project which advocated the early education of poor children.Spitz HH (1992). Does the Carolina Abecedarian Early Intervention Project Prevent Sociocultural Mental Retardation? ''Intelligence'' v16 n2 p225-37 Apr-Jun 1992 Through use of the

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. For children between the ages of 6 and 16, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is com ...

, he reported that the

Flynn effect The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century, named after researcher James Flynn (academic), James Flyn ...

of massive

intelligence quotient An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...

gains in a single generation in many nations only applied to people in the average intelligence range.Spitz HH (1989). Variations in Wechsler Interscale IQ Disparities at Different Levels of IQ. ''Intelligence'' v13 n2 p157-67 Apr-Jun 1989 He also looked at the hereditarian hypothesis for

general intelligence factor The ''g'' factor is a construct developed in psychometric investigations of cognitive abilities and human intelligence. It is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the assertion that an ind ...

by examining Wechsler subtest patterns among test-takers with intellectual disability.Spitz HH (1988). Wechsler Subtest Patterns of Mentally Retarded Groups: Relationship to "g" and to Estimates of Heritability. ''Intelligence'' v12 n3 p279-97 Jul-Sep 1988 In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "

Mainstream Science on Intelligence "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was a public statement issued by a group of researchers led by psychologist Linda Gottfredson. It was published originally in ''The Wall Street Journal'' on December 13, 1994, as a response to criticism of the ...

,Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994).

. ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', p A18." an editorial written by

Linda Gottfredson Linda Susanne Gottfredson (née Howarth; born 1947) is an American psychologist and writer. She is professor emerita of educational psychology at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Delaware- Johns Hopkins Project for the Study o ...

and published in the ''

'', which declared the consensus of the signing scholars on the measurement and significance of intelligence following the publication of the book ''

The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by the psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and the political scientist Charles Murray in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influe ...

''. Herman H. Spitz died in

Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part o ...

on February 11, 2019, at the age of 93.

Books

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References

1925 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American psychologists American psychology writers American male non-fiction writers American intelligence researchers New York University alumni 20th-century American psychologists Physicians from Paterson, New Jersey Writers from Paterson, New Jersey {{US-psychologist-stub