Williams & Ceci questions

Williams, W. M., & Ceci, S. J. (1997). Are Americans becoming more or less alike?: Trends in race, class, and ability differences in intelligence. American Psychologist, 52, 1226-1235.

1. What is the dysgenic hypothesis? Was this hypothesis supported or refuted by the authors? What evidence do they cite to support their conclusions?
2. To what scores are the authors referring when they make mention of declining test scores for American children?
3. What are the mean differences reported on intelligence tests for Asian American, European American, Latino/a, and African American groups?
4. How do the authors understand the reported trends in children’s test scores? What do they think accounts for changes over time?