BPS Core Textbooks Series

Developed in collaboration with the British Psychological Society

Chapter 9 – The BITCH Bites Back: Categorisation and the Invention of Intelligence

Chapter Summary

This chapter examines the emergence of ‘intelligence’ as a dominant psychological category and uses the critical thinking tool of categorisation to interrogate how psychology selects, constructs, and institutionalises the concepts it uses to make sense of human difference. Around 1900, concepts such as instinct, reason, and intellect competed to define mental variation. By 1910, intelligence had taken their place, not because it was discovered in a scientific sense but because it became socially and institutionally useful, especially in education, the military, and eugenics. This chapter traces this shift through key figures, including Francis Galton, Alfred Binet, Charles Spearman, William Stern, Cyril Burt, and James Flynn. It highlights the role of measurement and mimicry in turning intelligence from an abstract idea into a reified quantifiable entity. The use of IQ tests to sort children, classify soldiers, and exclude immigrants is presented as an example of psychology functioning as a tool of power. Challenging the idea that intelligence is a stable, biological entity, the chapter introduces alternative perspectives such as the Flynn Effect and Ken Richardson’s metaphor of social distance. It also foregrounds inclusive contributions, including Robert L. Williams’s BITCH-100 test, which exposed cultural bias in standardised testing. Ultimately, the chapter invites students to rethink intelligence not as a natural kind but as a human kind, a historically contingent category that reveals more about society’s priorities than the structure of the human abilities.

Chapter 9 – Quiz

  • Chapter 9 – Flashcards

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  • Chapter 9 – Key Readings

    Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the mind: How psychology found its language. Sage. 

    Fancher, R. E. (1998). Biography and psychodynamic theory: Some lessons from the life of Francis Galton. History of Psychology, 1(2), 99–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/1093-4510.1.2.99 

    Franz, D. J. (2021). “Are psychological attributes quantitative?” is not an empirical question: Conceptual confusions in the measurement debate. Theory & Psychology, 32(1), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543211045340 

    Michell, J. (2005). Measurement in psychology: Critical history of a methodological concept. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

    Michell, J. (2021). “The art of imposing measurement upon the mind”: Sir Francis Galton and the genesis of the psychometric paradigm. Theory & Psychology, 32(3), 375-400. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543211017671 

    Richardson, K. (2002). What IQ Tests Test. Theory & Psychology, 12(3), 283-314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354302012003012 

    Richardson, K. (2017). Genes, brains, and human potential: The science and ideology of intelligence. Columbia University Press. 

    Schregel, S. (2020). ‘The intelligent and the rest’: British Mensa and the contested status of high intelligence. History of the Human Sciences, 33(5), 12-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695120970029 

    Wackers, G. (2025). Digital phenotyping of the mind: From biology to psychoinformatics. Theory & Psychology, 35(2), 141-162. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543251322116 

    Williams, R. L. (1972). The BITCH-100: A culture-specific test. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention.  Winston, A. S. (2018). Neoliberalism and IQ: Naturalizing economic and racial inequality. Theory & Psychology, 28(5), 600-618. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354318798160

  • Chapter 9 – Reflective Questions

    1. Why did psychology settle on ‘intelligence’ as a key category, rather than instinct, reason, or intellect? 
    2. What does it mean to say that intelligence is a ‘constructed’ rather than a ‘discovered’ category? 
    3. How does the metaphor of ‘social distance’ challenge traditional views of intelligence testing? 
    4. In what ways has intelligence testing acted as a form of power in shaping people’s life chances? 
    5. What lessons can the history of intelligence testing teach us about contemporary psychological practices?

  • Chapter 9 – Weblinks

    8 Intelligences: Are You a Jack of All Trades or a Master of One? – Howard Gardener

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY2C4YgXm7I

    This 9-minute YouTube video includes a discussion by Howard Gardener on the concept of the types of intelligent and addresses his eight classifications on the topic, and this information is presented clearly and concisely, enabling an easy basis of understanding for students.

    Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparent’s – James Flynn

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vpqilhW9uI

    This 19-minute Ted Talk video discusses the idea of development of intelligence through generations , and is presented by James Flynn, a moral philosopher whom has published multiple works about development of higher and higher IQ scores throughout time.

    Francis Galton’s Hereditary Genius – Archival Resource

    https://galton.org/books/hereditary-genius/index.html

    This page provides downloadable copies of Galton’s controversial work discussing inherited IQ through a lens of eugenics, giving interesting and useful context for students learning about these concepts.

    What IQ Tests Test – Ken Richardson

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0959354302012003012

    This article provides Richardson’s introduction of the metaphor of social distance in relation to IQ and IQ testing, which is important for the development of an understanding of conceptual critique for students.

    Eleven-Plus – Wikipedia Overview

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven-plus

    This page gives an overview both of what the 11+ exam actually is, and how it is carried out, alongside discussion of the controversial aspects of the exam in relation to its class-based implications as observed historically in England and Northern Ireland.

    Anna Anastasi – Feminist Voices

    https://feministvoices.com/profiles/anne-anastasi

    This page gives information of the early life and works of Anne Anastasi, showing her career up to the point of her tenure as the president of the American Psychological Association as only the third female president in the history of the organisation.

    What is Intelligence in Psychology? – SimplyPsychology Education Resource

    https://www.simplypsychology.org/intelligence.html

    This page gives an easy-to-understand overview of the concept of Intelligence in the field of psychological research and experimentation, giving an accessible start to deeper understanding for students who have not studies Intelligence in Psychology before.