What is the Bell Curve experiment?

-- Gillian Codling (gill_codling@hotmail.com), October 04, 2003

Answers

I don't know of a bell curve *experiment*. "Bell curve" is a colloquial term for the normal curve, which is mathematically defined. It has often been claimed that many physiological and psychological variables are "naturally" distributed in a normal curve, among them intelligence (test scores). A few years ago Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray wrote a book about the *heritability* of intelligence called _The Bell Curve_. There was a great controversy over their claims (roughly, that different human races differ in their levels of intelligence for genetic reasons). You can find out a great deal about this book and the ensuing outcry from the web. Just search for "herrnstein murray bell curve".

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), October 04, 2003.