For whom the Bell Curve Tolls: A Review of The Bell Curve

Abstract

The Bell Curve has probably attracted more public attention than any other single psychological-scientific work in recent memory. Because one of the authors, Richard Herrnstein, was a psychologist, and because much, although certainly not all, of the content of the work is psychological, the book reflects, in the public eye, not only on the authors, but also on the field: It is one of the few highly visible exposures the public sees of psychology at work. The Bell Curve can be reviewed as a work of psychological science, as a popularization of psychological science, or even as a sociopolitical policy statement. The goal of this review is primarily to comment on the book as a work of psychological science, and secondarily to comment on it as a popularization. At the end, I briefly comment on the book as a sociopolitical policy statement. Because there seems to have been some confusion, in various public statements of the surviving author (Charles Murray) and of reviewers, as to exactly what the book does and does not claim, I frequently cite page numbers, which refer to the pages in the book where various claims are made.