Burt , Cyril Lodowic

Burt , Cyril Lodowic
(1883–1971) British psychologist
The son of a London physician, Burt was educated at Oxford University where he studied classics and philosophy. He was introduced to psychology by Oxford's single psychologist, William McDougall. After a period of study in Germany, Burt was appointed to a lectureship in experimental psychology at Liverpool University in 1908. He returned to London in 1912 and remained there for the rest of his career, first as educational psychologist to the London County Council, and from 1932 until his retirement in 1950 as professor of psychology at University College, London.
Much of Burt's life was devoted to the study of intelligence. The statistician Charles Spearman had claimed in 1905 to be able to measure ‘g’, the factor of general intelligence, objectively. In this he was followed by Burt, who further insisted that intelligence was innate as well as general. The surest way to establish this would be, Burt realized, to measure the intelligence quotients of identical twins separated at birth. If intelligence really was inherited, then the IQ of separated twins should show a high degree of correlation, even though they would have been raised in different homes, and educated in different ways. Consequently, he began to collect data from 1912 onwards. By 1966 Burt had collected a sample of 53 identical separated pairs and the correlation of their IQs was the high figure of 0.771.
Soon after, the journalist Oliver Gillie and the psychologist L. J. Kamin began to raise questions about Burt's work. Not only could research collaborators not be found, but their very existence could not be established. Again, the correlation figure of 0.771 appeared to remain constant over the years, despite changes in sample size, a most unlikely statistical outcome. Further, it turned out that much of Burt's work was based not on measurement, but on estimates of home background and intelligence that he made at a distance. For these and other reasons, Burt's work in this field has been largely discounted.

Scientists. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cyril Lodowic Burt — Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt (* 3. März 1883 in Westminster; † 10. Oktober 1971) war ein britischer Psychologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Themen 3 Die „Burt Affäre“ und Kritik …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cyril Lodowic Burt — noun English psychologist whose studies of twins were later said to have used fabricated data (1883 1971) • Syn: ↑Burt, ↑Cyril Burt • Instance Hypernyms: ↑psychologist …   Useful english dictionary

  • Cyril Burt — in 1930 Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt (3 March 1883 – 10 October 1971) was an English educational psychologist who made contributions to educational psychology and statistics. Burt is known for his studies on the heritability of IQ. Shortly after he… …   Wikipedia

  • Burt — noun English psychologist whose studies of twins were later said to have used fabricated data (1883 1971) • Syn: ↑Cyril Burt, ↑Cyril Lodowic Burt • Instance Hypernyms: ↑psychologist …   Useful english dictionary

  • Cyril Burt — noun English psychologist whose studies of twins were later said to have used fabricated data (1883 1971) • Syn: ↑Burt, ↑Cyril Lodowic Burt • Instance Hypernyms: ↑psychologist …   Useful english dictionary

  • Burt, Sir Cyril (Lodowic) — born March 3, 1883, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, Eng. died Oct. 10, 1971, London British psychologist. He taught at the University of London (1924–50), becoming known for his pioneering work in educational psychology, especially mental… …   Universalium

  • Burt, Sir Cyril (Lodowic) — (3 mar. 1883, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, Inglaterra–10 oct. 1971, Londres). Psicólogo británico. Fue docente en la Universidad de Londres (1924–50), siendo reconocido por su trabajo pionero en psicología educacional, especialmente en… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Cyril Burt — Cyril Lodowic Burt (* 3. März 1883 in Westminster; † 10. Oktober 1971) war ein britischer Psychologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Themen 3 Burt als Datenfälscher …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • BURT (C. L.) — BURT sir CYRIL LODOWIC (1883 1971) L’œuvre de sir Cyril Burt est intimement liée aux développements techniques de l’analyse factorielle. Ce savant anglais, qui enseigna à Oxford, Liverpool, Cambridge, Londres et qui publia notamment The Factors… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Burt —   [bəːt], Sir Cyril Lodowic, britischer Psychologe, * London 3. 3. 1883, ✝ ebenda 10. 10. 1971; seit 1913 städtischer Psychologe in London, seit 1924 Professor der Pädagogik, 1931 50 Professor der Psychologie ebenda; Burt beschäftigte sich v. a.… …   Universal-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”