Moron is a term once used in psychology and psychiatry to denote mild intellectual disability. [1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement. [2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term. It is similar to imbecile and idiot. [3]
Origin and uses
"Moron" was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard [4] from the Ancient Greek word μωρός (moros), which meant "dull" [5] and used to describe a person with a mental age in adulthood of between 7 and 10 on the Binet scale. [6] It was once applied to people with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 51–70, being superior in one degree to " imbecile" (IQ of 26–50) and superior in two degrees to " idiot" (IQ of 0–25). The word moron, along with others including "idiotic", "imbecilic", "stupid", and " feeble-minded", was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated in use by psychologists. [7]
In the obsolete medical classification ( ICD-9, 1977), morons and feeble-minded persons were said to have "mild mental retardation", "mild mental subnormality" or "high-grade defect" with IQ in the range 50–70. [8]
Following opposition to Goddard's attempts to popularize his ideas, [9] Goddard recanted his earlier assertions about the moron: "It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case. The danger is probably negligible." [10]
See also
References
- ^ Rafter, Nicole Hahn (1998). Creating Born Criminals. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-06741-9
- ^ Black, Edwin (2004). War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 978-1-56858-321-1
- ^ "The Clinical History of 'Moron,' 'Idiot,' and 'Imbecile'". merriam-webster.com.
- ^ Trent, James W. Jr. (2017). Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Intellectual Disability in the United States. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199396184
- ^ μωρός, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
- ^ Zaretsky, Herbert H.; Richter, Edwin F.; Eisenberg, Myron G. (2005), Medical aspects of disability: a handbook for the rehabilitation professional (third edition, illustrated ed.), Springer Publishing Company, p. 346, ISBN 978-0-8261-7973-9.
- ^ Zenderland, Leila (2001). Measuring Minds: Henry Herbert Goddard and the Origins of American Intelligence Testing. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-00363-6
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^
World Health Organization (1977).
Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death (PDF). Vol. 1. Jeneva. p. 212.
{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) - ^ Goddard, Henry H. Who Is a Moron? The Scientific Monthly, Volume 24, Issue 1, pp. 41–46.
- ^ Chase, Allan (1977). The Legacy of Malthus: The Social Costs of the New Scientific Racism. Knopf/Random House, ISBN 978-0-394-48045-9
