究竟是创作、翻译、编译，还是抄袭？——评方舟子的《“智商”的误区》
葛莘 / 学术批评网（www.acriticism.com）首发2011年1月22日
方舟子先生是著名科普作家，撰写了大量科普文章，在国内的影响很大。令人惊异的是，方先生的科普范围十分广泛，从生物学到物理学，从西方科学哲学到中国传统医学，他都曾经涉足。更加让人不解的是，方先生的文章几乎从来不提及自己的参考文献。因此，一个十分明显的问题就是，方先生的知识到底是从哪里来的？
《牛顿－科学杂志》2002年第4期发表了方先生的《“智商”的误区》一文。这篇文章后来又在《青年科学》（2003年第1期）、《教师博览》（2003年第5期）、《科技文萃》（2004年第3期）上发表。2007年，方舟子的文集《方舟子破解世界之谜》出版，这篇文章以《“智商”是不可改变的吗？》为题被全文收入。
笔者几年前阅读这篇文章时，即有一种似曾相识的感觉。近日一个偶然的机会，终于发现了其中的奥秘。原来，这篇文章基本上是根据两本英文书翻译而成。这两本书分别是，已故哈佛大学教授、著名科学史学者古尔德（Stephen Jay Gould, 1941-2002）写的《误测人类》（The Mismeasure of Man），1981年初版，1996年再版。另一本书是加拿大西安大略大学数学教授道尼（Alexander Keewatin Dewdney, 1041-）写的《对，我们没有中子》（Yes, we have no neutrons），1997年出版。这两本书各有一章专门讲述“智商”的发展史，它们分别是《误测人类》的第五章《智商的遗传学派理论：一个美国的发明》（The Hereditarian Theory of IQ: An American Invention.见该书176-263页），和《对，我们没有中子》的第二章《智力数字：智商的古怪理论》（Mind Numbers: The Curious Theory of the Intelligence Quotient. 见该书29-45页）。
大致说来，古尔德的书属于学术著术，篇幅比较大，叙述详细，论证严密，引用文字也比较多。而道尼的书，则属于反“伪科学”的科普书，文字浅显，篇幅也比较简短。实际上，道尼书的第二章，完全可以看作是古尔德书第五章的缩写，因为不论从内容还是从视角来看，它都没有超出后者的范围。只不过是，道尼在文章中提到古尔德的著作，并且还把它列为“深入阅读书目”中，所以，不能算是抄袭之作。
而方舟子的《“智商”的误区》，实际上就是以道尼的文章为骨架，然后根据古尔德的文章来充实内容写成的。
惊人的相同
1、结构相同
不计标点符号，《“智商”的误区》全文6136字，分为13个自然段。除了第一段367字、第12段后半部分287字、和末尾段258字笔者没有找到相应的英文原文之外，其余的文字，即85%的文字，都是根据英文文章写成。而这些文字中，又有80%的文字来自前面提到的两本书。换句话说就是，方文从第二段开始，到第十一段的上半段，几乎全部来自古尔德和道尼这两本书。（见下表）。这个表格说明，方文的整体结构、叙述方式与古尔德和道尼的英文文章完全相同。（注：方文第十一段的后半段，根据的是1997年7月31日《自然》杂志的一篇文章，第十二段上半部分，根据的可能是2000年英国广播公司BBC的一篇新闻报道。）
《“智商”的误区》文字来源
方文段落 古尔德文页码 道尼文页码
1
2 176-177 29-30
3 179-180 30-31
4 181-182 31
5 189-192 32
6 189-194 32-33
7 194-197 32-33
8 202-207 33
9 206 37
10 34-38
11 42-43
12
13
2、观点相同
诚然，方舟子的文章根据智商概念的发展历史来进行叙述，而古尔德和道尼也是做相似的叙述，因此方文如果仅仅在结构上与他们的文章相同，并不十分奇怪。奇怪的是，方舟子与古尔德、道尼的观点也完全一致。不论是古尔德的文章，还是道尼的文章，主旨都是一样的，那就是批驳所谓“智商学派”的基因决定论。而他们的这个观点，又都是基于所谓的“整体主义”哲学观。可是，方舟子是坚定的还原主义者，认为“还原主义是一种科学思想，它认为高层次可以还原成低层次、整体可以还原成各组分加以研究。”（见其《还原主义的胜利》，2000年3月15日《中华读书报》），“还原是一种完善的研究方法，研究各组分的关系足以推导、解释整体的性质。”（见其《还原主义和整体主义述评》，《自然辩证法研究》2000年11期）。因此，在“智商”这个问题上，方舟子本来应该与古尔德、道尼水火不相容才对。可是，方舟子的观点不仅与他们完全一致，他还更进一步，下了这样的断言：“找到某个特定的智力基因的可能性可以说为零。”显然，方舟子在写作这篇文章时已经完全接受了古尔德等人的整体主义观点。
3、文字相同
当然，最让人惊异的是，方文几乎就是古尔德、道尼英文文章的直接翻译。可以这样说，从第二段起，到第九段止，几乎每句话都可以在这两篇英文文章中找到相应的文字。即使是一些无法确定来源的字句，其内容也都是根据这两个人的观点和材料发挥而成。且看以下几段文字的比较：
方舟子：1905年发表的第一版只是把测试问题按从易到难排列。在1908年发表的第二版中，比纳把这些问题按“心理年龄”排列。
古尔德：The original 1905 edition simply arranged the tasks in an ascending order of difficulty. The 1908 version established the criterion used in measuring the so-called IQ ever since.（179页）
方舟子：受测试者从为最小的心理年龄设计的问题开始测试，难度逐渐增加，与受测试者所能回答的最后问题相关的心理年龄就是这个受测试者的心理年龄。受测试者的心理年龄减去其实际年龄，即是其智力水平。
古尔德：A child began the Binet test with tasks for the youngest age and proceeded in sequence until he could no longer complete the tasks. The age associated with the last tasks he could perform became his "mental age, " and his general intellectual level was calculated by subtracting this mental age from his true chronological age.（179-180页）
方舟子：如果心理年龄低于实际年龄，说明未达到同龄人的学习能力水平，那就需要特别辅导。
古尔德：Children whose mental ages were sufficiently behind their chronological ages could then be identified for special educational programs,（180页）
方舟子：在 1912年，德国心理学家威廉•斯登（William Stern）认为，将心理年龄除以实际年龄，更能准确地反映智力水平，“智商”（IQ）由此诞生。
古尔德：In 1912 the German psychologist W. Stern argued that mental age should be divided by chronological age, not subtracted from it, and the intelligence quotient, or IQ, was born.（180页）
方舟子：在当时，心理学上把精神发育迟滞分成两种：心理年龄不到三岁，不具有完备的语言能力的被称为白痴，心理年龄在三岁到七岁之间，有语言能力但没有阅读、书写能力的被称为痴愚。
道尼：In Goddard's time, psychologists defined "idiots" as those who never developed full speech and could barely progress beyond the general competence of a three year-old. The next higher classification, "imbeciles, " could speak well enough but seemed incapable of learning to read or write. An imbecile, by definition, had a mental age of somewhere between three and seven years.（32页）。
方舟子：戈达德认为，在痴愚和正常人之间，还应该存在一个心理年龄在八到十二岁的等级，他称之为愚鲁。愚鲁的人能够学会阅读、书写，但是其能力永远达不到正常人的水平。
道尼：To bring the taxonomy of mental retardation up to date, Goddard coined the word "moron.” One level above imbeciles, morons occupied a gray area between idiots and imbeciles on the one hand, and fully competent people the other. Morons might learn to read and write, but their skills would always be somewhat marginal. （32页）。
显然，如此相似的文字，或者说相同，出自巧合的可能性根本就不存在。
4、错误相同
不仅结构相同、观点相同、文字相同，方文的一个错误也与道尼的一模一样。原来，道尼为了证明智商不是先天决定的，而是可以受后天教育影响的，于是援引了一个1946年的例子。而方舟子把这段话完完全全地照译了过来：
方舟子：但是智商学派却认定他们测定的是受遗传因素决定的、天生的、不可改变的普遍智力。在40年代，美国社会学家史密特（Bernadine Schmidt）决定验证这个说法。他在芝加哥选定了254名来自社会底层的12到14岁少年做为研究对象。这些少年都被认为低能，平均智商只有52。史密特对这些少年进行了三年的强化训练，包括培养他们良好的学习习惯、生活作风、学术基本技能等。三年后重新对他们进行智商测试，发现他们的平均智商增加到72，整整长了20分。五年后，史密特对他们再次做了测试，发现其平均智商继续增加，达到了89，进入了正常人范围，而且有四分之一的人的智商增长在50 分以上。这个实验已说明了智商的高低并不是不可改变的，也就不可能完全由遗传因素决定，而与后天的教育有关。
道尼：To the degree that IQ（as measured）turns out to be a highly plastic number, one cannot claim that it is inherited to any significant degree. Perhaps the most telling demonstration of the plasticity of IQ came in 1946 when Bernadine Schmidt, a young social scientist from Chicago, published a classic study in the journal Psychological Monographs. Schmidt's article, an unprecedented 144 pages long, described changes in the social, cultural, and intellectual behavior of 254 children of ages between twelve to fourteen. The children, who all came from disadvantaged or dysfunctional homes in the Chicago area, had all been classified as “feebleminded.” Their average IQ was 52, as compared with a nationwide average of about 100. Schmidt conducted an intensive three-year training program that involved personal behavior, fundamental academic skills, manipulative arts, and good study habits. At the end of the period the students were tested again and proved to have an average IQ of 72, a full 20-point increase. Five years later, Schmidt tested her subjects again and found the average had increased to 89 with one-quarter of the students having gained more than 50 points. （42-43 页）
史密特的论文长达144页，但方舟子的280字段落却与道尼的不到二百单词的两段总结完全相同。除了是“照译”这个解释之外，还能有其他解释吗？
那么，为什么说这个例子是错误的呢？原来，史密特的论文发表于1946年，但由于结果太过怪异，发表之后就受到教育学界和心理学界专家的普遍怀疑。到了1948年，伊利诺伊大学教授科克（Samuel A. Kirk）发表文章，证明这是一起学术骗局。第一，根据芝加哥1937-1940年接受特殊教育学生的原始档案，他们的平均智商是69，一半以上的学生智商高于69，智商低于50的总共才178人，占学生总数的2%左右。可是，史密特学生的平均智商为52，并且没有一个人的智商超过69。那么，这254名学生是怎么凑起来的呢？第二，科克发现，史密特教授的三个班级学生的初始智商分别为64，69，69，而不是她所说的52。第三，科克找不到史密特曾经担任过这三个班级“主教师”的任何证据。（见：KIRK, S. A. An evaluation of the study by Bernardine G. Schmidt entitled, Changes in personal, social, and intellectual behavior of children originally classified as feebleminded. Psychol Bull. 1948 Jul; 45:321-333.）
显然，古尔德知道上述事实，所以他的书一直没有引用史密特的这个例子。而数学家道尼却懵懵懂懂地把这个例子拿了过来当证据。结果，他的这本篇文章被人嘲笑为“外行”（inexperience）。（Sherman, M. Trials of Errors. American Scientist. 1998, March/April. 见：
http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/trials-of-errors）。可叹方舟子这位科普作家、打假斗士，却把半个世纪前美国的学术造假材料当成了真理，“普及”给了中国大众。
问题的性质
撰写科普文章，一般可以分为创作、翻译、编译几种方式。由于科普写作主要是介绍前人创造出来的知识，参考前人的文献不仅是不可避免的，而且是必须的。方舟子先生曾说，“我以前一再强调，科普著作应该由专家撰写，因为只有专家才可能具有必要的学科知识，并能阅读原始论文，根据第一手的材料写作。”（见其《虚妄的“人体革命”》，《中华读书报》2000年11月1日）。显然，方舟子先生如果真的像他自己所说的那样进行科普写作，其文章应该算是创作。但仅从《“智商”的误区》来看，方舟子先生根本就不“具有必要的学科知识”，并且，他也根本就没有“阅读原始论文”。所以说，方舟子的这篇文章，即使不是照译别人的文章，也不能算是创作。
根据外文文章进行写作，可以分为翻译和编译两种。据《现代汉语词典》的解释，翻译的意思是“把一种语言文字的意思用另一种语言文字表达出来”，编译的意思是“编辑和翻译”。一般说来，要确定某篇文章到底属于翻译稿还是编译稿，不仅要看其中某段话、某句话的意思是不是来自另一种语言文字的某篇文章，而且还要分析这段话、这句话的语言结构和特点与相应的外文文章是否相似。根据上面的比较，《“智商”的误区》的很多段落都是在逐字逐句翻译古尔德、道尼的文章。而通观全文，方舟子的文章结构、观点，甚至夹叙夹议的方式都与这两本书极为相似。因此，方舟子的这篇文章只能定性为翻译。
根据中外著作权法，翻译别人的作品，不论是用于什么目的，都首先要得到原著作权拥有者的授权。不仅如此，翻译作品还必须给出原作者的姓名、原作的名称等信息，并且注明这是翻译作品。古尔德和道尼的书，都有“版权声明”。道尼的书的版权声明特别说，翻译这本书必须得到版权所有人的许可。没有得到许可的翻译属于违法行为。（Reproduction or transmission of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful.）虽然我们无法得知方舟子先生翻译这两篇文章是否得到了原作者的授权，但是，我们确实知道，他在文章中没有透露原作者的半点信息，并且把这篇文章当作了自己的作品一再发表。所以，我们可以肯定，方舟子的这篇作品不是合法的翻译作品。
根据国家版权局版权管理司的定义，“将他人作品或者作品的片段窃为己有发表”就是抄袭行为。（国家版权局版权管理司《权司【1999】第6 号》，见：《百度百科》“抄袭”条）。不仅如此，方舟子先生本人也这么认为。2010 年3月22日，方舟子在新语丝读书论坛上说：“‘成段的引文献’也算抄袭，大概是松鼠会的独创；‘直接是英语文章翻过来的’却公认是抄袭。我被人称为‘学术打假人士’，整天揭发别人抄袭，如果自己也干抄袭的勾当，这样的‘人’是该被分到最卑劣的一群里头去的。”（见：
http://www.xys.org/forum/db/6/133/167.html）
这样一来，一个不可避免的结论就是：方舟子的《“智商”的误区》是一篇跨国界、跨语言、侵犯他人版权的全面抄袭之作。
附录：中英文对照
注：《“智商”的误区》全文照录。为了方便比较，没有保持原有格式。疑似来自英文之处，将英文列出。英文来自两本书，Gould 指古尔德的 The Mismeasure of Man；Dewdney 指道尼的 Yes, we have no neutrons。每段英文末尾的页码为该段文字在书中的位置。【】之中是笔者的注解和评论。
《“智商”的误区》
方舟子
许多生物学家都会同意，人并不是地球上唯一的智能生物。类人猿和海豚也有一定的智能，不过与人类的智能相比，其实是微不足道的。我们也找不到有其他的生物像人类一样，智力在生活中占了主宰地位。在进入文明社会以后，人类的竞争更多地表现为斗智而非斗勇。白痴恐怕是最严重的残疾。既然智力对人类生活是如此重要，研究其高低强弱就成了一个令人感兴趣的问题。我们很容易区分白痴和正常人。但是要区分正常人的智力高低，却不是容易的事。聪明和愚蠢只是定性的判断，而且并非固定不变。有没有可能定量地测定一个人天生的智力？在大脑被确定为思维器官之后，许多研究者就试图通过测量人脑的大小、形状判定智力的高低。这在一定程度上并非没有道理。人和类人猿的智力区别，很大程度上就是由于脑容量的悬殊。人类的进化史，也经常被描述为脑容量不断增加的历史。但是脑容量的大小，是否也能够适用于现代人的内部？直至19世纪末，仍有一些科学家对此坚信不疑。
其中最著名的大概是法国解剖学家、人类学家保罗•白洛嘉（Paul Broca）。他对人脑研究有重要贡献，发现了人脑的语言运动中枢，被称为“白洛嘉中枢”。他认为人的智力越高，大脑越大。另一位法国人、心理学家阿弗雷德•比纳（Alfred Binet）起初也接受这种见解，并决定通过测量证明之。
Dewdney：Years earlier, he [指比纳] had followed with fascination the craniometric studies of another famous countryman, Paul Broca （after whom Broca’s Area of the human brain is named）, who claimed that more intelligent people had larger heads. （29页）。
从1898年到 1900年，比纳对几所小学做了调查。他先让教师选出一个班级中最聪明的和最笨的学生，然后用白洛嘉建议的方法测量这些学生的脑袋大小。
Gould：Binet went to various schools, making Broca's recommended measurements on the heads of pupils designated by teachers as their smartest and stupidest. （176页）
在这项研究结束的时候，比纳不得不改变了看法。
Gould：By the end of this effort, he was no longer so sure. （176页）
聪明学生的平均脑袋大小仅仅比笨学生的大了大约一毫米，可以忽略不计，而且可能是由于聪明学生的平均身高比笨学生略高的结果。
Gould：Binet found his differences, but they were much too small to matter and might only record the greater average height of better pupils （1.401 vs. 1.378 meters）. Most measures did favor the better students, but the average difference between good and poor amounted to a mere millimeter — "extremement petite" as Binet wrote. （177页）
另外，脑袋大小在学生中差异很大，脑袋最大的和脑袋最小的，都属于笨学生。
Gould：The differences were too small, and Binet also found that poor students varied more than their smarter counterparts. Thus, although the smallest value usually belonged to a poor pupil, the highest often did as well. （177页）
比纳还发现了脑袋测量的结果很容易受测量者的偏向的影响，即在认定被测量者是聪明的时测量结果会下意识地偏大，反之则偏小，这种误差能达到三毫米，超过了聪明学生和笨学生的平均差异。
Gould：To make matters worse, some measures usually judged crucial in the assessment of mental worth favored the poorer pupils—for anteroposterior diameter of the skull, poorer students exceeded their smarter colleagues by 3.0 mm. （177页）
【注：方舟子此处属于误译或者故意篡改作者原意。古尔德此处是说比纳测量学生的前额大小，发现差生比好生大三毫米。接下来，古尔德说比纳发现测量者记录测量结果会受到主观意识的影响。
Binet also fueled his own doubts with an extraordinary study of his own suggestibility, an experiment in the primary theme of this book—the tenacity of unconscious bias and the surprising malleability of "objective," quantitative data in the interest of a preconceived idea. "I feared," Binet wrote （1900, p. 323）, "that in making measurements on heads with the intention of finding a difference in volume between an intelligent and a less intelligent head, I would be led to increase, unconsciously and in good faith, the cephalic volume of intelligent heads and to decrease that of unintelligent heads." He recognized the greater danger lurking when biases are submerged and a scientist believes in his own objectivity （1900, p. 324）: "Suggestibility . . . works less on an act of which we have full consciousness, than on a half-conscious act — and this is precisely its danger."（177页）。
【注：方舟子没有“翻译”这段话，而是把它的意思与前一段话混到了一起。】
这三个结果都说明了测量脑袋大小不是一种测定智力的可靠办法。【注：这段话属于方舟子的“原创”。】
在1904年，比纳被法国教育部要求研究一种办法鉴定那些学习能力有问题、需要特别辅导的小学生。或者说，要找出一种鉴定学生智力高低的办法。
Gould：In 1904 Binet was commissioned by the minister of public education to perform a study for a specific, practical purpose: to develop techniques for identifying those children whose lack of success in normal classrooms suggested the need for some form of special education.（179页）
这时候，比纳已放弃了从大脑形态鉴定智力的努力，而改用测试办法。
Gould：When Binet returned to the measurement of intelligence in 1904, he remembered his previous frustration and switched to other techniques. He abandoned what he called the "medical" approaches of craniometry and the search for Lombroso's anatomical stigmata, and decided instead on "psychological" methods. （178-179页）
他发明了一套与功课的内容没有关系，只测试学生的推理能力的试卷。
Dewdney：He devised a test that resembled an examination but which did not address scholastic questions. Instead, the questions on this test reflected a student's ability to reason about simple things such as coins, faces, and other everyday object. （30页）。
到1911年比纳去世时，他共发表了三种智力测试的版本。
Gould：Binet published three versions of the scale before his death in 1911. （179页）
1905年发表的第一版只是把测试问题按从易到难排列。在1908年发表的第二版中，比纳把这些问题按“心理年龄”排列。
Dewdney：By 1905 Binet had completed the first version of his test, in which he arranged the tasks in order of difficulty. In the second version of his test, completed in 1908, Binet rearranged the questions in order of "mental age”.（30页）
他设想，对每一个问题，智力正常的小孩要能够回答的话，最少要有多少岁，这个年龄被当做“心理年龄”。
Dewdney：For each question, he reasoned, there would be a minimum age at which a normal or average child might reasonably be expected to answer it correctly. （30页）
受测试者从为最小的心理年龄设计的问题开始测试，难度逐渐增加，与受测试者所能回答的最后问题相关的心理年龄就是这个受测试者的心理年龄。受测试者的心理年龄减去其实际年龄，即是其智力水平。
Gould：A child began the Binet test with tasks for the youngest age and proceeded in sequence until he could no longer complete the tasks. The age associated with the last tasks he could perform became his "mental age," and his general intellectual level was calculated by subtracting this mental age from his true chronological age.（179-180页）
如果心理年龄低于实际年龄，说明未达到同龄人的学习能力水平，那就需要特别辅导。
Gould：Children whose mental ages were sufficiently behind their chronological ages could then be identified for special educational programs,（180页）
在 1912年，德国心理学家威廉•斯登（William Stern）认为，将心理年龄除以实际年龄，更能准确地反映智力水平，“智商”（IQ）由此诞生。
Gould：In 1912 the German psychologist W. Stern argued that mental age should be divided by chronological age, not subtracted from it, and the intelligence quotient, or IQ, was born. （180页）
但是比纳本人很清楚，他发明的这套测试，并不是真正在测量智力，“因为智力的好坏是不能叠加的，因此不能像测量线性表面那样地测量。”
Dewdney：As if aware of how his test might be later abused, Binet gave specific warnings about the dangers of misuse: "The scale, properly speaking, does not permit the measure of the intelligence, because intellectual qualities are not superposable, and therefore cannot be measured as linear surfaces are measured.”（31页）
换言之，智力是一种极其复杂的、多样化的现象，不能简单地以一个数字来表示。而且，比纳也很清楚，这套测试所设定的所谓“心理年龄”，只是许多测试者的平均结果，并不代表一个真正的实在。
Gould：Moreover, the number is only an average of many performances, not an entity unto itself. Intelligence, Binet reminds us, is not a single, scalable thing like height. （181页）
在去世的那一年，他警告说：如果根据测试结果说一个八岁小孩有七岁或九岁的智力，那只是一种简单化的、主观的说法，容易引起误解，导致其智力测试是真正在测量智力的幻觉。
Gould："We feel it necessary to insist on this fact," Binet（1911）cautions, "because later, for the sake of simplicity of statement, we will speak of a child of 8 years having the intelligence of a child of 7 or 9 years; these expressions, if accepted arbitrarily, may give place to illusions."（181页）
总之，比纳测试只是一种实用性的测试，目的是为了发现学习能力有问题的儿童，并不是真正在测量智力，也不用于对正常儿童划分智力等级。
Gould：Not only did Binet decline to label IQ as inborn intelligence; he also refused to regard it as a general device for ranking all pupils according to mental worth. He devised his scale only for the limited purpose of his commission by the ministry of education: as a practical guide for identifying children whose poor performance indicated a need for special education — those who we would today call learning disabled or mildly retarded.（182页）
那些被发现学习能力有问题的儿童，也不一定是天生如此、不可改变，通过特殊的训练有可能提高其能力。
Gould：But of one thing Binet was sure: whatever the cause of poor performance in school, the aim of his scale was to identify in order to help and improve, not to label in order to limit. Some children might be innately incapable of normal achievement, but all could improve with special help.（182页）
比纳所担心的，恰恰在美国出现。在1910年，一个叫戈达德（H. H. Goddard）的美国心理学家将比纳测试译成英文，引进美国，但为它找到了一个全新的、经久不衰的用途。
Gould：Goddard was the first popularizer of the Binet scale in America. He translated Binet's articles into English, applied his tests, and agitated for their general use.（189页）
在当时，心理学上把精神发育迟滞分成两种：心理年龄不到三岁，不具有完备的语言能力的被称为白痴，心理年龄在三岁到七岁之间，有语言能力但没有阅读、书写能力的被称为痴愚。
Dewdney：In Goddard's time, psychologists defined "idiots" as those who never developed full speech and could barely progress beyond the general competence of a three year-old. The next higher classification, "imbeciles," could speak well enough but seemed incapable of learning to read or write. An imbecile, by definition, had a mental age of somewhere between three and seven years. （32 页）
戈达德认为，在痴愚和正常人之间，还应该存在一个心理年龄在八到十二岁的等级，他称之为愚鲁。愚鲁的人能够学会阅读、书写，但是其能力永远达不到正常人的水平。
Dewdney：To bring the taxonomy of mental retardation up to date, Goddard coined the word "moron.” One level above imbeciles, morons occupied a gray area between idiots and imbeciles on the one hand, and fully competent people the other. Morons might learn to read and write, but their skills would always be somewhat marginal.（32页）
在戈达德看来，愚鲁对社会的危害更大，许多犯罪分子，绝大多数酗酒者和妓女，甚至不适应社会的人，全都是愚鲁者。
Gould：Many criminals, most alcoholics and prostitutes, and even the "ne'er do wells" who simply don't fit in, are morons: "We know what feeble-mindedness is, and we have come to suspect all persons who are incapable of adapting themselves to their environment and living up to the conventions of society or acting sensibly, of being feeble-minded".（191页）
我们很容易识别白痴和痴愚，他们一般没有生殖能力或无生殖的兴趣，有兴趣的话也难以有机会，因此其劣质基因难以遗传。
Gould：The idiot is not our greatest problem. He is indeed loathsome. . . .Nevertheless, he lives his life and is done. He does not continue the race with a line of children like himself. （192页）
但是愚鲁在表面上难以与正常人区别开来，他们有正常的生殖能力，甚至生殖力旺盛，其劣质基因将会遗传下去、扩散开去。如何鉴别愚鲁者并防止其生殖，是当时“优生学”运动的主要目标。戈达德认为，比纳测试就是鉴定愚鲁者的一个好办法。
Dewdney：Binet’s new tests, he discovered, were just the thing to detect morons. The eugenics movement, started by the statistician Francis Galton in England two decades earlier, had taken root in America. There was much concern in some quarters that if the feebleminded and moronic were allowed to breed and produce children, the population as a whole would become polluted with these undesirable genes.（32页）
这完全背叛了比纳的初衷。戈达德认为比纳测试是真正地测试智力，而且是先天的、遗传而来的、不可改变的智力。
Gould：Binet refused to define his scores as "intelligence," and wished to identify in order to help. Goddard regarded the scores as measures of a single, innate entity.（189页）
今天我们已认识到，有许多因素可以导致精神发育迟滞，例如孕期生病、滥用药物，胎儿、婴儿营养不良，大脑受到外伤，等等，当然也有的是遗传病。
Gould：Consider some of the potential causes: inherited patterns of function, genetic pathologies arising accidentally and not passed in family lines, congenital brain damage caused by maternal illness during pregnancy, birth traumas, poor nutrition of fetuses and babies, a variety of environmental disadvantages in early and later life.（190页）
人体的任何主要性状，都是许多基因彼此相互作用、基因与环境相互作用以及偶然因素的影响的结果。
Gould：We now know that virtually every major feature of our body is built by the interaction of many genes with each other and with an external environment.（192页）
然而，戈达德却把所有的精神发育迟滞全都归为遗传引起的。他甚至认为智力就像孟德尔豌豆的颜色、性状一样，是由一对等位基因决定的，一个来自父亲，一个来自母亲。那些没有正常的智力基因而只有与之等位的“隐性的”精神迟滞基因的，就会是愚鲁、痴愚、白痴。那些只有一个正常的智力基因的，则是只适于干粗活的笨蛋。
Gould：But in these early days, many biologists naively assumed that all human traits would behave like the color, size, or wrinkling of Mendel's peas: they believed, in short, that even the most complex parts of a body might be built by single genes, and that variation in anatomy or behavior would record the different dominant and recessive forms of these genes.（192页）
Dewdney：Goddard, after all, believing in “intelligence” as a single, fixed entity that could be measured more or less precisely. He also believed that it was passed on by a specific gene from each parent. Those who received no genes for intelligence would be morons, or worse. Those who received only one gene would be fit for “dull labor” but little else.（33页）
如果智力障碍真的是由一个基因决定的，那么就有一个简单的办法将其消灭：禁止智力障碍者生育。
Gould：If mental deficiency is the effect of a single gene, the path to its eventual elimination lies evidently before us: do not allow such people to bear children:（193页）
如果愚鲁者能够为了人类的幸福未来而自觉地控制自己的性欲，那么我们还可以允许他们自由地生活。
Gould：If morons could control their own sexual urges and desist for the good of mankind, we might permit them to live freely among us.（193页）
但是愚蠢必然导致不道德，愚鲁者是不可能自觉地放弃自己的生殖权利的，因此必须采取强制措施。
Gould：But they cannot, because immorality and stupidity are inexorably linked.（193页）
Gould：So that if we are absolutely to prevent a feeble-minded person from becoming a parent, something must be done other than merely prohibiting the marrying.（194页）
戈达德并不反对对愚鲁者实施绝育手术，但是他认为把他们像精神病人一样关起来与社会隔离，是个更容易被接受的做法。
Gould：Goddard did not oppose sterilization, but he regarded it as impractical because traditional sensibilities of a society not yet wholly rational would prevent such widespread mayhem. Colonization in exemplary institutions like his own at Vineland, New Jersey, must be our preferred solution.（194页）
同时，美国做为一个移民国家，还面临着一个外来的威胁：外国的愚鲁者正蜂拥而来，必须把他们挡在国门之外。这显然要比隔离美国本地的愚鲁者更容易做到。
Gould：Preventing the immigration and propagation of morons （194页）【注：这是一小节的标题。】
在 1912年，戈达德及其助手到了纽约埃利斯岛，用比纳测试测定申请移民者的智力。
Gould：As a contribution to the second step, Goddard and his associates visited Ellis Island in 1912 "to observe conditions and offer any suggestions as to what might be done to secure a more thorough examination of immigrants for the purpose of detecting mental defectives”. （195页）
结果令人吃惊：83％的犹太人，80％的匈牙利人，79％的意大利人和 87％的俄国人的心理年龄都低于十二岁，也即属于低能。
Gould：Binet tests on the four groups led to an astounding result: 83 percent of the Jews, 80 percent of the Hungarians, 79 percent of the Italians, and 87 percent of the Russians were feeble-minded — that is, below age twelve on the Binet scale.（196页）
难道这些民族的五分之四的人口居然都精神发育不全？连戈达德本人都不敢相信，对测试结果进行了修正，使移民申请者中低能的比例降到了40％到50％。但是这个比例仍然高得离谱。
Gould：Goddard himself was flabbergasted: could anyone be made to believe that four-fifths of any nation were morons? …… Eventually, Goddard monkied about with the tests, tossed several out, and got his figures down to 40 to 50 percent, but still he was disturbed.（196页）
原因本来不难设想，这些受测试者绝大多数是穷人，从未上过学，有的甚至从未握过笔，一句英语不懂，在经过长途海上颠簸之后，疲顿不堪，精神紧张，惶恐不安地立即接受智商测试，怎么能指望他们发挥正常水平？
Gould：Goddard's figures were even more absurd than he imagined for two reasons, one obvious, the other less so.…… For the evident reason, consider a group of frightened men and women who speak no English and who have just endured an oceanic voyage in steerage. Most are poor and have never gone to school; many have never held a pencil or pen in their hand. They march off the boat; one of Goddard's intuitive women takes them aside shortly thereafter, sits them down, hands them a pencil, and asks them to reproduce on paper a figure shown to them a moment ago, but now withdrawn from their sight. Could their failure be a result of testing conditions, of weakness, fear, or confusion, rather than of innate stupidity?（196页）
但是戈达德却排除了这些环境因素，而把测试结果不佳归于先天的愚蠢，认定这些新移民的确有令人惊讶的低等智力，而愚鲁者比例奇高的原因，是因为移民的质量在下降，外国高智商者倾向于留在本国，而低智商者倾向于移民美国。因此，严格把好移民关就成了当务之急。戈达德非常自豪地报道说，在那些相信可以用智商测试检测低能外国人的美国医生的不懈努力下，在1913年，由于智力不健全而被驱逐的移民增加了350％，在1914年则比前五年的平均人数增加了570％。
Gould：Since environment, either European or immediate, could not explain such abject failure, Goddard stated: "We cannot escape the general conclusion that these immigrants were of surprisingly low intelligence"（1917, p. 251）. The high proportion of morons still bothered Goddard, but he finally attributed it to the changing character of immigration: "It should be noted that the immigration of recent years is of a decidedly different character from the early immigration…We are now getting the poorest of each race” （1917, p.266）. "The intelligence of the average 'third class' immigrant is low, perhaps of moron grade"（1917, p. 243）. Perhaps, Goddard hoped out loud, things were better on the upper decks, but he did not test these wealthier customers.（197页）
到了1928年，戈达德改变了看法，承认那些比纳测试的心理年龄低于十二岁者，只有一小部分是真正的低能，而即使是愚鲁，也能通过教育和训练使他们过上正常的社会生活，而不必加以隔离。至此，戈达德的立场与比纳的立场已没有什么区别。
Gould：By 1928 Goddard had changed his mind and become a latterday supporter of the man whose work he had originally perverted, Alfred Binet. Goddard admitted, …… We now know, of course, that only a small percentage of the people who test 12 are actually feeble-minded…… （202页）
Gould：Goddard concluded（1928, p. 225）in reversing the two bulwarks of his former system: 1. Feeble-mindedness （the moron）is not incurable [Goddard's italics]. 2. The feeble-minded do not generally need to be segregated in institutions.（204页）
但是在这时候，比纳测试被做为测试天生智力的方法，早已在美国流传开去。这得归功于另一位心理学家、斯坦福大学教授路易斯•特曼（Lewis M. Terman）。
Gould：Goddard introduced Binet's scale to America, but Terman was the primary architect of its popularity.（205页）
1911年比纳测试的最后版本包括54道题，只测试到十六岁水平。特曼在1916年对比纳测试做了扩展，包括90道题，测试到“超级成人”水平。
Gould：Binet's last version of 1911 included fifty-four tasks, graded from prenursery to mid-teen-age years. Terman's first revision of 1916 extended the scale to "superior adults" and increased the-number of tasks to ninety.（205页）
特曼将每个年龄的儿童平均得分设为100（即心理年龄等于实际年龄），允许有15分的偏差。
Gould：By careful juggling and elimination, Terman standardized the scale so that "average" children would score 100 at each age （mental age equal to chronological age）. Terman also evened out the variation among children by establishing a standard deviation of 15 or 16 points at each chronological age.（207页）
他把这个测试称为斯坦福－比纳测试。
Gould：Terman, by then a professor at Stanford University, gave his revision a name that has become part of our century's vocabulary—the Stanford-Binet, the standard for virtually all "IQ" tests that followed.（205页）
和戈达德一样，特曼认为低能是社会败坏的根源，“并非所有的犯罪分子都是低能者，但是所有的低能者都至少是可能的犯罪分子。谁都难以否认，每一个低能的妇女都是可能的妓女。道德判断，就像商业判断、社会判断或其他任何高等层次的思维品质，是智力的功能。如果智力滞留在幼稚状态，道德不可能开花结果。”
Gould：Not all criminals are feeble-minded, but all feeble-minded persons are at least potential criminals. That every feeble-minded woman is a potential prostitute would hardly be disputed by anyone. Moral judgment, like business judgment, social judgment, or any other kind of higher thought process, is a function of intelligence. Morality cannot flower and fruit if intelligence remains infantile （1916, p. 11）.（211页）
特曼认为智商高低决定了在社会上的成功与否，一个理想的社会是根据每个人的智商进行分工的社会，智商低于 75只适合于干粗活，75－85只适于干半技术活，“智商高于85者当理发师，可能是一种严重的浪费”，而要在社会上成功，可能需要有115或120以上的智商。
Gould：Terman virtually closed professions of prestige and monetary reward to people with IQ below 100 （1919, p. 282）, and argued that "substantial success" probably required an IQ above 115 or120. （211-212页）
Gould：IQ of 75 or below should be the realm of unskilled labor, 75 to 85 "preeminently the range for semi-skilled labor." More specific judgments could also be made. "Anything above 85 IQ in the case of a barber probably represents so much dead waste" （1919, p. 288）. （212页）
因此特曼希望能测定社会上每个人的智商，由此有了另一个创新：使智力测试大众化、商业化。比纳测试必须由经过训练的人员主持，每次只能对一个儿童进行测试，因此不可能大规模地进行。但是特曼却希望每个人都接受斯坦福－比纳测试，为测试提供了标准答案，因此任何人都可以主持测试、评定结果。
Gould：Binet's tasks had to be administered by a trained tester working with one child at a time. They could not be used as instruments for general ranking. But Terman wished to test everybody, for he hoped to establish a gradation of innate ability that could sort all children into their proper stations in life:
What pupils shall be tested? The answer is, all. ……. Universal testing is fully warranted （1923, p. 22）.（206-207页）
Dewdney：Problems with the Binet scale and its application led Lewis M. Terman, an educational psychologist at Stanford University, to revise the test, producing by 1917 what we now call the Stanford - Binet scale. Terman extended the number of questions from 54 to 90. Many of the new questions were for "superior adults. While the Binet test had been administered orally by a trained tester, the new Stanford-Binet test was to be a written one. The new test, moreover, would hardly be confined to selected students. Terman already foresaw a universal IQ test: “What pupils shall be tested? The answer is All.”（33页）
一个儿童在经过五次30分钟的测试后，就被测定了智商高低，该结果可能影响其一生。
Gould：Thirty minutes and five tests might mark a child for life, if schools adopted the following examination, advertised in Terman 1923, and constructed by a committee that included Thorndike, Yerkes, and Terman himself.（207页）
智商测试很快成为了一个产值数百万美元的大工业，各种各样的版本被发明、推销，而所有这些版本都以斯坦福－比纳测试为依据。斯坦福－比纳测试成了以后所有智商测试的标准，一直被使用到现在。
Gould：Testing soon became a multimillion-dollar industry; marketing companies dared not take a chance with tests not proven by their correlation with Terman's standard.（207页）
Gould：……the Stanford-Binet became （and in many respects remains to this day） the primary criterion for judging a plethora of mass-marketed written tests that followed. （207页）
但是从一开始，“智商”学派就在学术界遭到了批评，这些批评至今也没有平息，而智商学派几十年来也未能充分地回应这些批评。
Dewdney：For the foregoing reason and others as well, the IQ school has been under more or less continuous attack from the beginning. The concept of IQ has been criticized by psychologists, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers of science. To counter these criticisms, the IQ school has cleverly drawn its intellectual wagons into a circle.（37页）。
智商学派声称智力测试与文化背景、学习内容无关，测试的是抽象的推理能力。但是他们提供的某些问题和标准答案，显然是在测试对一个特定的文化中的社会规范的理解程度。
例如在斯坦福－比纳测试中，有一道题是：“我的邻居来了三个不寻常的访问者，先是一位医生到他家，然后是一位律师，然后是一位牧师。你认为那里发生了什么事？”特曼提供的标准答案是“死亡”：医生做最后抢救和死亡鉴定，律师草拟遗嘱，牧师接受临终忏悔。显然，一个不了解西方临终习俗的人，很难做出正确的回答，将会被认为 “愚蠢”。即使是在西方国家生活智力正常的人，也不一定会按标准答案回答。特曼只对一名他称为“有觉悟的年轻优生学者”的男孩的非标准答案破例接受（这名男孩回答说是“结婚”：医生来查看未婚夫妻是否适合结婚，律师草拟婚约，牧师主持婚礼），但是对其他答案一概认为是错误的，最常见的错误答案是“离婚后再婚”，至于其他虽然合理但是太简单的答案像“聚餐”、“娱乐”都不被允许，过于复杂的、富有创造性和想象力的答案（比如“某人病危，在临死前结婚和立遗嘱”）也被认为是不可接受的。
Gould：Terman also included this item from Binet's original: "My neighbor has been having queer visitors. First a doctor came to his house, then a lawyer, then a minister. What do you think happened there?" Terman permitted little latitude beyond "a death," though he did allow "a marriage" from a boy he described as "an enlightened young eugenist" who replied that the doctor came to see if the partners were fit, the lawyer to arrange, and the minister to tie the knot. He did not accept the combination "divorce and remarriage," though he reports that a colleague in Reno, Nevada, had found the response "very, very common." He also did not permit plausible but uncomplicated solutions （a dinner, or an entertainment）, or such original responses as: "someone is dying and is getting married and making his will before he dies." （206页）
难道创造性和想象力不被算是智力？这正是智商学派遭受到的批评中最致命的一点：什么是智力？智力是极其复杂的现象，不论是从科学的角度还是从社会的角度，都没有人能对智力下一个能被学术界公认的、恰当的定义，更没有人能够提出一个关于智力的理论解释极其多样的与智力有关的种种现象。
有些人有很强的分析、推理能力，却缺乏想象力；有些人数学能力很差，但是语言能力很强；有些人言语迟钝，但是思维反应敏捷；有些人学习能力不强，但是却善于处理社会关系……如何能够客观地判定这些具有不同的能力的人的智力高低？又如何能够对具有丰富的内容的智力做线性的数量排列？许多学者把智力定义为学习能力，但是学什么呢？数学、语言、图像识别、音乐、绘画、处理人际关系还是野外生存能力？智商测试以及当代其他学习能力测试所测量的，只是数学、推理和语汇能力，这最多只能说是智力的一小部分。但是智商学派却认为智商测定的是正常人必有的普遍智力。
Dewdney：By a theory of intelligence, I mean a theory that defines intelligence as a quality that inheres to some degree in every compartment of human mental activity. At a minimum, such a theory would have to be capable of identifying intelligent behavior as observed in a variety of natural settings from social interactions to athletic performance to intellectual work. ……One might well add that some people seem to show more intelligence in one area than another. For example, some people are excellent at calculating social relationships, but are quite lost when it comes to weights and measures. Some people see analogies between things almost instantly, but seem unable to imagine new situations.（38页）
在20世纪初，英国统计学家斯皮尔曼（Charles Spearman）为了分析智力测试的结果，发明了因子分析法。他发现，人们在回答不同的智力测试时，其得分具有相关性，即在某一套智力测试得分高的人，在另一套智力测试中也倾向于得分高，反之亦然。这些不同的智力测试的结果是不是存在一个共同因子呢？他用因子分析法进行分析，发现的确存在一个相关因子，他称之为g，代表普遍智力。由于他已认定人的智力具有天生的“普遍因素”，便认为这个抽象的g真的是测量了普遍智力。
Dewdney：About the time that Binet was commissioned by the French Ministry of Education to compose his famous test, English statistician Charles Spearman invented factor analysis, a technique for teasing out underlying uniformities in large numbers of correlations. （34 页）
Dewdney：When examining the data of IQ tests, Spearman was struck by the high degree of correlation between scores achieved by people who took two different tests. Was there some underlying factor common to the tests? To find out, he applied factor analysis and discovered that, indeed, there was. He called it g. Spearman meant this letter to stand for “general intelligence,” a perfect example of thingifying.（36页）。
但是我们知道，机理未明的相关性很可能是没有意义的，由此而得的因子也不过是个抽象的、很可能同样没有具体意义的符号，它可能反映的是环境因素（某些人在各种智力测试中得分高，是因为有良好的营养、家庭、教育），可能反映的是遗传因素（某些人在各种智力测试中得分高，是因为他们天生就聪明），可能反映的是环境因素和遗传因素的共同作用，当然可能什么也反映不了。
【注：古尔德和道尼在书中花费了大量的篇幅讨论相关分析的局限性，方舟子上面这段话就是根据它们“发挥”而来的。】
但是智商学派却认定他们测定的是受遗传因素决定的、天生的、不可改变的普遍智力。在40年代，美国社会学家史密特（Bernadine Schmidt）决定验证这个说法。他在芝加哥选定了254名来自社会底层的12到14岁少年做为研究对象。这些少年都被认为低能，平均智商只有52。史密特对这些少年进行了三年的强化训练，包括培养他们良好的学习习惯、生活作风、学术基本技能等。三年后重新对他们进行智商测试，发现他们的平均智商增加到 72，整整长了20分。五年后，史密特对他们再次做了测试，发现其平均智商继续增加，达到了89，进入了正常人范围，而且有四分之一的人的智商增长在50 分以上。这个实验已说明了智商的高低并不是不可改变的，也就不可能完全由遗传因素决定，而与后天的教育有关。
Dewdney：To the degree that IQ （as measured） turns out to be a highly plastic number, one cannot claim that it is inherited to any significant degree. Perhaps the most telling demonstration of the plasticity of IQ came in 1946 when Bernadine Schmidt, a young social scientist from Chicago, published a classic study in the journal Psychological Monographs. Schmidt's article, an unprecedented 144 pages long, described changes in the social, cultural, and intellectual behavior of 254 children of ages between twelve to fourteen. The children, who all came from disadvantaged or dysfunctional homes in the Chicago area, had all been classified as “feebleminded.” Their average IQ was 52, as compared with a nationwide average of about 100.
Dewdney：Schmidt conducted an intensive three-year training program that involved personal behavior, fundamental academic skills, manipulative arts, and good study habits. At the end of the period the students were tested again and proved to have an average IQ of 72, a full 20-point increase. Five years later, Schmidt tested her subjects again and found the average had increased to 89 with one-quarter of the students having gained more than 50 points.（42-43 页）
那么智商在多大程度上是与遗传因素有关的呢？在遗传学上，用遗传率来表示某项性状受遗传影响的程度。这是一个在0和1之间的数字。如果不同个体的性状差异完全是由于基因差异引起的，遗传率为1；如果完全是由环境因素导致的，则遗传率为0。研究孪生子的性状异同，是确定遗传率的一个好办法。一对同卵孪生子的基因组是完全相同的，如果他们从小被分开、在不同的家庭长大，那么他们某个性状的相似程度，就被认为代表着该性状受基因影响的程度。30多项孪生子研究（合计包括一万多对孪生子）的结果表明，智商的遗传率大约是0.5。但是这样得到的遗传率事实上指的是先天因素，而先天因素并不完全是由基因决定的，出生前母亲体内环境也会对一个人的先天状况有重要影响。由于孪生子是同时在同一个子宫发育的，他们共同的先天因素并不仅仅包括相同的基因的影响，还包括相同的母体环境。在考虑了孕期母体环境因素后，智商的遗传率只有大约 0.34。
【注：这段话是方舟子根据1997年7月31日Nature上的一篇文章 “改编”的。只不过是，根据这篇文章，他们的统计结果是根据二百多项研究，总人数超过五万。方舟子所说的“30多项孪生子研究（合计包括一万多对孪生子）”不知来自何处。见：Devlin B, Daniels M, Roeder K. The heritability of IQ. Nature. 1997 Jul 31;388:468-71.】
可见环境和随机因素对智商高低的影响其实是更加重要的。即使是受遗传因素影响的那部分，也只是个统计结果，究竟有多少基因、什么样的基因参与其中，作用机理如何，我们都一无所知。近来英国和美国联合开展了一项研究，试图寻找影响智商的基因。研究者将数百名实验对象按其智商高、中、低分成几组，并提取其 DNA加以分析。研究者选定了大约90种与神经功能有关的基因加以比较，看其中是否有与智商差异有关的。至今他们还没有找到任何与智商高低相关的基因。如果有一天他们发现了某个基因的差异与智商的高低相关，我们是否可以说这就是智商基因甚至是智力基因呢？不能。
【注：这段话可能是在讲述英国国王学院的科学家Robert Plomin 和美国科罗拉多大学科学家John C. DeFries的工作。见： Ghosh, P. Genius of genes. BBC News, 8 August, 2000,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/850358.stm】
打一个比方，如果蓄电池坏了，就能影响汽车发动机的起动，但是我们并不能说蓄电池是发动机的“基因”，它甚至算不上是发动机的一部分。同样，任何能影响神经元的构造、功能、代谢和营养的基因，都有可能影响人的智力活动，并成为影响智商的基因。有的这类基因与智力活动并无直接的关系。例如，有极少数人，大约在三、四十岁就会得阿兹海默症（老年痴呆症），他们如果做智商测验，无疑得分会很低。他们得病的原因，是某个基因（例如app基因）发生突变，生产异常的淀粉状蛋白。这些淀粉状蛋白在大脑中沉积下来，就会抑制周围的神经元的功能，从而导致痴呆症。显然，任何能够引起整个神经元功能失常或死亡的基因都能导致智力缺陷，但是这些基因本身的正常功能不太可能与智力活动有任何的关系。
要而言之，智力是一种极其复杂的、多样的现象，不可能做定量的线性测量。并不存在一种可以比较正常人的智力高低的“普遍智力”。所谓智商测试，测量的不过是数学、推理、语汇方面的学习能力。智商测试在学校教育中有其应用价值，但不宜夸大其作用，更不能产生它是在测量智力的误解。智商的高低并非真正反映智力的高低。智商并不是完全由遗传因素决定、不可改变的，环境因素的影响可能更为重要。影响智力的遗传因素是极其复杂、多样的。遗传性的智力迟滞往往是由于与智力活动没有关联的基因突变导致的。任何能够影响神经系统的活动的基因都有可能影响智力活动。找到某个特定的“智力基因”的可能性，可以说为零。
