PUBLIC LECTURE: Race, science and politics: a case study of academic freedom and responsibility

Abstract: Many of us have been following the events surrounding Macquarie University academic Andrew Fraser’s claim (among others) that we should consider controlling immigration of sub-Saharan Africans because they have lower IQs. My research concerns the nature and development of intelligence and I have some professional and personal acquaintance with controversies surrounding claims about race and IQ. This case raises important issues about academic freedom and academic responsibility that I will address in this presentation.

Biographical Note: Mike Anderson completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh in 1977 and received his Doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1981. He has worked as a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, as a Senior Scientist at the Medical Research Council’s Cognitive Development Unit in London and is currently an Associate Professor and Head of the School of Psychology at UWA. His research interests are in developmental psychology, particularly in understanding the mechanisms underlying individual differences and developmental changes in intelligence. He published a theoretical monograph in 1992 – Intelligence and development: a cognitive theory (Oxford: Blackwell) – where he espoused his view that individual differences in IQ were determined by the speed of processing of the brain but that developmental change in abilities are due largely to the maturation of modular specialized systems (like language and “theory of mind”). His current research is mainly aimed at understanding the biological underpinnings of the development of fluid intelligence in children and how cognitive models can be used to understand developmental psychopathologies.