Data can be selected and used in such a way to prove that blacks are the inferior group. For example, it was considered that blacks were the inferior group.

Gould carefully considers the questions of bias on the part of the experimenter whose studies lead to biased pre-determined results. The errors committed in measuring the skulls led to improper conclusions about brain size and intelligence and meant discrimination for various disadvantaged groups that were ranked at the bottom. He duplicates the work of some of these earlier scientists and disproves their results such as with Morton's skull measurements. Gould basically covers the history of the field of intelligence testing, looking at how it developed and what the various techniques are. The work done in intelligence ranking became a tool of racial prejudice since it was used to suppress the disadvantaged groups and in come cases, to prevent their propagation. Why spend money on them if it is innate is the way the argument goes. Certain groups are always ranked on the bottom, and this is used to justify the social ordering. He looks at what they did right and what they did wrong in measuring human intelligence. The author, a paleontologist with a statistical background, analyzes data within a historical context and combines his skill as a scientist with his concern as a historian when looking at the issue of biological determinism. Since intelligence is an abstraction about the human brain, Gould feels that it is possible to rank humans on this basis. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould is a book that is concerned with how to rank people into groups on the basis of intelligence in a manner that is meaningful.

The mismeasure of man book