Anti-semitism in psychological research was the focus of a colloquium sponsored by the University’s Psychology Department on Tuesday, November 2. Andrew Winston led the colloquium, which was titled, “Jews, Race, and Essence: The Search for a Mythologized ‘Jewish Mind.’” Winston, a psychology professor at the University of Guelph specializing in anti-Semitism in psychology and scientific racism, centered his talk on two problematic claims about Jews commonly made throughout history.
The talk, organized by Associate Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman and hosted by Professor of Psychology Jill Morawski, is part of a colloquium series that will continue in the spring.
Winston stated that his presentation focused on two myths about Jews.
“Jews are a biologically distinct group with distinct attributes, including higher-than-average intelligence… [and] the difference in intelligence and other attributes is partly due to heredity and natural selection,” Winston said.
Citing the research of numerous highly esteemed scholars, such as Joseph Jacobs and Francis Galton, Winston highlighted the use of biostatistical research on Jews as a means to promote racial misconceptions and blatant anti-Semitism.
He stressed how the supposedly inherently Jewish attributes are connected to international Jewish conspiracy theories and studies of Jewish intelligence.
“Contemporary scientific discussions now provide a new version of biologized Jewish identity and a new search for a Jewish essence or a defining inner structure,” Winston said. “I want to review the historical background of the study of Jews: the measure of heads, Jewish heads, with calipers and the identification of Jewish noses.”
Winston’s review of the historical background of the scientific study of Jews focused largely on the research of Joseph Jacobs, a historian and literary critic born in 1854. Jacobs wrote in his book, “Studies in Jewish Statistics: Social, Vital and Anthropometric,” that Jews were “predominantly brachycephalic, or broad-headed, while the Semites of Arabic origin are invariably dolichocephalic, or long-headed.” He argued that the Jewish people had a fundamental type.
Winston also commented on the work of Francis Galton. Galton, an English psychologist during the Victorian age, superimposed images of Jewish individuals to create what he perceived as an average Jewish face. Galton’s anti-Semitic commentary focused largely on what he deemed “inherently Jewish physical characteristics.”
Winston closed his talk by explaining that these troubling examples of scientific racism helped fuel many false ideas about Jews and conspiracy theories. His lecture was followed by a short Q & A session.
Shusterman stated that this is the first event in a colloquium series being revived by the Psychology Department over the course of the academic year.
“The Psychology Department has often held a colloquium series, which dropped away for a few years due to various time pressures, but which we are now reviving,” Shusterman wrote in an email to The Argus. “The purpose of the colloquia is to expose students and faculty to exciting current work across diverse subfields of psychology.”
Shusterman also expressed her excitement about the number of attendees and the interest displayed by both faculty and students.
“I thought it went well, with an informative talk by a very respected academic in the history of psychology,” Shusterman said. “I was particularly happy with the terrific attendance.”
Michael Creager ’15, an event attendee, explained what drew him to the colloquium.
“Being raised Jewish and hearing a lot about anti-Semitism and also hearing anti-Semitic comments myself, specifically regarding appearance, I thought it would be interesting to hear about how the resurgence of an ancient pseudoscience was going to potentially affect opinions [about] the Jewish people,” Creager said.
However, Creager stated that he felt the talk was primarily a historical overview of times when Jews were studied scientifically.
“[Winston] failed to draw any real conclusions from it or offer any insight into the direction that todays genomics research is going and whether it is positive or not,” Creager said.
Three additional colloquia are scheduled to be held by the Psychology Department in the spring.