'Kallikak Family' Summary

Henry H. Goddard, a prominent American psychologist of the early 20th century, used the Kallikak family as a case study to support his theories on the inheritance of 'feeble-mindedness.' The book traces the lineage of Martin Kallikak, a Revolutionary War soldier, through two branches: one descended from a brief union with a 'feeble-minded' woman and the other from a marriage to a 'normal' woman. Goddard meticulously mapped the family tree, documenting instances of 'feeble-mindedness,' which he defined as a broad category encompassing mental disabilities, learning disabilities, and mental illness. He concluded that the descendants of the 'feeble-minded' lineage exhibited a high prevalence of these traits, while the 'normal' lineage remained largely unaffected. This study reinforced Goddard's belief in the heritability of intelligence and the need for social control over reproduction to prevent the spread of 'feeble-mindedness.' While the Kallikak Family study was widely influential in its time, it has since been widely discredited for its methodological flaws and its contribution to the dangerous ideology of eugenics. Goddard's work, while historically significant, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific racism and the need for rigorous ethical and methodological standards in scientific research.