Moron (psychology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moron is a term once used in psychology to denote mild mental retardation.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term.
Origin and uses
“Moron” was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard[3] from the Ancient Greek word ????? (moros), which meant “dull”[4] (as opposed to oxy, which meant “sharp”), and used to describe a person with a mental age in adulthood of between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale.[5] It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51-70, being superior in one degree to “imbecile” (IQ of 26-50) and superior in two degrees to “idiot” (IQ of 0-25). The word moron, along with others including, “idiotic,” “imbecilic,” “stupid,” and “feeble-minded,” was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated in use by psychologists.[6]
Following opposition to Goddard’s attempts to popularize his ideas,[7] Goddard recanted his earlier claims about the moron: “It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case. The danger is probably negligible.”[8]