Anna Anastasia is well known for her work in the areas of psychological testing and within the nature vs. nurture debate.
Her article, "Herdity, Environment, and the Question 'How?'" from Psychological Review (1958). This has become
the definitive statement within the nature vs. nurture controversy. She is also extremely well known for her book, "Psychological
TEsting," which is still in print after 47 years and remains a standard reading for college students in the field.
Short Biography:
Anne Anastasi was born in New York City on December 19, 1908. She was the only child of Anthony and Theresa Anastasi.
Her father died when she was only one year old. Her mother managed to obtain the required training in business skills
to become the office manage of one of New York's largest and most prestigious forign newspapers and was the sole support of
the family. Anne was homeschooled by her granmother until she was 10 years old, when she enterd public school.
She quickly skipped a number of grades and graduated at the top of her clcass. Anne then took the examinations offered
by the College Entrance Examination Board and attained scores that allowed her to be accepted at Barnard College when she
was 15 years old. While a junior at Barnard, Anne coauthored her first publication with Frederick Lund on musical preferences,
which appeared in the American Journal of Psychology in 1928. On copleting her baccalaureate at Barnard with
a major in psychology, she entered Columbia University and earned a doctorate in record time at the age of 21.
In 1933, she married psychologist John Porter Foley, Jr., whom she met while attending Columbia. Ann taught at
Barnard from 1930 to 1939 and then accepted a position as assistant professor chairperson of a newly formed psychology department
at Queens College of the City University of New York. In 1947, she moved to Fordham University as an assotiat professor
of spcyhology, where she remained for the rest of her academic career.
Major Contributions:
*Known as the "test guru"
*Extensive examiantion of issues related to test construction, test misuse, misinterpretation and cultural
bias
*Argued against the strictly hereditarian position; emphasized the role of experiential, environmental and cultural influences
on intelligence test scores
*More than 150 publications, includign two classic textbooks: Psychological Testing (1st edition 1954; 7th edition,
1996) and Differential Psychology (1st edition 1937; 4th edition, 1981)
Anne Anastasi's Definition of Intelligence:
"Intelligence is not a single, unitary ability, but rathr a composite of several functions. The term denotes that
combination of abilities required for survival and advancement within a particular culture (Anastasi, 1992, p.613).
In response:
Urie Bronfenbrenner and Stephen J. Ceci authored a journal article in Psychological Review, 1994, Vol. 101,
No. 4, pages 568-586 entitled, "Nature-Nurture Reconceptualized in Developmental Perspective: A Bioecological Model".
This article was written in response to Ann Anastasi's 1958 article on nature vs. nurture.
