Kenneth Richardson (born 21 July 1942) is a British psychologist, author, and former lecturer at the Open University, where he began working in 1971. [1] [2] He has written several books highly critical of IQ testing and related concepts in the field of psychometrics, such as Spearman's g. [3] [4] He contends that the definitions of intelligence, and the assumptions of its causes, "lie at the core of political ideologies", and has called for IQ tests to be banned. [5] He has supported this position by arguing that IQ tests do not measure cognitive ability, but rather conformity with the culture of the tests' designers. [6] [7] [8] Richardson debated the measurement of intelligence with philosopher of science Michael Ruse on the BBC's In Our Time . [9]
Richardson's son, Brian Richardson, is a senior manager in the Science Web and Interactive Media Team at the Open University. [1] [10]