Frank Miele

[Miele grew up in New Jersey.   He attended the University of Georgia, where he studied psychology under R. Travis Osborne.  He became a regular contributor to Mankind Quarterly while still an undergraduate and collaborated with Donald Swan and A. James Gregor as well as Osborne.   More recently he has worked with Richard Lynn.]

 

1965

Miele, Frank.  Review of The Hittites by O.R. Gurney.  In Mankind Quarterly 6 (October-December 1965):   119-120.

 

1966

Miele, Frank.  Review of The Vikings by Johannes Brønstead.  In Mankind Quarterly 6 (January-March 1966):  171-172.

Miele, Frank.  Review of The Concept of Race by M.F. Ashley Montagu.  In Mankind Quarterly 6 (January-March 1966):  178-180.

Miele, Frank.  Review of Origins of Man by John Buettner-Janusch.  In Mankind Quarterly 7 (July-September 1966):  61-62.

Miele, Frank.  "The Race Concept."  Mankind Quarterly 7 (October-December 1966):  78-85.

 

1967

[13 March 1967.  Perceptual & Motor Skills accepts Osborne, Gregor & Miele, "Heritability of Numerical Facility."]

Osborne, R. Travis, A. James Gregor, and Frank Miele.  "Heritability of Numerical Facility." Perceptual and Motor Skills 24 (1967):  659-666.

 

1968

[9 January 1968.  Perceptual & Motor Skills accepts Osborne, Gregor & Miele, "Heritability of Factor V:  Verbal Comprehension."]

Osborne, R. Travis, A. James Gregor, and Frank Miele.  "Heritability of Factor V:  Verbal Comprehension."  Perceptual and Motor Skills 26 (1968):  191-202.

 

1969

[10 March 1969.  Perceptual & Motor Skills accepts Osborne & Miele, "Racial Differences in Environmental Influences on Numerical Ability as Determined by Heritability Estimates."]

Osborne, R. Travis, and Frank Miele.  "Racial Differences in Environmental Influences on Numerical Ability as Determined by Heritability Estimates."  Perceptual and Motor Skills 28 (1969):  535-538.

Miele, Frank.  Review of The Basis of Human Evolution by Bertram S. Kraus.  In Mankind Quarterly 10 (October-December 1969):  116-117.

 

1970

[1970.  A.B., University of Georgia.  He had been publishing in Mankind Quarterly for five years when he graduated.  He spent much of the first half of the 1970s around Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.]

 

1972

Miele, Frank.   "Morphological Methods and Racial Classification."  Mankind Quarterly 12 (April-June 1972):  220-227.

[1972.  M.S., University of Georgia.]

 

1973

Miele, Frank.  "Twin Studies and the Inheritance of Mental Ability."  Mankind Quarterly 13 (January-March 1973):  129-140.

Miele, Frank, and R. Travis Osborne.  "Racial Differences in Heritability Ratios for Verbal Ability." Homo 24 (1973):  35-39.
   [Although he was living around Oklahoma City OK during this period, Homo lists 'Dr.' Miele's address as The Guidance Center, University of Georgia.  (RT Osborne was Director of the Guidance Center).]

Swan, Donald A., and Frank Miele (with the assistance of Dr. R. Travis Osborne).  "A Factor Analysis of Oetteking's Ancient Egyptian Cranial Data."  Homo 24 (1973):   188-204.
   ['Dr.' Miele's address is given as The Guidance Center, University of Georgia.]

 

1975

[22 April 1975. CBS-TV special, 'The IQ Myth,' hosted by Dan Rather.]

Miele, Frank.  "A Proposed Longitudinal Twin Study for Assessing Effects of Environment on the Development of Mental Ability in Negroes and Whites."  Mankind Quarterly 16 (October-December 1975):  132-138.
   [This is Miele's last paper in Mankind Quarterly.]

 

1976

Jensen, Arthur R.   "Test Bias and Construct Validity."  Phi Delta Kappan 58 (December 1976):  340-346.
   [At pp. 343-344: "... a favorite target of test critics is the WISC Verbal Comprehension item: 'What is the thing to do if a fellow (girl) much smaller than yourself starts to fight with you?' This item is often claimed to be culturally biased against blacks, and David Wechsler himself was confronted by this claim in an interview with Dan Rather on a recent CBS-TV program, 'The IQ Myth.'
    "After seeing the CBS program, a psychology graduate student, Frank Miele, looked up the item statistics on this and other WISC items. He obtained WISC tests on large samples of white and black schoolchildren and looked at the rank order of difficulty of this purportedly biased item within each racial group. When the easiest item in the whole WISC is ranked 1 and the hardest is ranked 161, the rank order in difficulty of the 'pick a fight' item is only 42 within the black group, as compared with 47 within the white group. In short, this particular item is relatively easier for blacks than for whites!"
    At p. 244:  "How similar is this general factor for blacks and whites given the same battery of cognitive tests? Frank Miele and R.T. Osborne have sent me correlational data on 541 white and 237 black children in Georgia...."]

 

1977

[c1977-79. Frank Miele again resides in Athens, Georgia.  He is again at the University of Georgia, but does not complete a Ph.D.]

Miele, Frank.   "Cultural Bias in the WISC."  Unpublished manuscript, University of Georgia, 1977.
   [This is a manuscript version of the paper published in Intelligence 3 (April-June 1979).]
     Cited in:
    Jerome M. Sattler (San Diego State), Journal of Psychology 102 (1979): 107
    (Sattler is an associate of Arthur Jensen.)]

 

1978

Osborne, R. Travis, Clyde E. Noble, and Nathaniel Weyl, editors.  Human Variation.  Orlando: Academic Press, 1978.
   [At p. xv, the editors acknowledge the contributions of Frank Miele.]

 

1979

Miele, Frank.   "Cultural Bias in the WISC."  Intelligence 3 (April-June 1979):  149-163.
   Cited in:
    Robert A Gordon & Eileen E Rudert, "Bad News Concerning IQ Tests" Sociology of Education (July 1979): 174-190
    Jonathan Sandoval, "The WISC-R & Internal Evidence of Test Bias with Minority Groups" Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 47 (Oct 1979): 919-947
    Robert A Gordon, "Labeling Theory, Mental Retardation & Public Policy" in The Labeling of Deviance, 2nd ed. (1980)
    Cecil R Reynolds, "Differential Construct Validity of Intelligence as Popularly Measured" Intelligence 4 (Oct-Dec 1980): 371-379
    Nadine M Lambert, "Psychological Evidence in Larry P. v. Wilson Riles: An Evaluation by a Witness for the Defense" American Psychologist 36 (Sept 1981): 937-952
    Cecil R Reynolds & Alfred J Nigl, "A Regression Analysis of Differential Validity in Intellectual Assessment for Black & White Inner City Children" Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 10 (Fall 1981): 176-179
    Cecil R Reynolds & Terry B Gutkin, "A Multivariate Comparison of the Intellectual Performance of Black & White Children Matched on Four Demographic Variables" Personality and Individual Differences 2 (1981): 175-180
    Wayne C Piersel, Barbara S Plake & Cecil R Reynolds, "Bias in Content Validity on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts for White & Mexican-American Children" Contemporary Educational Psychology 7 (April 1982): 181-189
    R Travis Osborne & Frank C.J. McGurk, The Testing of Negro Intelligence, vol. 2, Athens, GA: Foundation for Human Understanding, 1982
    Anne M Murray & Shitala P Mishra, "Judgments of Item Bias in the McCarthy Scales of Childrens' Abilities" Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 5 (Sept 1983): 325-336
    Cecil R Reynolds, "Test Bias: In God We Trust; All Others Must Have Data" Journal of Special Education 17 (Fall 1983): 241-260
    Richard A Figueroa, "Test Bias & Hispanic Children" Journal of Special Education 17 (Winter 1983): 431-440
    Dennis Doverspike & Gerald V Barrett, "An Internal Bias Analysis of a Job Evaluation Instrument" Journal of Applied Psychology 69 (Nov 1984): 648-662
    Cecil R Reynolds, Victor L Willson & Steve Chatman, "Relationships Between Age & Raw Score Increases on the Kaufman-Assessment Battery for Children" Psychology in the Schools 21 (Jan 1984): 19-24
    Rex B Kline, David Lachar & Donna J Sprague, "The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC): An Unbiased Predictor of Cognitive Academic Status" Journal of Pediatric Psychology 10 (Dec 1985): 461-477
    Anne H Widerstrom, Lucy J Miller & Robert J Marzano, "Sex & Race Differences in the Identification of Communicative Disorders in Preschool Children as Measured by the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers" Journal of Communicative Disorders 19 (June 1986): 219-226
    Robert A Gordon, "Jensen's Contributions Concerning Test Bias" in Arthur Jensen: Consensus & Controversy 1987
    Jeanne E Montie & Joseph F Fagan III, "Racial Differences in IQ: Item Analysis of the Stanford-Binet at 3 Years" Intelligence 12 (July-Sept 1988): 315-332
    Vicente Z Ortiz, "Validation of a Short Form of the WISC-R with Accelerated & Gifted Hispanic Students" Gifted Child Quarterly 33 (Fall 1989): 152-155
    Richard Lynn, "Race Differences in Intelligence: A Global Perspective" Mankind Quarterly 31 (Spring 1991): 255-296
    SR Shaw, Mark E Swerdlik & Jeff Laurent, Review of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd ed, in Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment (1993): 151-160
    Sandra Scarr, "Psychological Science in the Public Arena: Three Cases of Dubious Influence" Scandanavian J of Psychology 36 (1995): 164-188

 

1980

Osborne, R. Travis.  Twins:   Black and White.  Athens, Georgia:  Foundation for Human Understanding, 1980.
   [In the preface, Osborne acknowledges his friend & colleague, Frank Miele.]

 

1991

[1991. The Pioneer Fund's 1991 tax return lists grants to Ulster Institute for Social Research (Richard Lynn). An attachment detailing the use of the grant funds includes $9,188 for  research assistance by F. Miele.]

 

1994

[14 March 1994. Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine & founder of the Skeptics Society, appears on a taping of the Phil Donahue Show on Holocaust deniers.]

Miele, Frank.   "Giving the Devil His Due:  Holocaust Revisionism as a Test Case for Free Speech and the Skeptical Ethic."  Skeptic 2 (1994):  58-70.
   [In vol. 2, no. 4, on the theme "Pseudohistory:   Holocaust Revisionism and Afrocentrism."  This is Miele's first contribution to Skeptic.  He very quickly becomes a full-time member of its staff.  The Skeptics Society gives the paper its Spinoza Award.  It has been available on the Skeptics Society's website since July 1994.  A biographical note adopts a slightly picaresque tone, indicating that he "grew up in a 'mob' town in New Jersey.  His current incarnation is as a free-lance writer and musician living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His principal interest is in applying Occam's Razor & Hume's Fork to the study of evolutionary biology, political ideology, and religious philosophy, especially extreme positions as test cases.   The present article, 'Giving the Devil His Due,' developed from a letter to the editor he submitted in response to Michael Shermer's editorial asking if Skeptics should look into Holocaust revisionism (Skeptic Vo. 2 No. 2)."  Miele thanks Vora Shamelis & Pat Carri for editorial & research assistance, and the reference librarians of the South Bay Cooperative Library system.]

 

1995

[26 February 1995. The Skeptics Society sponsors "For Whom the Bell Tolls," a discussion of The Bell Curve at Caltech.  It is organized & cohosted by Miele.  Speakers include Daniel J. Kevles, who discusses the historical context, Diane Halpern, and Vincent Sarich, who discusses the evolutionary and anthropological points of view.]

Miele, Frank.  "For Whom the Bell Tolls:  An Interview with the Author of the Bell Curve:  Charles Murray."  Skeptic 3 (1995):  34-41.
   [In vol. 3, no. 2.  Available on the Skeptics Society's website since 4 April 1995. Miele conducts this interview as part of his research for a book on intelligence.]
    Cited in:
    Kevin Lamb,  "'The Problem of Equality' Revisited:  A Rejoinder to Stretesky,"  Journal of Social, Political & Economic Studies 22 (Summer 1997):  205-248

Miele, Frank.   "Skeptic Magazine Interview with Robert Sternberg on The Bell Curve."   Skeptic 3 (1995):  72-80.
   [In vol 3, no 3.  This is part of a special section on Race and Intelligence.  It is available at www.whitehurst.sbs.sunnysb.edu/psy104/sternberg.html.]
    Cited in:
    Chris R Brand, "The Importance of Intelligence in Western Societies" Journal of Biosocial Science 28 (October 1996): 387-404

Miele, Frank.   "Darwin's Dangerous Disciple:  An Interview with Richard Dawkins."   Skeptic 3 (1995):  80-85.
   [In vol 3 no 4.  Available on the Skeptics Society's website since 14 November 1995.]

Hartung, John.  "Love Thy Neighbor:  The Evolution of In-Group Morality."  Skeptic 3 (1995):
    [Hartung thanks Miele for encouragement and advice.]

[1995-96.  Pioneer Fund grants for Richard Lynn include $5,000 spent to hire Miele as a "consultant."   His financial connection with the Pioneer Fund thus contiued after he became associated with Skeptic magazine.]

[5 December 1995.   Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine, interviews Roger Pearson.   See Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things:  Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Conflusions of Our Time 1997.]

 

1996

Weyher, Harry F.   "Journalistic Ethics and the Pioneer Fund."  Letter.  Skeptic 4 (1996):  17.
   [In vol 4 no 1, published March 1996.  Weyher responds to a letter in vol 2, no 4 that criticized the Pioneer Fund.  His letter is followed by a pro-Pioneer note from the Editors.  I suspect that Miele, who has long been acquainted with the Pioneer Fund & in fact has gotten money from it (through Richard Lynn) as recently as 1991, had a role in this.  Miele is one of two Senior Editors (the other being Bernard Leikind) and also is Advertising Director.  See www.skeptic.com]

 

Miele, Frank.  "The (Im)moral Animal:  A Quick and Dirty Guide to Evolutionary Psychology and the Nature of Human Nature."  Skeptic 4 (1996): 42-49.
   [Vol. 4, no. 1.  This has been available on the Skeptics Society's website since May 1996.  Louis R Andrews's "Stalking the Wild Taboo" website added a link several months later.  It is also available on the Human Behavior & Evolution Society's website at http://psych.lmu.edu/hbes.htm .]

Miele, Frank.  "The Imperial Animals 25 Years Later:  An Interview with Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox."   Skeptic 4 (1996):  78- 85.
    [Vol 4 no 1.]

[30-31 March 1996. Skeptics Society conference on evolutionary psychology and humanistic ethics, at Caltech.   Miele introduces the March 30 afternoon session on evolutionary psychology. The speakers are Donald Symons, Nancy Segal, and Napoleon Chagnon. He also moderates an open forum on March 31. He presents at the Skeptic Magazine Awards Ceremony & Banquet on March 31.]

Miele, Frank.  "Living within Limits and Limits on Living:  Garrett Hardin on Ecology, Economy, and Ethics."  Interview.  Skeptic 4 (1996):  42-46.
   [Vol. 4, no 2.  This has been available on Louis R. Andrews's   Stalking the Wild Taboo website since August 1996.]

Miele, Frank.  "Mother Not Superior?"  Review of The Missionary Position:  Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens.  In Skeptic 4 (1996):   105.
   [Vol 4 no 2.]

[22 Sept 1996. Skeptics Society monthly lecture.  The speaker is Richard Abanes, author of American Militias:  Rebellion, Racism & Religion.  Miele participates.  Skeptic, vol. 4, no. 4 (1997), has on page 23 an item headed "Militias American Style" about the lecture.  A photograph identifies Miele as "'Captain' Miele of the Skeptic Militia ... frequent atendees at Skeptics Society events will recognize 'Captain' Miele as one of the multiple stage personae of uncorrigible Skeptic magazine Senior Editor Frank Miele."]

Miele, Frank.  "We the People?  Jerry Brown on Money, Politics and Who Really Runs America."   Interview.  Skeptic 4 (1996):  62-65.
    [Vol 4 no 3, published October 1996.]

Miele, Frank.  "Killing Them Softly with Their Siren Song."  Review of The Killing of History: How a Discipline Is Being Murdered by Literary Critics and Social Theorists by Keith Windschuttle.  In Skeptic 2 (1996):  97.
   [Vol 4, no 4, published February-March 1997.]

 

1997

Shermer, Michael.  Why People Believe Weird Things:  Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time.  Forward by Stephan Jay Gould.  New York:  W.H. Freeman, May 1, 1997.
    [In the acknowledgments (p. 9), Shermer thanks Miele "for not allowing friendship to get in the way of brutal honesty when editing my essays."   Ch. 15 contains a discussion of the Pioneer Fund and Roger Pearson based on Shermer's 5 December 1995 interview with Pearson.]

[23-24 May 1997.  The 5th Skeptics Society Conference is held at Caltech.  The topic is "The Science Gap:   Bridging the Gulf Between Science and the Media, the Humanities and Some of the Social Sciences."  The first presentation on the second day is Miele on "Pilate's Unanswered Question:  An Introduction to the Skeptics Society 1997 Conference."  Other speakers are Vincent Sarich, Frank Sulloway & Jared Diamond.  A photo layout on the conference in Skeptic vol 5, no 2 (1997), pp. 24-25, starts with a picture of Miele at the podium offering a playful Roman salute. The caption reads: "Ave Caesar! - striding into the hall to the sounds of a triumphal Roman march Frank Miele opened the conference with a Roman salute. His fascinating investigation of Pontius Pilate's unanswered question, 'What Is Truth?' included an impression of Bill Clinton as a Roman prefect."]

Miele, Frank.  "Souled Out or ... Souled Short?"  Skeptic 5 (1997):  46-51.
   [Vol 5, no 1, published in May-June 1997.]

Miele, Frank.  "Living without Limits:  An Interview with Julian Simon."  Skeptic 5 (1997): 54-59.
   [Vol 5, no 1.]

Miele, Frank. "Miele Responds." Skeptic 5 (1997): 35-36.
   [Vol 5, no 2. Response to letters by Julian Simon and others on his interview with Simon.]

Miele, Frank. "Darwinism - Never Too Old to Rock'n'Roll."  Review of The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley, Good Natured by Frans de Waal, Bonobo by Frans de Waal, and Demonic Males by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson.  In Skeptic 5 (1997): 101-103.
   [Vol 5, no 2.]

Miele, Frank.  "Keeping a Skeptical Eye on Extremists - And On Those Who Keep an Eye on Them."  Review of American Extremists by John George and Laird Wilcox, and Crying Wolf by Laird Wilcox.  In Skeptic 5 (1997):  104-105.
   [Vol 5, no 2.]

Miele, Frank.  In Skeptic 5 (1997):  52-57.
    [Vol. 5, no. 3.]

Miele, Frank.  Interview with Donald Johanson.  Skeptic 5 (1997):  58-65.
    [Vol. 5, no. 3.]

 

1998

Miele, Frank.  "IQ in Review:  Getting at the Hyphen in the Nature-Nurture Debate."  Review of Intelligence (vol. 24, no. 1), edited by Linda S. Gottfredson, The Scientific Study of Human Nature, edited by Helmuth Nyborg, Uniting Psychology and Biology, edited by Nancy Segal, Glen E. Weisfeld and C.C. Weisfeld, Intelligence, Heredity and Environment, edited by Robert J. Sternberg and Elena Grigorenko, and American Psychologist (vol. 52, no. 10), edited by Robert J. Sternberg.  In Skeptic 5 (1997):  91-95.
    [Vol. 5, no. 4.  Louis R Andrews reports the issue's appearance in a March 10th message on the American Renaissance mailing list:   "very well done and recommended."]

"Announcements."  Human Behavior and Evolution Society Newsletter 7 (Spring 1998):
    ["Frank Miele and Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine are arranging a symposium on evolution, controversy, and the media at the forthcoming HBES conference.  It would examine/discuss three areas:  Evolution as a controversial subject (vs. Creationism and all that) among the public and therefore in the media;  (2) Controversy over the adaptationist program - media coverage of the disagreements between those who work within the Adaptationist Program (i.e., most of HBES) and it's [sic] critics WITHIN biology (e.g., S.J. Gould);    3) Controversies within HBES (individual vs. group differences, universal vs. differential models).  The focus would not be on these issues per se, but one [sic] how they are treated in the media and/or tips on how to get more and more accurate coverage in the media.  Contact Frank Miele, Senior Editor, SKEPTIC Magazine, 620 Iris Ave (#216), Sunnyvale, CA 94086;  phone 408 738-1927;  fax 408 738-5949;  email:  fmiele@aol.com."
    The Newsletter is edited by Kevin B MacDonald.]