From 1929 until 1972, the Alberta Eugenics Board (the Board) recommended that 4,739 individuals be sterilized. The original 1928 act that legalized eugenic sterilization stipulated that the surgery itself required the consent of the individual or their caregiver; however, in 1937, the Alberta government removed the consent requirement for such cases where the Board determined individual patients to be "mental defectives." By analyzing published reports, case histories, medical journals, and primary sources from the Board, we situate the concept of "mental defective" in a historical context to clarify the Board's diagnostic process. By analyzing how the Board found individuals to be "mental defectives," we challenge a previous historiographic assumption that intelligence tests played a critical or defining role in this diagnostic process. We argue that the notion of the "mental defective" used by the Board had a long history before the advent of intelligence testing and eugenic thought. This history helps to explain how and why the Board relied extensively on the broader examination of behavior, social status, and physical appearance as core evidence in the diagnosis of "mental defect." Intelligence tests were certainly important as they shed light on an individual's academic ability. However, this alone was only one part of "mentality." Defects of mentality were understood to be broad and multifactorial, and included difficult, if not impossible, to measure attributes such as personality, emotionality, and morality. Further research should incorporate the concept of mentality in the history of psychology, testing, and eugenics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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“纯粹的猜测”：澄清智力、心态和心理测试在 1929 年至 1972 年阿尔伯塔省绝育“精神缺陷”诊断中的作用。

从 1929 年到 1972 年，艾伯塔省优生委员会（委员会）建议对 4,739 人进行绝育。1928 年优生绝育合法化的最初法案规定，手术本身需要获得个人或其护理人员的同意；然而，1937 年，阿尔伯塔省政府取消了委员会认定个别患者为“精神缺陷”的案件的同意要求。通过分析已发表的报告、病例史、医学期刊和委员会的主要来源，我们将“精神缺陷”的概念置于历史背景中，以澄清委员会的诊断过程。通过分析委员会如何发现个人存在“精神缺陷”，我们挑战了之前的历史学假设，即智力测试在这一诊断过程中发挥了关键或决定性作用。我们认为，在智力测试和优生思想出现之前，委员会使用的“精神缺陷”概念已经有很长的历史了。这段历史有助于解释委员会如何以及为何广泛依赖对行为、社会地位和外表的更广泛检查作为诊断“精神缺陷”的核心证据。智力测试当然很重要，因为它们揭示了一个人的学术能力。然而，这只是“心态”的一部分。心态缺陷被认为是广泛的、多因素的，包括难以（如果不是不可能的话）衡量人格、情感和道德等属性。进一步的研究应该将心态的概念纳入心理学、测试和优生学的历史中。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。