Any decision criteria supporting which humans were to be selected for reproduction were based on the traits deemed desirable – attractiveness, intelligence, mental stability, race and religious beliefs. Genetics appeared to be a viable source to blame for human social problems -- such as alcoholism, feeblemindedness, rebelliousness, nomadism, criminality, and prostitution (Eugenics Movement Archive). Eugenics movements were not only taking place in such extremist countries such as Nazi Germany, these movements actually spread through into Great Britain and the United States of America. In the early 1900s America had put involuntary sterilization laws into place as well as marriage laws that were both designed to make it completely unfeasible for anyone with a record of being mentally ill or criminal past to reproduce. Also targeted, was anyone with some type of genetically transmissible disease (Eugenics Movement Archive). An attempt to rid society of these problems in America led to the American eugenics movement. Not allowing families with unattractive traits or qualities to reproduce was thought to be the perfect solution to the problem. The American eugenics social movement's hub was discouraging those less privileged with unattractive traits from reproducing and encouraged well-educated upper class people to do so. The main goal of the eugenics movement was to make more intelligent, more capable, and healthier human beings. .
With the idea of solving various social problems, early Americans wanted to be able to improve the overall genetic quality of the human population. In the early 20th century American eugenicists attempted to score traits, which was an exceptionally hard problem because eugenicists had to measure extremely complex traits such as musical ability, intelligence, or complex mental illness such as schizophrenia or manic depression. Giving somebody an overall score for their genetic traits became increasingly difficult as more and more things were measured and added to the compiled score.