The Problem with IQ
Blogger In Cogito quoted an article in Slate Online yesterday on startling IQ numbers attributed to various ethnic groups:
... South East Asians 85-90, Africans 80-85, Arabs 83, Latinos 85-90 (Full blooded American Indians even lower).
... Asians(Oriental: China, Japan, Korea etc.) 104, Europeans 100(plus a couple points maybe), Russians(who've gone through a huge amount of internal strife themselves) 96, Americans 100.
Jews and Asians ... score the highest on IQ tests (110 and 104 respectively).
Although that particular Slate article examined evidence for a genetic theory of racial differences in IQ, the next day Slate posted some of the arguments against it.
I also have problems with ascribing intelligence to IQ tests. Although my IQ is somewhat higher than the average Jew, I do not think IQ has anything to do with intelligence at all. For example, although most Jews in America are quite successful, almost 80% of them vote Democratic, so really, how smart can they be? The truth of the matter is that IQ tests (and others as well, such as the SATs) are not meant to indicate present intelligence as much as predict future economic success.
In that regard, IQ tests are excellent prognosticators of future success or failure. But instead of calling it an Intelligence Quotient, if we had called it an SP test, a success predictor, then even blacks themselves would have had no problem with it. The fact that the average SP for Blacks is 85 while it is 113 for Jews would explain their differing societal attainments (or lack of them). But no one will accept racial differences in IQ precisely because it is too emotional an issue. And because of political correctness, scientists risk being called racists or worse if they show results that make one group look inferior to another.
As a success predictor the numbers match almost exactly what one can expect the outcome to be for Blacks as a group, for Asians as a group, for Jews as a group. Calling it an SP test would remove the stigma that lack of IQ carries and would have the same emotional baggage as the unemployment numbers for Blacks. Would anyone call a reporter racist for noting that Black unemployment is higher than white unemployment? It is racially neutral.
I also have some other problems with IQ test results. Consider the Flynn Effect: lower IQ groups over the years have increased their scores while the higher IQ groups made insignificant gains over the decades. In fact, if American children of 1932 could take an IQ test normed in 1997 their average IQ would have been only about 80 [American Scientist: Rising Scores on Intelligence Tests]. In other words, half of the children in 1932 would be classified as having borderline mental retardation or worse in 1997. Indeed, this shows that Blacks today with an average IQ of 85 are smarter now than whites were back in 1932. So what happened? Did Blacks get genetically more intelligent since the 1950s? Or did they just improve their economic status over the years, which is what IQ really predicts.
It all makes sense if IQ is not an intelligence test but rather a success predictor. Blacks today are more well off than whites were in 1932. I have no doubt that one day, if Blacks ever get their act together and stop blaming whitey for all their problems, that Black IQ averages would equal that of whites in terms of success. Equal IQs translates into equal future economic status.
Muslims in general score very low in IQ tests. This never made sense to me because in all the centuries of Islam's forced conversions of Jews and Europeans and Asians, one would think that some of the genetic intelligence of those groups would show up in the general Muslim population. But it is understandable in terms of SP. Because Muslims practice a backward, primitive, savage, barbaric religion, it makes sense that in terms of the modern world, despite having once had Jews, Chinese, and European whites in their ethnic mix, Muslims in Africa, the Middle East, in Asia, and elsewhere are still the most backward and poverty-stricken group of unsuccessful illiterates on this planet. So, again, in this regard, IQ perfectly predicts the impoverishment of the faithful of Islam.
Let's all face it, IQ has nothing to do with intelligence. Give me a group with an average IQ of 85 and I'll tell you that almost all in that group are headed for a life of poverty, jail, drugs, violence, and crime. Many of them will have terrific street smarts but very low SPs.
I never agree with Scientology, but they got it right in the photo above: the ad does not say get smarter and get a better job - rather get a higher IQ which will result in a better job, more energy, etc.
Here is an example where the mistaken notion that higher IQ means more intelligence leads to an incorrect conclusion.
BBC,
High IQ link to being vegetarianIntelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says.
A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10.Researchers said it could explain why people with higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates.
The reason that children with higher IQs are healthier later in life is because they are more successful, which allows them to be more selective and careful about the foods they eat. Smart kids can get average IQs. There are very, very many bright people who are not successful. I've met hundreds.