Is "the bell curve" true? (A question about IQ)?

Question

Do you think there are true differences between the races? Do you think it is true that white people have some kind of mental advantage when it comes to IQ testing? Why do caucations on the whole score higher if IQ has nothing to do with your education?

And do Asians have a further advantage over caucations?

Answer 1

An intelligence quotient or IQ is a number derived from a set of standardized tests. These tests measure a person's ability to conduct a number of tasks to which most people raised in that society will be exposed, and so measure a person's ability to absorb and repeat mechanical intellectual tasks. Component tests are generally designed and chosen because they are found to be predictable of later intellectual development, particularly with respect to literacy.
While IQ scores of individual members of different racial or ethnic groups are distributed across the IQ scale, groups vary in where their members cluster along the IQ scale. Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians cluster higher than Europeans, while "Hispanics" and Sub-Saharan Africans cluster lower.[3] Much research has been devoted to the extent and potential causes of racial-ethnic group differences in IQ, and the underlying purposes and validity of the tests has been examined. Most experts conclude that examination of many types of test bias and simple differences in socioeconomic status have failed to explain the IQ clustering differences.[4] For a summary of expert opinions, see Race and intelligence#Expert opinion.

The findings in this field are often thought to conflict with fundamental social philosophies, and have engendered a large controversy.[5]


See bell curve in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ

Answer 2

Ugg. As an anthropologist, I hate the notion of I.Q. tests. Their results are overgeneralized, people that administer them tend to assume that truth is always objective, and the tests are culturally biased in the first place.

Whites may have a CULTURAL (learned, shared) advantage over Blacks, but not an inherent one. Biologically, there is no such thing as "race."

Race is a cultural construct. Think of it like the equator--there is no actual dotted line floating on the ocean, dividing the world into two hemispheres, but we choose to accept that the world needs hemispheres/divisions, we agree on where they take place, and so we use the idea of the equator to justify other beliefs and help us build systems of navigation, time, etc.

Race works the same way--except that it's not such a clear division. Ask 10 people how many races exist, and you'll get 9-11 different answers.

But back to your main question...IF Whites score higher on I.Q. tests than another group, the following conditions are likely:

1) the test was constructed by other whites,
2) the examination tests their knowledge of life from a white cultural perspective,
3) the test expects participants to apply systems of logic generally used in white cultures/subcultures,
4) the exam uses examples that are primarily relevant to the lives of white people,
5) the system of test scoring was developed by other whites,
6) white participants have been exposed to similar testing situations before
7) white participants place a higher value on the test scores and so try harder and do better, because they expected to succeed/were told they could do well in the first place (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Answer 3

Cultural bias is a term people throw around, but in terms of relative intelligence, it's meaningless. Most people of any race or culture are of average intelligence. Some people are brighter, some are a little slower. Some are geniuses, and some are barely able to function. That's why a "C" grade is "average". That's what most people are going to score. Anyone who has taught can tell you that that is the way things are, and it's obvious in our day to day lives. We all know people who stand out either because they are unusually smart or unusually slow. They stand out from the majority of people who are average. If you visited a bush tribe on New Guinea, and asked for the tribesmen to point out the very intelligent people and the very slow people in the tribe, they would bring out a small group of each of those types while the majority stood and watched. Intelligence TESTING, which is where cultural bias comes in, has nothing to do with intelligence itself. And intelligence is also unrelated to education, hard as that may be for some people to grasp.

Answer 4

If the IQ test is skewed towards the white man's cultured than the white man would have an advantage but that's not because you are white. Also Caucasians have had better education and access due to better resources. Look at Condi Rice a black person can make it if they are given the same opportunity as the white man

Answer 5

In theory, IQ is supposed to have nothing to do with your education. But of course it does.

The test may be culturally biased as well.

But excluding for poor education, cultural differences, and test bias I believe that race is not a factor in predicting intellectual potential.

But it probably is a factor in predicting a biased opinion of intellect on the part of some observers.

Answer 6

I think so becaue of where we live and demographics there might be a disparity in a standard intelligence test. However remember standard intelligence is relative and dosen't take into account brilliant artists who can't do a lick of math or write a paper.

Answer 7

B/c the IQ test is culturally biased. Doesn't take into account that there are different categories of intelligence.

Answer 8

Cultural bias largely. Some real dip sticks have high IQ's you know.