What do you think of Dr Watson's comments Race/IQ?

Question

I know he put it in an awful way especially because he seemed to pick on Africans but I do agree somewhat.
My opinion:
- If mean IQ was taken of cultures it would show a difference with race.
- This may be because IQ shows what western society deems inteligent and this would lead to an inherent flaw.
- I think Asians (Japanese would come top, with or cloesly flanked by other Orientals).

His comment was along the lines of, our policies are based on the fact all races are equally inteligent when tests show this is not true.
He then went on to make a few other comments like this is evident in black employees which I think is a bit too far, 'though I'm not old enough to have employees.

1) Dr Watson ( He might not be a doctor I assumed)
James Watson was part of the team that discovered the DNA structure back in the Early 50's.

2) The list is mine not his he only mentioned Africans in the exerps I saw.

3) He may well be arciac but I think it's wrong to throw out his ideas based on political correctness this is science after all and if judge integence by IQ and there is a difference we have to accept there is an IQ difference we can question what IQ really relates to be that western intelegence.

IQ usually tests perception, memory judgement language skills not (eng lit but verbal reasoning) etc.

Answer 1

There are some inherent troubles with mixing "IQ" and race.

Let me use one example, since you mention Japenese, there are various castes in Japan, and the lower castes do much poorer on IQ tests. However, when they move to another country, the Japenese castes show no difference in IQ compared with other Japenese immigrants. This shows how profound the environmental influences are on this test.

Basically IQ tests show how a particular person does on the test, but the results cannot be generalized to the genetic potential of a particular population group.

Answer 2

I am sorry but Watson is incorrect. I have a few points I will touch on.

1.) Watson is a very old white gentleman who grew up in different times. How we soon forget how a lot of whites treated blacks back then. Racism is indeed not dead... no matter how much people talk about "the race card"

2) Stats fool people. For example. China has more honor role students than the U.S. has students. So does this mean that U.S. students cant even read, and are dumb?

3) There was a time when Blacks were not even allowed to learn to read. 1865 slavery ended. Hmmm... thats not really that long ago. 142 years. thats not even 2 full generations. And look how far blacks have come. Imagine if the playing field was even back then......

4) Smart people study hard. Asian students take school much more seriously, hence we get the sterotype that all of them are smarter. this is just not true.

5) The part discoverer of DNA forgot the proven study that states .. all homo-sapian DNA is identical. And I mean identical in the way as saying that we are all the same species. no differences. Asians, italians, greeks, africans, are all the same species. And our brains are all the same weight and size approximatly.

6) If u actually compare people of the same , background, fincial status, race, etc etc they tend to test the same. if u take different people from underprivledges backgrounds of different races they also test the same. much more goes into someones relitave intelligence than race. Can you really tell me that white scientists are smarter than other race scientists??? I think not. Now if your Watson and you compare a scientist to a black laborer or clerk then ... well you get the idea.

7) You also forget his previous statements. watson suggested women should have the right to abort their unborn children if tests could determine they would grow into homosexuals. hmmm you think he has a problem with gays??? BIAS!!

8) He also said ... In 2000 Watson shocked an audience at the University of California, Berkeley, when he advanced his theory about a link between skin color and sex drive.

His lecture, complete with slides of bikini-clad women, argued that extracts of melanin — which give skin its color — had been found to boost subjects' sex drive.

"That's why you have Latin lovers," he said, according to people who attended the lecture. "You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient."


This man is indeed just another crazy old man, who is racist, sexist, and a homophobe. And this is just what hes said publicly. Id hate to know how he really feels.

Answer 3

The IQ test is biased, I get different scores everytime i take it from different places. It's wrong to use the IQ score to determine a person's potential for success. Although the IQ test is used to determine cognitive ability, but it's still limited in certain areas. In other words, nothing works 100 percent. John F Kennedy IQ was 114, it was slightly above average. What made him so popular?

Answer 4

His comments seem extremely flawed. Western Society designed these IQ tests, I am presuming; therefore, the tests only determine intelligence based on Western design.
Also, he seems a bit archaic in his thinking....people cannot be Oriental. Only rugs and vases, and things of that nature can be.

Answer 5

Who is Dr Watson?