In light of the latest controversy over race and IQ...?

Question

Why aren't Europeans screaming blue murder that the Ashkenazi Jews and Japanese score higher than them? Why is it okay to say the Japanese are smarter than Europeans, but not that Europeans are smarter than Africans?

I'm a fat English housewife Ruggles.

Actually Zanahoria, the results are constant, whatever population and culture mix you have.

Psymon, these figures ae pretty well accepted by the psychologists that specialise in IQ and theories of intelligence. The population studies were absolutely massive, done by a lot of different people, and over several generations, with the racial differences being the same each time, and even when they were all mixed up in a new country.

The question was, 'why don't Europeans get upset by this?' Not 'are the figures BS?'.

The African results are thought to be a lot lower because of malnutrition, illness and lack of education. The average IQ in Africa is 70, worked out from non linguistic tests called Raven's progressive matrices, and locally applied tests for college admissions and schools. But education is the least part of these. Racial differences in IQ show up whatever upbringing or culture the individual is in. Look up the research before you dismiss it.

Having said that, judge each by their own abilities. I know some brain dead white people, and five genuises with a black South African mum, my cousins. Not an IQ below 130 in that house.

On the subject of 'IQ is meaningless', there's been a lot of studies that compare peoples lives to their IQ score. Usually the lower it is, the less you earn, the more likely you are to get divorced, be on welfare, be an unmarried mother, be incarcerated, and drop out of school.

Answer 1

Because they're at a level of intelligence where they are fine with admitting that they are not 'the smartest'.

Im not trying to sound racist here, but Africans (the majority) appear have a hard time being 'lower' than others, even with something nonphysically based, as with IQ scoring.

Answer 2

Good point.
I think some people have become sensitised, so that anything like this appears as racism even when it isn't.
I've no idea if the IQ results are accurate, but why couldn't they be? It's accepted that black athletes are generally faster sprinters than white athletes, because evolution has given them a genetic advantage in some way. Similarly world-class weightlifters tend to have European ancestry, because evolution there has shaped a population with the necessary body type.

This isn't about individual people being less clever than others -it's just that the average IQ in Africans has been found to be a point or two lower than the average IQ in Europeans. It means nothing about intelligence.

Answer 3

Europeans know that its BS and let me tell you why:

Its not their ethnicity or religion that determines they are smarter it just happens that they happen to be of a particular ethnicity and belong to that religion. All this is is statistics, a paper exercise, and its not very fair. The whole thing comes down to how education is perceived in the society / culture and the desire to do well.

You may be right but I think the results are misinterpreted in that these people are not smarter because of their ethnicity, the people who are smarter happen to belong to that ethnic group - there is a difference.

External factors are at work here and nothing more. I am British Indian and in Indian culture having great marks and testing early is practically the 'be all and end all!' Therefore it is nothing to do with ethnicity and religion. If there was a culture (whether society or family) of that pushing kids to do well and have all the resources in any part of the world then those kids would have high IQs.

The only reason why Africans may have lower IQ is ALL down to external factors. I am positive they have the desire to do well but the resources are SCARCE. Schools are hard to come by.

In essence of what I'm trying to say is that the Stats if used in this way is BS! People are scoring higher not ethnic groups or religions.

Here is a link to similar question I answered a couple of weeks ago:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ar1L8Yq45atpKI0NQWAQHywhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20070930132218AA6YwWv&show=7#profile-info-zzp2XBm1aa

EDIT: Mathilda, Don't get me wrong - I agree with you on the whole African results thing. It is all about upbringing and background, which I was trying to say but you asked why "Europeans are not screaming blue murder...?" and I'm telling you its because they are intelligent to know the ethnicity or religion of a person does not make them smart or dumb. Maybe I wasn't clear on this but it was what I meant. I'm not dismissing the research on the basis of their findings but in the way those findings have been misconstrued / misinterpreted and used i.e. Ashkenazi Jews and Japanese score higher than Europeans. These people just happen to be Ashkenazi Jews and Japanese. As I said there is a difference and essentially IRRELEVANT!

Answer 4

I agree with you...Im not European but I understand your point of view, that is discrimination, if you pay attention they only call on racism when is a colour person being discriminated against, if is a white then is not racism. I hate that is not fair. Of course I know how some people where treated by the Europeans during the slavery and colonialism, but that is all past, they learned their lesson time to move on.

So, now to your questions, they are simply to scare to say anything about it, they dont want to be call racist or nazis or anything like that. And in some places they have erased the word RACE and they said that the concept is "not valid".

Answer 5

Yer regrettably is racism too, i do no longer comprehend what the belief of been racist, Why human beings can comprehend we are all one race, human beings? would not be counted what shade our pores and skin is we al have crimson blood, 2 eyes, our coronary heart is in an identical place, etc. Racism is one ob the biggest motives because of the fact this worldwide is so tousled, the day we discovered to settle for the different in the way they're this worldwide would be come a greater advantageous place to stay.

Answer 6

I agree that there is a bias, but the same goes for Christians in relation to other religions - on TV they are always portrayed as nut or loners if every Muslim were cast like that there'd be an outcry.

However I don't believe the IQ results are valid.

This is for several reasons, one of them being, I'm black and obviously don't believe my intelligence is limited because of my abundance of melanin.

My other reasons are:
1. I've done several IQ tests (I measure in at 144 if you're wondering) and they have a definite cultural bias.
2. The two top races are the ones who also 'coincidentally' start teaching their children at a very young age.
3. The parameters measured in IQ tests are logic and language which are just two areas in a vast landscape of what intelligence encompasses.
4. As I have several other races in my recent past as many others do where would that put me?

Most importantly - I think - if you look at what African and European civilisations have created (Roman Empire and Ancient Egypt to name only two) you can't deny there's evidence of very high intelligence.

Personally I believe IQ's are a load of nonsense, your potential for knowledge can only be measured by your desire for it. I did those IQ tests when I was 12 and 14, and they haven't given me any edge!

Answer 7

What is IQ in the first place,learning your environment and knowing how to survive all the hardships of life shows that you are intelligent,you dont have to be a computer wizard to be called intelligent or have a million degrees to be called intelligent...look at the San people,they use herbs found in their environment to heal themselves,they dont need to go to a medical school, they can tell you when its gonna rain without going to a weather school,so really IQ is over rated,no one is superior

Answer 8

Cos i cant be bothered,Smarter than what,at the end of the day,do we need a refuge collector with a degree

Answer 9

All of these statisics are based only on small samples of the population. A statstician would argue that the margin of error is so small so as not to make any difference, but as one answer already points out, lies, liars and statisticians (to alter the wording ever so slightly).
I think also the fact that so many Africans were enslaved and displaced by Europeans in the not so distant past demands a higher level of sensitivity due to historic socio-political reasons.

Answer 10

Because the Japanese living in the west and the Ashkenazi Jews who have been assimilated have tended to perform like just any other Europeans, showing that it is not a racial trait.