Nobel Laureate James Watson got into trouble recently for expressing the opinion that blacks are less intelligent than whites.
If you look at almost all existing data from standardized tests in the United States, there is indeed a sizable black-white test score gap. Whether the gap is due to genetic differences is a hotly debated academic question.
Roland Fryer and I have done some research on this topic which we think is potentially quite interesting and important — although we seem to be the only ones with this opinion at present. (The paper was rejected yesterday by the American Economic Review on the second round of review, and a search of Google Scholar reveals only two citations to the working paper version released in early 2006.)
In my work with Fryer, we analyzed a newly available nationally representative survey of children ages two and under, done by the Department of Education. Included in this study are tests of mental ability around a child’s first birthday. While you might think it would be impossible to capture anything meaningful at such a young age, it turns out that these measures of one-year-olds’ intelligence are somewhat highly correlated with IQ scores at later ages, as well as with parental IQ scores.
The striking result we find is that there are no racial differences in mental functioning at age one, although a racial gap begins to emerge over the next few years of life.
So what does this mean for the genetics vs. environment debate? Quoting from our abstract, “the observed patterns are broadly consistent with large racial differences in environmental factors that grow in importance as children age. Our findings are not consistent with the simplest models of large genetic differences across races in intelligence, although we cannot rule out the possibility that intelligence has multiple dimensions and racial differences are present only in those dimensions that emerge later in life.”
Like all research, our study has its flaws and limitations. I have to say, however, that I imagined a lot of reactions to this paper, none of which were utter indifference on the part of academics and the popular press. But that was the reaction we got.
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Nice post. Often overlooked is the selection problem w/ African Americans. Uniquely, African Americans (most of them anyway) are the descendants of involuntary immigrants. You get the implications..
Nice post. Often overlooked is the selection problem w/ African Americans. Uniquely, African Americans (most of them anyway) are the descendants of involuntary immigrants. You get the implications..
Isn’t the hole in the paper caught in the very last paragraph, that you don’t know what is being tested at various ages? The tests aren’t and can’t be the same for toddlers and older people, so no matter your position on IQ it’s difficult to see how this work moves the debate in either direction. I can see why academics on both sides don’t want to touch this: if you use the argument in your favor, you also raise an equally potent counter-argument.
Isn’t the hole in the paper caught in the very last paragraph, that you don’t know what is being tested at various ages? The tests aren’t and can’t be the same for toddlers and older people, so no matter your position on IQ it’s difficult to see how this work moves the debate in either direction. I can see why academics on both sides don’t want to touch this: if you use the argument in your favor, you also raise an equally potent counter-argument.
mwm131: that might be down to one group being self-selecting. People who up and move from one country to another are likely to be driven, motivated, hard-working, etc.
mwm131: that might be down to one group being self-selecting. People who up and move from one country to another are likely to be driven, motivated, hard-working, etc.
I dunno…I think the information is good and results valid. I simply wonder if the conclusion simply doesn’t fit into the current social agenda? The predominately white ruling class, while publicly pushing for advancements in rights and opportunities, probably secretly want to think that blacks are indeed inferior and therefore not worth that much effort. Yes, I’m a cynic, but I’ve observed much to advance my opinion.
Lergnom has some good points. IQ and IQ testing are, to this day, being debated and redefined.
I dunno…I think the information is good and results valid. I simply wonder if the conclusion simply doesn’t fit into the current social agenda? The predominately white ruling class, while publicly pushing for advancements in rights and opportunities, probably secretly want to think that blacks are indeed inferior and therefore not worth that much effort. Yes, I’m a cynic, but I’ve observed much to advance my opinion.
Lergnom has some good points. IQ and IQ testing are, to this day, being debated and redefined.