Are Race differences in average IQ are largely genetic?

Question

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=9530

A 60-page review of the scientific evidence, some based on state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain size, has concluded that race differences in average IQ are largely genetic.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=9530

Answer 1

While it is not unusual to compare races based on athleticism and physical stature, it is considered heinous to compare ethnicities based on IQ. One reason is that intelligence is much less understood than physical appearance.

Whether there is a strong genetic tendency towards intelligence or not, I find you scientific article rather sketchy.

Answer 2

If brain size had nothing to do with intelligence, we'd all have tiny heads so birth would be easier. As it is, our disproportionately large skulls cause the deaths of women and babies all over the world. We'd only keep that kind of skull size for a d**n good reason.

When looking back at the fossil record of hominids, everyone's perfectly happy to say 'you can see they are getting more intelligent because the cranial capacity is increasing'

Also, it's relative brain size in humans that matters. Women have smaller brains because we are a) just a lot smaller, and b) have a higher percentage of body fat, that doesn't need neurons to control. Factor in both of these and there's no difference in brain size between the sexes.

It should always be worked out by 'relative' and not absolute brain size. Or else the blue whale would be building spaceships. And yes, different populations seem to have slighty differing brain sizes, even when corrected for size and body fat. East Asians like the Japanese and Chinese always average highest. Problem is you can't do any research into this area with out someone calling you racist, since observing any difference between one group and another damages the 'there is no race' ideal that some people cling to, even though many geneticists support the idea of differences between populations.

Overall brain size has been shown to have a 0.4 ( a fair bit, 1 is 100%, 0 is nil) correlation with intelligence in several non-race related medical studies.

If you really want a good view of the arguments and research, this is a good article, although it doesn't have the useful information that the hereditability of IQ scores increases as you age, and that testing young children is totally pointless. It also has the observation that with the rate of intermarriage in the states nearing 5%, in another four or five generations this will all be a moot point. Which I approve of, just in case you were wondering. Exogamy is a healthy genetic habit.

http://www.slate.com/id/2178122/entry/21...

It's about four pages long.

Answer 3

MRI, brain size, and IQ  have not been proved to be correlated. Also IQ is not necessarily the same as intelligence.

Best definitions: IQ is a score on a test usually written; intelligence is the ability to function in a society. Very different things.

Answer 4

There is a major component of intelligence that is contributed by genetics. According to most psychology and biology research, when a person is born, he/she has a range of IQ that he can develop into. The environment in which he/she grows up in, the socioeconomic status, amount of education, the parent's attentiveness and caringness to the child, social experiences, the drive to achieve all effect how much the person's brain develops into its full potential.

The whole concept of genetic determination of which race is smarter than the other is a completely bogus division of science that drives racism and prejudicism. Used in the wrong hands, even if the science is true, it is used malicently and in a harmful way.

Yes, race differences in average IQ is contributed largely by genetics. But, there are always multiple reasons to one simple problem. Social repression, bad environments, etc., all contribute to the lower IQ's of an average black man. But if raised in the same environment and given the same chance, it has been pretty much proven that all human races end up pretty much just as smart.

The brain size debate is largely inexplicit and very irrelevant, as argued by a lot of other perople who answered the question here.

Answer 5

One issue that Rushton and Jensen, the study's authors, don't seem to examine is the relationship between IQ and intelligence. It makes little difference that IQ and race are genetically linked if IQ and intelligence don't have much in common. Similarly, bias in tests is very difficult to measure and correspondingly difficult to rule out.

In addition, most modern IQ tests are correlated with the old Binet test in the process of their development. Binet used items on which blacks scored low because he believed that they were less intelligent than whites. It's no surprise that intelligence tests show race differences, since they are essentially designed, in part, to show those differences. Brain size is another weak link in this research, since it isn't closely related to intelligence.

The "largely genetic" model that the authors examined actually held that IQ was only 50% genetic, leaving the other half to the environment. So it could just as easily be called a "largely environmental" model. Finally, many researchers in the field have reached very different conclusions from Rushton and Jensen's. So I would take the review with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Answer 6

Let us not rush to judgment, but wait for all the replication results.

Answer 7

Recent research indicates the answer is yes.  There are, on the Net, numerous results of studies and tests done in this regard.

Answer 8

There was a book called "The Bell Curve" published about 12 years ago that made a strong case for this.  It was very controversial.

The fact is, genius is still about 5% genetics, and 95% sweat.  Even the smartest guys still have to work their assess off to achieve something.  Shaq still has to work out to maintain his game, and Bill Gates used to work 72 hours straight sometimes, not sleeping at all.  So I wouldn't conclude that race is a foregone conclusion in life...

Answer 9

Its not.

Just because you have a bigger brain doesn't mean you'll use it.

Not to mention IQ is almost impossible to calculate.

AS it is WEstern made therefore only formulates to fit the WEstern population. Which doesn't consist of a sigficant amount of each "racial" group and dversity.

We're all humans.

We all need each other.

Farmers need businessmen.

Businessmen need farmers.

Entertainers need both.

Both don't need the entertainer (but their nice to have,)

Just like grass needs sun and humans need grass, because the grass feeds the animals that feed us.

We're all interconnected.

By having a higher (biased) Western made IQ doesn't prove anything.

It also doesn't make you a better person.

P.S. Anyone can find a website to prove their point.

I can prove to you that the spoon isn't there.

Answer 10

Brain size has nothing to do with IQ. Women have smaller brains then all men because of the development during pregnancy and hormonal differences. Regardless women think different than men. Men have had to think differently due to survival their brains are wired differently to think on the fly they think quicker. Women have better memories and on average better verbal communications. IQ is based on a test someone with a 180 IQ may no nothing about cars. Men may be smarter in many things due to brain size and women might be better at processing information or multitasking.

   This sums up that brain size has nothing to do with IQ so races are all the same the only difference is diet which over time can cause some problems in intelligence maybe?

Answer 11

This is the "Nature v. Nurture" issue. The "Bell shaped Curve" was a book that suggested there was a racial or at least a genetic factor that couldn't be overcome by education.

The Neanderthal had larger brains that we humans. They're extinct. It's more likely the" wiring" of and how a brain is put together that determines innate IQ.

It's impossible to rule out enviorment. Be it exposure to lead and other pollutants or being it the culture that child is raised in.We deliberately raised our children to be readers and provide books at all stages of life. One can't be sure how that affected their IQs or how much was breeding.