Should any study suggesting a possible link between race and intelligence, be totally disregarded?

Question

Should any study suggesting a possible link between race and intelligence, be totally disregarded?

Answer 1

No, as we need answers to the question; " why do certain minorities, even in an upper socio-economic strata, under preform. ". We know this is true and we also know that ideological, knee-jerk responses, such as some of those above, do not even intimate a solution to this problem.

IQ does matter; except, when academics, who are obsessed with their own IQ, are confronting problems with their ideological blinders on.

Look at stormsingers answer. First she says there is no scientific definition of intelligence, then she turns around and says that scientific studies have shown that there is no populations variance is the intelligence she just said was not defined! Such sloppy thinking is endemic in social science.

And for those of you who have said that IQ tests are not a good measure of intelligence, submit some empirical rebuttal beyond the usual, tired, old " chestnut ", bias. You also only attack the test and do not advance your own theory of intelligence. Scientific theory; not ideological assertion. I find it passing strange that the heavily weighted sections of IQ tests, those sections testing for G ( general intelligence ), can be called biased. How is it possible to make, rotating objects in your mind, culturally biased?

Answer 2

yes! we are all equal!

Answer 3

A study like that would have to be VERY strong to not be disregarded for the following reasons:

1)  "Race" is not a scientific concept.  Biologists and anthropologists have conclusively demonstrated that there is no biological basis for classification of humans based on "race."

2)  "Intelligence" is not scientifically defined.  There is no one way to define intelligence, and there is no way to measure it objectively.  I. Q.  (the most commonly used method) is neither unbiased nor accurate.

3)  There is a HUGE body of scientific evidence that shows no difference in intelligence between population groups.  In other words, such a study would directly contradict firmly-established research.

It would be sort of like claiming that there is intelligent life on the sun - the study would be dismissed immediately without substantial proof.  This is not because of "political correctness," but because it directly contradicts well-established knowledge.

Answer 4

yes

Answer 5

Absolutely!

You may, without hesitation, disregard any such imaginary association. Now, if your teacher is not up on his/her science, you might want to answer the question based on your classroom material, even if it is erroneous.

There is, much to the chagrin of those who don't like to read,

only one race on the planet: us!

Therefore to relate intelligence to various physical characteristics ( things bad science related to "race") is the work of the misguided, not modern science.

Intelligence is, however, related to environment and can be genetically effected.

Answer 6

No.  If such a study happens, first we need to look at how the study was carried out.  There's a lot of bad science that happens.  A study like this has a lot of potential flaws at the outset.  First off, IQ is not a good way to determine intelligence.  It was invented as a way to identify students who needed extra help.  It was not meant to quantify the intelligence of normal to genius level kids or of any adults.  It's also a test with known cultural biases- people from other cultures generally test lower just because they don't have the right cultural knowledge.  That's fair- I would suck horribly on a South African IQ test, because I know very little about the country and have very few of the same expectations and preconceived notions as they do.  If they don't use an IQ test, then how does this study determine intelligence?  Intelligence is really tricky, and there are many different kinds of intelligence.  I am absolutely terrible at languages, for instance, except for my mother tongue.  I test very well with, for example, the English section of the SATs.  So, am I smart or not?

Then the other problem is that countless studies show that intelligence correlates heavily with economic class.  A rich kid is just more likely to do well than a poor kid for a whole mess of reasons, from better nutrition on down to having a personal computer.  And we also know that race correlates pretty well with economic class- there are far more rich white people in the US than rich black, and a much larger percentage of the black population here is poor than the white.  This has to do with institutionalized racism and a long history of oppression, but it makes it look like black Americans are dumber than white.  They aren't, by any means.  They just have a lot of barriers against them from the time they're in the womb on up through adulthood.  So any study that found such a link would have to be extremely careful to rule out the possibility that it basically comes down to economics, which is what most other studies have found.

Not every study is correct, which is why scientists do so many of the same thing.  When it comes to humans, it gets even worse, because personal biases affect the studies more than they do with carts you send down a track.  Any study which makes such a claim is going against a h**l of a lot of research that says pretty much the opposite, so it'd have to be a d@mn good study.

Answer 7

Good question!

Ouch Stormsinger! jonmcn49 nailed you there. Credence of the Right doesn't realise that IQ tests simply aren't a good test of intelligence, like random6x says.

Personally I think that the world isn't mature enough to deal with studies that suggest a link. At the moment minorities face numerous difficulties due to institutional racism. The UK is great in that there is a strong will to overcome racism, however, will we ever see a black or asian prime minister?  It seems unlikely. Even black or asian Members of Parliament are very rare. Therefore it seems that the populace is prejudiced.

And this is *without* a study that says minorities are often less intelligent. Imagine how difficult it would be for minorities to get anywhere in life if there was such a study as well as institutional prejudice.

For a long time black footballers couldn't get into the England football team. When they were allowed in they were booed, jeered, and had bananas thrown at them. Now it is accepted. Black and white players play side by side and the England team is stronger because of it. There are many glass ceilings like this elsewhere in society. We need to smash them. Once the prejudice is gone and we are playing at full strength, then maybe we will be able to talk about studies that suggest a link.

Answer 8

yes  stupidity knows no boundaries!!