Why have blacks in America scored significantly less in IQ tests than whites for the last 30 years?

Question

and the gap has hardly changed

Answer 1

Arent whites behind Asians

Answer 2

because youre an idiot

Answer 3

nothing better to do with your time than give `facts`? that can not-don`t need to be proven!

a little racist ?

how about finding out what black people have achieved `well above` white people!

that at least would be more productive and `knowledge`!

by the way i`m as white as snow!

colour makes not the man/person!

Answer 4

I wish people would leave the pity behind and accept that blacks are different to whites, they are better sportsmen and we are better academics, deal with it, men and women are different also...

Answer 5

I don't buy it...need to see some sources.  I don't think there's a difference in IQs...but education in the Sciences & Math seem to be maintaining a significant low among Americans in general within our Colleges and Universities.

Lots of Foreign Students occupy those classes and degrees, with a significant portion coming from Asian countries.

I think the US will become mostly Corporate and Banking Headquarters.

Technical Research will go overseas because that's where the education is going.

Low cost Manufacturing is going there because of the same thing.  We teach them here and they go home to take our jobs.

Answer 6

Why is that elephant not eating its greens?

Why do you have a cold?

Whats the meaning of blue?

Do you think your going to get an answer based on scientific, social, historical research?

No your going to get arguments from ignorance.

Pointless

Answer 7

excuse me do you WANT them gone or something... THIS IS A FREE WORLD WHERE PPL CAN BE ANY WHERE THEY WANT.

Answer 8

There is a theory that the tests are Euro-centric in their form.

This is highly likely because the tests have been developed by white males in white male dominated institutions, as have the educational system and teaching methods.

It is rather like rating soccer players using American football tests.

Answer 9

The IQ test is made mainly by white people and there are biases in the questions.

Answer 10

It's all to do with culture and/or age, and the cognitive abilitiy of the person setting the IQ test.

For example, if you are white and you are asked to complete the following sequence of words:

1, 2 3...

You would logically say "4".

However, for some Aboriginal tribes, the answer that would logically be given would be "many" - as some aborginal tribes only have the number sequence 1, 2, 3, many.

Similarly, if you are brought up in a certain environment, then you can only perceive depth, for example, depending on that environment.

Research carried out with certain tribes who lived in deeply forested areas showed that they couldn't cope with depth perception based on a long field of depth.

For example, they were taken from their 'natural' environment and shown a field of cows in the distance which looked liked 'dots' on the landscape.  They were then walked towards the field of cows.  As the cows came nearer to them, the 'natives' were convinced that they were being exposed to some kind of strong 'magic' that was making the animals bigger.

In other circumstances, other logical sequences may come into play depending on age.

For example, if you were presented with a group of  coloured pictures (such as an red apple, a cherry, a London bus, a red rose and a green grape) and were asked to pick the odd one out, depending on your age, you may choose the London bus, based on the idea that the bus isn't a fruit or flower.  However, for a child, it may choose the grape, simply on the grounds that it was green and the other ones were red.  If the person setting the IQ test had decided that the the 'correct' answer was the green grape because it wasn't red, then the child's answer would be marked down.

IQ tests are notoriously dangerous in relation to the above factors. They can only 'accurately' predict answers based on the experience (cultural and otherwise) of those who actually set the tests.

Hope this helps - sorry if it was a bit long-winded.

Answer 11

that cant be right

Answer 12

have they?

I would like to see empirical evidence

But even if there is any, I can think of several explanations

for example, most IQ tests are not, as some believe, an objective and definitive measure of intelligence, they are a test of a certain range of cognitive skills, that may differ according to cultural background, if disadvantaged groups have not been grounded in the culture that devised the tests, they will do worse

It means little

Answer 13

complicated question.......

firstly you could start off with the oppression black people suffered.  Oppression and slavery cause communities to be seperated.  Black people had less money than white people and where thus less educated.  Socio-economic and social/community backgrounds can have profound effects on IQ.  Imagine if you lived in a rich white community where everyone expected you to go to Harvard and be really intelligent - and the money was there for you to do so...you could reach your full potential.  And then on the other side of the scale, imagine being a poor black boy who has to work as well as try do school because his parents are so poor and then they don't have money to send you to college.  

It has been shown in psychology that intelligence or IQ is affected by biological factors too.  These people who were oppressed and couldn't get a higher education then had children.  Those children most probably wouldn't have a very high IQ because their parents IQ was never developed properly.  Because their parents couldn't stimulate them intellectually as much as the children needed, the childrens IQ did not develop as much.  These children then grew up and had children. and the line carries on

But anyway alot of black people are still somewhat segregated from whites in terms of socio-economic status and where they live.  Higher crime rates, and rates of unemployment and poverty and also low community support are all factors which affect a persons intelligence, and a person with all these factors going against them will have a lower IQ than a person without them.

Until something can be done to make everybody on level playing fields, not much will happen to change IQ levels.  It is different in a country like South Africa where Black Economic Empowerment is in place and black people are now ensured to get the same and even better opportunities that white people.  And that is not a bad thing as some people think!  It is a good thing, because it should eventually even out the playing field.

Also, most IQ tests are culture specific..........and written/comprehensive....thus if an individual does not understand the phrasing of the question - they will not answer correctly - and thus score lower.

Some argue that these tests are focused more for white people.  

It has also been argued that some IQ tests are culture specific because of the "phylosophical" type questions which question religion etc.  Thus depending on the persons belief system might answer "incorrectly" when they actually have used their IQ to answer by thinking about the question, where as a person who is more cynical might just answer because they don't believe in something e.g ghosts, and get the answer right, even though they didn't think about it - they were just being cynical.

But anyway - there are so many factors to think about that I don't think it would be easy to say that there is one definitive factor which answers your question.

Answer 14

Because there must be some biological basis to the varying intelligence of the races. As example, despite socio-economic conditions, Asians tend to perform better than whites on standardized testing, whites better than Hispanics, and Hispanics slightly better than blacks.

Generally speaking, blacks just aren’t “made” for highly intellectually challenging professions or vocations.

Answer 15

I wonder the same thing. Of course everyone is going to say that it is because the tests cater more towards whites. However that makes no sense when you take into consideration the fact that whites and blacks go to the same schools and live in the same neighborhoods, watch the same television are subject to the same exact curriculum. However, I can see that many have already used that tired theory as their answer. And if this answer does hold any validity, explain how so many Asians score so high when they come from a society that is much more contrary to White American society than any African ghetto could ever be.