Race Differences in Intelligence

This page is about a book. For general discussion see Race and intelligence.

Race Differences in Intelligence: An Evolutionary Analysis is a 2006 book by Richard Lynn claiming to represent the largest collection and review of the global cognitive ability data, by nine global regions, surveying 620 published studies from around the world, with a total of 813,778 tested individuals.

Lynn's meta-analysis lists East Asians (105+), Europeans (99), Inuit (91), Southeast Asians and Amerindians (87 each), Pacific Islanders (85), Middle Easterners (including South Asians and North Africans) (84), sub-Saharan Africans (67), and Australian Aborigines (62).

Like much research regarding race and intelligence, Lynn's work has been controversial. When taken as national averages, the data available, particularly regarding the developing world, is speculative due to limited sampling, year of testing, and varying type of cognitive ability test used. Lynn's survey is an expansion by nearly four times of the data collected in his 2002 IQ and the Wealth of Nations with Tatu Vanhanen, which dealt with the relationship between IQ and economic development. IQ and the Wealth of Nations was criticized for error, alleged bias, and racism, but the book has also been used as a source of IQ data and hypotheses in several peer-reviewed studies.^[1] Lynn argues the surveyed studies have high reliability in the sense that different studies give similar results, and high validity in the sense that they correlate highly with performance in international studies of achievement in mathematics and science and with national economic development.

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Overview

  Lynn devotes a chapter to the data on each of the nine genetic clusters or population groups identified in previous genetic cluster analysis, which Lynn regards as races. The book subsequently defends the reliability and validity of the measures, concluding that, though additional evidence may be required to confirm some of the racial IQ estimates, that they correlate highly with performance in international studies of achievement in mathematics and science and with national economic development.

Book reviews

Three reviews of Race Differences in Intelligence have been published in the scholarly literature.^[3][4][5] At least two of these are written by persons who, like Lynn, are connected to the Pioneer Fund. [1]

The review by N.J. Mackintosh, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, criticizes Lynn's occasional manipulation of data, some of it originally collected by the reviewer, from which distorted conclusions have been drawn. Mackintosh expresses astonishment that Lynn infers elsewhere that Kalahari bushmen, with an average measured IQ of 54, should be regarded as mentally retarded; and that an 8 year old European child with the equivalent mental age would have no problems surviving in the same desert environment. He concludes:^[6]

"Much labour has gone into this book. But I fear it is the sort of book that gives IQ testing a bad name. As a source of references, it will be useful to some. As a source of information, it should be treated with some suspicion. On the other hand, Lynn's preconceptions are so plain, and so pungently expressed, that many readers will be suspicious from the outset."

Criticism

An article in Searchlight, a British anti-fascist magazine, notes that Lynn is a grantee of the Pioneer Fund, which has been criticized as supporting racism. It also writes that the book's publisher, Washington Summit Publishers, "reprints 'classic' Aryan and eugenic tracts including a homily to the antisemitic philosopher Count de Gobineau as a pioneer of genetics."[2]

Some of the criticisms regarding IQ and the Wealth of Nations may also apply.

References

1. ^ (Volken). (Kamin 1995).
2. ^ based on World distribution of the intelligence of indigenous peoples from Lynn (2006) p. vi
3. ^ Rushton, J. P. (2006). "Lynn Richard, Race Differences in Intelligence: An Evolutionary Analysis, Washington Summit Books, Augusta, GA (2005) ISBN 1-59368-020-1, 318 pages., US$34.95". Personality and Individual Differences 40 (4): 853-855. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.10.004.
4. ^ Loehlin, John C. (January-February 2007). "Book review - Race differences in intelligence: An evolutionary hypothesis". Intelligence 35: 93-94. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.05.001.
5. ^ Mackintosh, N.J. (January-February 2007). "Book review - Race differences in intelligence: An evolutionary hypothesis". Intelligence 35: 94-96. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.08.001.
6. ^ Mackintosh, N.J. (January-February 2007). "Book review - Race differences in intelligence: An evolutionary hypothesis". Intelligence 35: 94-96. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.08.001.

See also

• Flynn effect
• Intelligence and public policy
• IQ and Global Inequality
• Race and intelligence
• Sex and intelligence
• ISBN 1593680201 and ISBN 159368021X