Myth: Some ethnic groups have genetically inferior IQ's.
Fact: Poverty creates large IQ differences even between groups of the same ethnicity.
Summary
There are too many examples of discriminated minorities even within
ethnic groups that score worse on IQ tests to believe the myth that the
differences are genetic.
Argument
On average, African-Americans score 7 to 15 points lower than European-Americans
on IQ tests. Many conservatives believe this is because blacks are genetically
inferior to whites. But liberals believe that the IQ gap is the result
of nearly three centuries of slavery and yet another 130 years of segregation
and institutionalized racism. Even the Civil Rights Act and affirmative
action have not eliminated discrimination against blacks -- they've merely
reduced it somewhat. The result of this discrimination is that a disproportionate
percentage of blacks work at lower-paying jobs, live in poverty and squalor,
lack health care and child care, and do not receive the quality of education
and personal development available to richer members of society. All these
deprivations work to suppress IQ and educational achievement in children
during their critical developmental years.
Which viewpoint is correct? The answer becomes obvious when you compare
the lower IQ results of other discriminated minorities around the world,
many of whom are of the same genetic stock.
Perhaps the most dramatic example is the Northern Irish. Even though
they come from the same ethnic group, Catholics (the discriminated minority)
score 15 points lower on IQ tests than Protestants.
In the U.S., both Korean and Japanese students score above average
in IQ tests; many scholars agree that, genetically, they are about as close
as two ethnic groups can get. But the Korean minority living in Japan scores
much lower on IQ tests than the Japanese. Why? The Japanese are extremely
racist towards Koreans; they view them as stupid and violent, and employ
them only in the dirtiest and lowest-paying jobs. Tensions are so great
between the two groups that violence often erupts in the form of riots.
In the U.S., Polish Jews arriving before 1910 were also perceived as
stupid (for no other reason than they were accustomed to a different
culture and spoke another language). So many "Pollock" jokes
arose that Americans still tell them to this day, even if no one remembers
why. The Polish Jews suffered heavy job discrimination and suspicion of
criminality; not surprisingly, their children suffered low grades and IQ
test scores. Today, of course, many Americans hold the opposite prejudice; Jews
are viewed as the most brilliant of ethnic groups.
Russian-born Jews who became American soldiers in World War I also
scored low on IQ tests. So low, in fact, that Carl Brigham, the creator
of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, declared that the results "disprove
the popular belief that the Jew is highly intelligent."
There are countless examples around the world where the dominant ethnic
group scores higher on IQ tests than the discriminated minority, even when
the two groups are of the same ethnic stock. Here is a partial list:
Group Differences Around the World (1)
High IQ/grades, Low IQ/grades,
Country Dominant class Discriminated class
----------------------------------------------------------
Australia Whites Aborigines
Belgium French Flemish
Czechoslovakia Slovaks Gypsies
Great Britain English Irish, Scottish
India Nontribals Tribal people
High caste Low caste
Israel Jews Arabs
Western Jews Eastern Jews
Brahmin Harijan
Japan Non-Burakumin Burakumin
Japanese origin Korean origin
New Zealand Whites Maoris
Northern Ireland Protestants Catholics
South Africa English Afrikaaners (Dutch)
United States Whites Blacks
Whites Latinos
Whites American Indians
Many conservatives argue that people who are smarter tend to go on
to college more, and because whites are more intelligent than blacks, there
are more whites in college. But regardless of the reason why this is so,
it cannot be because of a genetic edge in intelligence. Consider the following
information from the U.S. Census on the breakdown of white students who
have graduated with a B.A. from college:
Proportions of Americans who have completed college by self-identified ancestries (2)
French-Canadian 16.7 percent
Dutch 18.5
Italian 21.0
Irish 21.2
German 22.0
Finnish 24.2
Norwegian 26.0
Danish 27.4
Swedish 27.4
Scotch-Irish 28.2
English 28.4
Welsh 31.8
Scottish 33.6
Russian 49.0
All the above are at least third-generation Americans, which would
give them sufficient time to join the college caste. Is it really reasonable
to blame the above differences on genetics? Notice that the Scottish have
nearly twice the college attendance as the Dutch, even though their ancestors
lived right across the Channel…
Most geneticists agree that there is far more genetic variation within
groups than between groups. According to one commonly cited study, 85% of all
human genetic variation is intra-population, 7% intra-race and only 8%
inter-racial. (3)
Return to Overview
Endnotes:
1. Sources for each country are as follows:
Australia: L.Z. Klich, "Aboriginal Cognition and Psychological
Science," pp. 427-52 in S.H. Irvine and J.W. Berry (eds.) Human
Abilities in Cultural Context (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1988); Lesley Clark and Graeme Halford, "Does Cognitive Style Account
for Cultural Differences?" Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
14 (September, 1983), pp. 279-96.
Belgium: John Raven, "The Raven Progressive Matrices: A
Review of National Norming Studies and Ethnic and Socioeconomic Variation
in the United States," Journal of Educational Measurement 26
(Spring, 1989), pp. 1-16, esp. fig. 2.
Czechoslovakia: Karol Adamovic, "Intellectual Development
and Level of Knowledge in Gypsy Pupils in Relation to the Type of Education,"
Psychologia a Patopsychologia Dietata 14, 1979, 2:169-76 (translated
abstract).
Great Britain: Research by Richard Lynn discussed in Ciaran
Benson, "Ireland's 'Low' IQ," pp. 222-23 in Russell Jacoby and
Naomi Glauberman (eds.), The Bell Curve Debate (New York: Times
Books, 1995).
India: Caste differences - J.P. Das and Amulya Kanti
Satpathy Khurana, "Caste and Cognitive Processes," pp. 487-508
in S.H. Irvine and J.W. Berry (eds.), Human Abilities in Cultural Context
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); Sohani Das, "Level-I
Abilities of Socially Disadvantaged Children: Effects of Home Environment,
Caste and Age," Social Science International 10, (1994), 1-2:69-74;
Sohani Das and Brahmananda Padhee, "Level II Abilities of Socially
Disadvantaged Children: Effects of Home Environment, Caste and Age,"
Journal of Indian Psychology 11, (1993) 1-2:38-43 (abstract); Tribal
differences - Anita Gupta and Qamar Jahan, "Differences in Cognitive
Capacity among Tribal and Non-Tribal High School Students of Himachal Pradesh,"
Manas 36, (1994), 1-2:17-25 (abstract);.
Israel: Arabs - Kugelmass et al., "Patterns of Intellectual
Ability"; news item that, in 1992, 26% of Jewish high school students
passed matriculation exam versus 15% of Arab students - Jerusalem Reports,
January 12, 1995; cf. Lieblich et al., "Patterns of Intellectual Ability."
Eastern Jews - Gross, Cultural Concomitants of Preschoolers' Preparation
for Learning"; Yehezekal Dar and Nura Resh, "Socioeconomic and
Ethnic Gaps in Academic Achievement in Israeli Junior High Schools,"
pp. 332-27 in Nico Bleichrodt and Peter Drenth (eds.), Contemporary Issues
in Cross-Cultural Psychology (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1991);
Brahmins - Radhe Shyam, "Variations in Concentration of 'g'
Level Abilities among Different Groups," Journal of Personality &
Clinical Studies 2 (September, 1986), pp. 123-26 (abstract)
Japan: Burakumin - A. Shimahara, "Social Mobility
and Education: Burakumin in Japan," pp. 327-356 in Margaret A. Gibson
and John U. Ogbu (eds.), Minority Status and Schooling: A Comparative Study
of Immigrants and Involuntary Minorities (New York: Garland, 1991); Koreans
- Yongsook Lee, "Koreans in Japan and the United States," pp.
139-65 in Margaret Gibson, op cit.; George DeVos and William Wetherall,
Japans Minorities (London: Minorities Rights Group, 1983).
New Zealand: John Ogbu, Minority Education and Caste:The
American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Academic Press,
1978); Ross St. George, "Cognitive Ability Assessment in New Zealand:
Some Remarks," New Guinea Psychologist 3 (August 1971), pp.
42-46.
Northern Ireland: Richard Lynn et al., "Home Background,
Intelligence, Personality and Education as Predictors of Unemployment in
Young People," Personality and Individual Differences (1984), 5:549-57.
South Africa: J.M. Verster and R.J. Prinsloo, "The Diminishing
Test Performance Gap Between English Speakers and Afrikaans Speakers in
South Africa," pp. 534-60 in S.H. Irvine op cit.
United States: Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The
Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, (New
York: The Free Press, 1994). Also, for Native Americans - Avery
Church, "Academic Achievement, IQ, Level of Occupational Plans, and
Ethnic Stereotypes for Anglos and Navahos in a Multi-ethnic High School,"
Southern Journal of Educational Research (Summer, 1976), pp. 184-201.
2. U.S. Census data reported by Andrew Hacker, "Caste, Crime and
Precocity," p. 105 in Steven Fraser (ed.), The Bell Curve Wars
(New York: HarperCollins, 1995).
3. R.C. Lewontin, Steven Rose and Leon J. Kamin, Not In Our Genes: Biology,
Ideology and Human Nature (Random House, 1984).