Month: November 2011

(via Balloon Juice)

The Study Of Intelligence, Ctd

Well, yes, I do tend to get concerned when politics cramps research and when certain facts are suppressed. And the subtle but clear differences in IQ between broad racial groups are a reality – across country and continent and world. They do not only persist when controlling for economic class, on some measures, they increase. Now, this is only the first baby step in the discussion, but it strikes me as the most important one. And it is this finding – staring right out at us from vast amounts of data that no one disputes – that prompts the question: why? At least that’s what I can say for myself. I had no interest in this subject until I saw the data in Murray’s and Herrnstein’s book. I was, frankly, astounded by it. As a highly educated person, I had never been exposed to this data. And yet, it turned out it was undisputed. Merely the interpretation of it was open to real and important debate.

staring right out at us from vast amounts of data that no one disputes – No one disputes? It doesn’t take much effort to find critics of Murray’s and Herrnstein’s work.

One can check out Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man (the second edition disputes data Sullivan claims no one disputes).