Posted on 08/09/2013 3:06:33 PM PDT by reaganaut1
“IQ is a metric of such dubiousness that almost no serious educational researcher uses it anymore,” the Guardian’s Ana Marie Cox wrote back in May. It was a breathtakingly ignorant statement. Psychologist Jelte Wicherts noted in response that a search for “IQ test” in Google’s academic database yielded more than 10,000 hits — just for the year 2013.
But Cox’s assertion is all too common. There is a large discrepancy between what educated laypeople believe about cognitive science and what experts actually know. Journalists are steeped in the lay wisdom, so they are repeatedly surprised when someone forthrightly discusses the real science of mental ability.
If that science happens to deal with group differences in average IQ, the journalists’ surprise turns into shock and disdain. Experts who speak publicly about IQ differences end up portrayed as weird contrarians at best, and peddlers of racist pseudoscience at worst.
I’m speaking from experience. My Harvard Ph.D. dissertation contains some scientifically unremarkable statements about ethnic differences in average IQ, including the IQ difference between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. For four years, the dissertation did what almost every other dissertation does — collected dust in the university library. But when it was unearthed in the midst of the immigration debate, I experienced the vilification firsthand.
For people who have studied mental ability, what’s truly frustrating is the déjà vu they feel each time a media firestorm like this one erupts. Attempts by experts in the field to defend the embattled messenger inevitably fall on deaf ears. When the firestorm is over, the media’s mindset always resets to a state of comfortable ignorance, ready to be shocked all over again when the next messenger comes along.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Its thought that way to deflect uncomfortable truths
It means you’re exceptional
You’re here aren’t you
I’m rural cracker white....I sure can’t claim to be urban Jew wise guy or high end mandarin math bright
But I do OK and assume you do too
The ones that do harp on it really stand out, possibly because so many don’t. Especially the further you get from Cambridge.
'Cause you OLD school.
We NEW school!
Not ME!
You want to Supersize that order?
Only in the sense that it's REQUIRED.
And WHY is it 'required'?
Mainly because people do the hiring have one, and they want to be surrounded by folks who have had the same life experience as themselves.
Nobody got time for dis!
: (
Oh come now. A bonefide degree implies skills and knowledge simply nonexistent in those with only a high school diploma. That is especially true for writing and basic computer skills beyond gaming and facebook.
You're up!
and we b...
MENSA will still let you in if you pay them money.
You have posted the truth.
Another truth is that we are subsidizing ANTI-persistence in this country.
Elsie I think youre on youre own for SOME of this one..
When I was in New Zealand in Dec 2000 the locals were bemoaning the fact that the wonderful Algore was not yet president...
and wouldnt listen to reason..
Again when I was there Dec 2008 they were celebrating the election of the Muslim, yes that-guy-in-my-White-House TM
However I have yet to meet a Norwegian smarter than I...
:)
True; but it donn't help with speling.
BUT; does college equip a person with MORE skills and knowledge NEEDED for doing the actual WORK involved?
Med school, for sure.
I can post LOTS of stories from folks who were told they were OVER qualified for the job.
What's up with THAT??
So it's genetic? That's racist! /s
The Mensa Home Test is a fun way to discover if you are Mensa material. While this timed test will not qualify you for membership, it does offer an equivalent score that correlates to your IQ range and provides a strong indication of your likelihood for success should you choose to take our admission test.
For only $18, you can take the Mensa Home Test online now, and it will be scored immediately. It won't give you the experience of taking a supervised test in a controlled environment, but it will give you a better understanding of the types of questions you'll find when you take the Mensa Admission Test.
Groucho says...
I wouldn't join a club that would have me as a member.
I have no reason to think that the distribution of genes that contribute to intelligence are significantly different by race. While there may be some population/sub-population differences in the allelic frequency of intelligence-related genes, I expect that all genes that contribute to intellect are present in all populations. This is only speculation, since we (the scientific community) have not identified the genes related to intellect, nor determined how they interact with one another.
On the other hand, environmental and nutritional influences have been shown to have a huge effect on IQ. So do infectious diseases. A kid who spends most of his energy trying to survive various illnesses does not use that energy developing his brain. All of these factors add up; once a child ages past the crucial early years of brain development, the opportunity to maximize IQ potential is lost.
Black poverty culture today does *not* embrace the factors that enable children to develop to their full potential. Furthermore, that culture actively censures any exercise of intellect. Until that culture is eradicated, I do not think we can say anything about the genetics of IQ in black populations. As I said above, I have no reason to think that black people lack any intellect genes--it's just that their poverty culture negates the effect of those genes.
I should say that much of white liberal culture embraces the same anti-intellect values as the poverty culture...
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