Race differences in average IQ are largely genetic

in the United States, when matched for IQ with Whites, American Blacks have been shown to demonstrate superior “Working Memory” (Nijenhuis et al., 2004). This is a particularly interesting finding as African Americans tend to be taught by less qualified teachers (e.g. non-certified teachers and teachers with limited experience) than their white counterparts, and are provided with less challenging school work (Hallinan 1994; Diamond et al., 2004; Uhlenberg and Brown 2004). In Chicago, for example, the vast majority of schools placed on academic probation as part of the district accountability efforts were majority African-American and low-income (Diamond and Spillane 2004). Thus, it is somewhat of a surprise that African Americans should outperform white Americans on any portion of a paper and pencil test designed to mimic the structures of western style schooling and culture (Richardson, 2000, 2002).

Educational inequality in the U.S. is a pervasive part of the social system and is primarily a consequence of housing. Since the majority of states determine school funding based on property taxes, schools in wealthier neighborhoods receive more funding per student. As home values in white neighborhoods are higher than minority neighborhoods, local schools receive more funding via property taxes (Kelly, 1995). In addition, there has been a history of social policy which has limited African American’s access to avenues of wealth accumulation (e.g. purchasing suburban homes); so that black families also have far fewer assets than their white counterparts who earn the same incomes (Oliver and Shapiro, 1995). Parents with greater assets are free to use them for things like tutors, purchasing educational materials (e.g. computers), and to pay for private schools and more expensive colleges.  

In a study which helped to highlight the need for better education for African American children, Serpell et al. (2006) took 162 low-income African American and white fourth graders and assigned them, randomly, to ethnically homogeneous groups of three to work on a motion acceleration task, using computer simulation or physical tools. Or to a control group that did not participate in the learning activities. It was shown that both African American and White students performed equally well on the test of initial learning, with both groups scoring significantly higher than the control group. However, it was also found that African American children’s transfer outcomes were superior to those of their White counterparts (see Serpell et al., 2006). The study demonstrated, empirically, that not only do African American children learn as well as white children, but that they may actually exceed their white counterparts in their ability to transfer learned abilities to real tasks.

Barnes (1972) noted that the Stanford-Binet, and the Wisc IQ tests are examples of “Culture specific tests,” and that the culture in this instance is what is referred to as “white middle class” culture. Lyman (1970) designed a cross cultural test called the “American Cross Culture Ethnic Nomenclature Test”, or “ACCENT.” The instrument contained 20 black biased and 20 white biased items. In one experiment this test was administered to 110 undergraduates (91 whites and 19 blacks) where it was found that the black participants out performed the white participants. Blacks obtained a mean of 15.3 on the black items and 11.1 on the white items, while white subjects obtained a mean of 12.7 on the white items and 8.3 on the black items. The results of this study indicated that when blacks and whites are tested cross-culturally that blacks may outperform whites on standardized tests.

Williams and Rivers (1972b) showed that test instructions in Standard English penalize the black child and that if the language of the test is put in familiar labels, without training or coaching, the black child’s performance on the tests increase significantly. Ideally a child’s language development should be evaluated in terms of his progress toward the norms for his own particular speech community (Cadzen, 1966); however, this kind of evaluation is rarely, if ever, done with respect to African Americans. Studies using sentence repetition tasks have found that at both third and fifth grades white subjects repeated Standard English sentences significantly more accurately than black subjects, while black subjects repeated nonstandard English sentences significantly more accurately than did white subjects (Marwit et al, 1977). Students in American schools are usually taught and tested only in Standard English, which can put African American students at a disadvantage. In fact, this issue was at the center debates concerning the use of Ebonics in the American school system during the 1990s.

Researchers provide considerable evidence showing that traditional psychological assessment is based on skills that are considered important within white, western, middle-class culture, but which may not be salient or valued within African-American culture (Helms, 1992; Helms, 1997; Hilliard, 1995; Boone et al, 2007; Teng and Manly, 2005). Kwate (2001) argues that IQ tests are antagonistic and incompatible with an African centered conception of intelligence and mental health, while a study by Obiakor and Utley (2004) showed that culturally diverse learners are often excluded in educational programs in the U.S. through misidentification, misassessment, miscategorization, misplacement, and misinstruction-misintervention. When test stimuli are more culturally pertinent to the experiences of African Americans, performance improves (Hayles, 1991; Williams and Rivers, 1972b). For example, research shows that “Black Culture” depicts problem solving as an integrative hemispheric endeavor rather than a linear, analytical process (Bell, 1994), and that in this culture "psychological closeness" is necessary for one’s involvement in the phenomena which he seeks to understand.

Studies using empirical methods also find that cultural differences in the provision of information account for racial differences in IQ scores. Fagan and Holland (2007) asked African-Americans and white Americans to solve problems typical of those administered on standard IQ tests. Half of the problems were solvable on the basis of information generally available to either race, or on the basis of information newly learned; while other problems were only solvable on the basis of specific previous knowledge. In this study specific knowledge varied with race and was shown to be subject to test bias (Fagan and Holland, 2007).

Black Supremacist, please stop spamming your copied and pasted drivel.

Dear BS- It's interesting that you had to go back over 40 years to find studies to support your beliefs.... must have taken a lot of time.

its so funny that everyone just loved to here that whites are so much smarter than blacks then when someone post facts from source after source saying sorry yall its just not true,now the white folks have a problem and want to get mad becouse there superior bubble is burst!I should ask my little sister who graduated from yale and is currently a doctor what she thinks.She may have a better opinion than i do seeing that she graduated from UCLA before going off to Yale,but then again she is just another stupid black women!

Hi Opex, Your email didn't do anything to support your case. Next time, I suggest that you use spell check before you post.

I think it's true as with other genetic/race traits.  It doesn't mean someone of a certain race that has tendency's to score lower on IQ tests means that the race as a whole is "dumber" than another.  It means that there are talents that they have in other areas that another race might lack in slightly from another.  One may have better communication abilities, while another may have better problem solving abilities, and another have a better memory. I'm just saying that this test does not go in depth enough and needs further research..  I'd say average out everyone of different races abilities and it would all average out to equal.

-A German/Lithuanian/Cherokee

Interesting to read as well:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm

stating such facts as:

The prevalence of imprisonment in 2001 was higher for
-- black males (16.6%) and Hispanic males (7.7%) than for white males (2.6%)
-- black females (1.7%) and Hispanic females (0.7%) than white females (0.3%)

and

Lifetime chances of a person going to prison are higher for

    -- men (11.3%) than for women (1.8%)
    -- blacks (18.6%) and Hispanics (10%) than for whites (3.4%)

What's crazy is that, if you look at reproduction rates, there is a correlation between IQ and reproduction - but on its face seems to indicate almost an anti-evolutionary track.  On balance, low I.Q. people have far more children per/capita than do high I.Q. people...People with high I.Q.'s have the least children per/capita.  That's just crazy.

Just look at the average IQ by country - it's overwhelming evidence of the wide difference in iq's.  But IQ doesn't address all life situations, do they?  I don't think Einstein would do well lined up at wide receiver for the Washington Redskins.  

The important thing is what does society reward?  Generally, it rewards high iq.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

Maybe we should ship them back to Africa?

John, you are racist trailer trash. America would not be the country it is today if not for the free labor (slavery) and contributions made to this country by African-Americans. People like you are the cause of most of the problems and shortcomings (no pun intended) of this country today!

Your reasoning is fallacious because it assumes that the way America prospered (slavery) is the only way it could have prospered.

A similar argument is that we wouldn't know about relativity -- and would never know about it -- if Einstein hadn't been born. This argument leaves out the possibility that someone other than Einstein could have discover relativity, just as your argument ignores the possibility that America could have prospered by a means other than slavery.

The actual issue that everyone sidesteps is not with the "race" but the leadership. The reason that African Americans consistently do poorly on any measure of outcomes is that the leadership of the black community owes it's very existence on there being an "oppressed" underclass.

If black leaders, or white leaders that pander to the same underclass, actually had their constituent's betterment as their focus, they would lose their following. Fair housing, class mobility, economic opportunity and access to the trappings of the middle class are not segregated only to whites. As all of these things are gathered wholesale by eastern and western Asians. Indians come from a culture that is currently(today) stratified by caste. A deep and unyielding segregation bordering on slavery for some. Yet even the lower castes come here and prosper. How many Indians do you see in public housing?  The differences are in entitlement, self-sustainability and accountability.

Political correctness has become the constitution. Even if studies that focus on genetic differences could be used to help the plight of minorities, they are buried, dismissed or ignored. Did anyone see this on any national broadcast news? The so-called leadership of an entire minority is incentivized on keeping them just where they are and convincing them that the only solution to their situation is allegiance to the leaders.

Blame the political class, not the manipulated masses. No test can determine accountability and self-sufficiency. Oh, sorry--except one. Life.

8,448 white-on-black rapes (see Table 42 in the report) (14.2 percent of all rapes against blacks were thus committed by white rapists); and,

17,572 black-on-white rapes (same table) (13.1 percent of all rapes of whites were committed by blacks).

Now, to be technical, it is no doubt true that some of the white perps in this data, AND some of the white victims were actually Latino, given the closer proximity between blacks and Latinos, spatially. But doing the complicated extractions necessary to know what percentage of either is Hispanic, though it can be done (and I am working on the methodology for my book) is more detailed than I feel the need to be here. So for the sake of comparison I will leave the numbers as they are, knowing that both would likely be smaller, and reduced in rough proportion to one another, if Hispanics were excluded.

A few things should be noted here:

First, blacks raped were more likely to have been interracially raped than whites were.

Secondly, although the number of black-on-white rapes was higher than the reverse, to be sure, the multiple is nowhere near 50:1. Numerically it is a little more than 2 to 1. On a per capita basis, since whites are roughly 6 times more prevalent in the population than blacks (as of 2002), this would mean that on a per capita basis, any given black person was about 12 times more likely to rape a white person than vice versa.

Now perhaps you are thinking at this point, "OK, whatever: whether it's 50 to 1 or 12 to 1, that's a huge disproportion!" And that's true, sort of, though not nearly as meaningful as it seems.

To begin with, as I explain in my piece "The Color of Deception," whites and blacks do not encounter each other at rates that are comparable. Because of residential and spatial isolation from one another, this won't surprise anyone reading this, I imagine. Indeed, according to Census data, presented by criminologist Robert O'Brian (the footnote for this one is in the original Color of Deception article, which has now been critiqued on Bryant's website, and which notes can be viewed there), any given black person is about 19 times more likely to encounter a white person than vice versa. Blacks, on average, encounter 57 whites out of every 100 people they encounter--so even with spatial isolation, blacks run into lots of white folks--while whites, on average, are actually more racially isolated, encountering, on average, only about 3 blacks for every 100 people we encounter.

Now obviously, you can't victimize someone you don't encounter, and if blacks were choosing rape victims purely randomly, we would expect that 57 percent of the victims of black rape would be white. But in fact, only 26 percent are (17,579 divided by 68,621: again, you can do the calculations easily from Table 42). This means blacks are half as likely as we'd expect to rape whites, numerically speaking, if they were raping at random, let alone TARGETING whites, in which case they would have no problem finding even more than 57 percent of their victims to be white.

Likewise, based on encounter rates, if rapists picked victims randomly, we would expect 3 percent of the victims of white rapists to be black. But indeed, in 2002, there were 110,394 rapes committed by whites (check yourself in Table 42--the computation takes about two minutes). 8,448 as a share of 110,394 is actually 7.65 percent: more than DOUBLE what would be expected if white rapists picked victims randomly. If anything then, this would tend to suggest that whites are targeting blacks for rape, though indeed I am not claiming that. The disproportion is probably a statistical anomaly based on small sample size. But still, at the very least this demonstrates no disproportionate black on white rape.

Based on encounter rates alone, we would expect the 68,621 black rapists to have raped 39,114 whites, while the 110,394 white rapists should have raped 3,312 blacks: a numeric multiple of nearly 13 to 1, rather than the 2.1 numeric multiple in actuality, and we would have expected a per capita rate multiple, therefore, of 75 to 1, rather than the 12 to 1 that manifested in actuality.

In other words, based on encounter ratios and rates, blacks raped whites far less often than would have been expected, and whites raped blacks far more often than would have been expected.

High IQs correlate to high scores on standardized tests: Asians/Whites at the one extreme end and the blacks on the other. also, Jews as a group are the most successful ethnicity in terms of achievements...is it any surprise to anybody?

Why can't we just accept the truth and move on...

Oh yeah, blacks on average are the best athletes in the world than any other racial/ethnic groups...I guess God is fair!

Ok. Im just randomly passing by this webpage so have no interest or obsession with the subject.

Quickly, some of my observations would be:

1). It seems to me that brain size isn't indicative of intelligence. There was a news report some time ago about a man with a degree in mathematics who went for an X-Ray and amazed and startled himself and doctors with the discovery that he had almost no brain and a hollow skull.  If intelligence was related to brain size then  how come Einstein was'nt a freak with a brain the size of a house. Einstein was'nt 6 foot 10 with a 250 pound brain. Nobody would point and laugh at his huge head. However his brain did work efficiently.
Then of course we have gifted children whos brains are smaller than those of fully grown adults yet who can find the prime number solutions of really difficult problems.

2.) People should'nt be using the question of racial intelligence to engage in triumphalism whatever the result. Triumphalism is childish and not intelligent.

3.) I would not be of the opinion that intelligence or superior athleticism happens accidentally. What is random is whether or not it is exploited to the advantage of humanity but theres no way if I had better parents  or a wealthier upbringing that I would be able to find out whether 998989322344 is a prime number without a pencil and  a piece of paper. Middle class families often have a kid who does well in school plus a kid who does poorly so whats thew difference if its not something innante ? You can give a pencil to a 5 year old. One will draw a masterpiece and the other like myself will draw a stickman. We cant all be Einsteins of Van Goghs however apart from those who are innately psychpoathic, we can be educated with the ethic to respect and care for each other.'

I am a Chinese and grew up in a large city.

My IQ score is 137. But I don't think I am clever around my Chinese friends. Normally a high school student in China would have >110 although I didn't do the statistics.

Of course I am well educated. For my university classmates, I think they should all get around 130. It's just too normal to have around an IQ of 120 in China. The problem is that these smart guys only earn 200 euros every month.

I love it how so many people on these boards proclaim their own high IQ - nobody of course is anything other than gifted...

You do all know that 90% of all these poxy IQ Tests you have taken aren't worth Jack S***

The truth about IQ is that when measured properly it has repeatedly been found to be the best predictor of success in an industrialised society and the differences between groups (with a massive overlap of course) has been well known for decades.

The only thing in dispute is what percentage of those differences is genetic - clearly it is far from 100% and people can better themselves - but the idea that the differences are 100% environmental doesn't stand up to realistic scrutiny. There are obviously people on these boards that don't want to look at the overwhelming evidence in an objective way.

The world would be an easier place to live if it wasn't so, but we can all see with our own eyes that the differences exist.

Just like some families are more intelligent than other families (ie: families where everyone is either a lawyer, a doctor, a businessman or a politician vs. families where maybe only 1 person went to college), it is conceivable that some "races" are ON AVERAGE more intelligent than other "races".

Gee, all this time I thought that it was talent and hard work contributed to obtaining two master's degrees and my upcoming doctorate. Now I know that it was the generations of white men who sexually exploited my foremothers that have given me my big brain! White narcissism and arrogance knows no bounds.

As caucasians are not claimed to be the brightest on average I do not understand why you would want to turn this into a specific Black-White issue.

Instead of discussing the issue rationally you start boasting about yourself and attacking others - it makes you look like a bit of a tool.

This is simply racist! I cannot belive someone from Berkeley was involved in this clap trap. I am white and I don't give a flit what my IQ is because I am secure in my own abilities but apparently these idiots need IQ test and studies to stroke their flailing egos and deep rooted insecurities. They should all burn their cards in Mensa and join SAIA. (Stupid Ass----s in America). WE HAVE SO MANY!

I just wish that racists stop exploiting studies like these. This doesn't need to be a taboo subject. The fact is that black people are underperforming in academic endeavours (as a group, not necessarily individually).

We should try to understand how much of it is genetic and how much is dependent on environment. This could lead to a better understanding of where the differences lie and what could be done to close the gap.

And yes, whites can learn a thing or two from other cultures. Because a race that is highly materialistic and linear in thinking isn't exactly an advantage in all situations. Again, what is genetic and what is environmental in creating such a left hemisphere bias is up for discussion. Just saying that you aren't some kind of triumph of human evolution.

I'm not anti anyone.

Not sure why you are talking about 'whites' again, these studies do not show 'whites' as having the highest average IQ.

Here's the question to which  I think we should: Given that 1/2 of our population has "below average IQ" (by definition), and given that this difference cannot ever be removed, or even reduced, what should we do to achieve the best society ? If by "best society " we can all agree that we bean the one that will maximize every one's opportunity to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," then let's roll up our sleves and figure that out.

We have learned that trying to make every one equal in IQ is a complete failure. The Great Society and Head Start and all proved that !Cuba, China, and the USSR taught us that simply giving everyone equal income regardless of ability also fails.

So what is left ? I do not have that answer, but I think we should all work on finding an answer. Let America once again be the "city on the hill," that leads the world to a better place.

Let us strive for a world that nurtures independence, self reliance, hard work, faith in God, autonomy, personal freedom, and all of the important, classical virtues. But let us strive for one that also keeps the "floor" of personal failure high enough that the least among us are not in abject misery.

Time to create the next and best social system for our glorious republic !

"Not sure why you are talking about 'whites' again, these studies do not show 'whites' as having the highest average IQ."

Because that is where the historical tension lies. Because it was whites that have upheld racial theories and implemented it in social institutions in europe and the US.

It doesn't matter in this discussion that east asians average 5 points ahead of whites, because if you read between the lines, what white supremacists are saying is that 5 points doesn't matter much. Do you get it now?

Mushroom, no I don't get it, you cannot make a supremacist argument on being five points BEHIND. I think YOU are looking for a problem.

Every institution I have had experience with in my country only discriminates in so far as checking there are ENOUGH minorities in that institution to fulfil a minimum set quota - regardless of ability. In my country it is now legal to deliberately discriminate specifically against white males - that's the law.

To All the folks ( black, white and all else ) who posted here,
I am a  Indian, born and educated in India. I have a graduate degree from very good Indian colleges,worked ( software engineering manager)  in the USA for a few years as well and know a thing or two about US society. My IQ is definitely on the higher side, but i would not post it here.

First a few opinions from me:
- There is incontrovertible proof that IQ is inheritable , atleast upwards of 50%.
- But it is also true that there are huge differences within a race. There are i am sure there are 140+ IQ blacks as there are sub 70 IQ whites.
- It is also true that IQ is very complex. It depends on
     --- nutrition
     --- brain size
     --- cultural nuetrality of tests and language
     --- Education level of parents and the general sorroundings.
     --- even order of birth
     --- Many other factors.

- I am also not sure, if comparing Black American IQ with other races is fair. US blacks were those selected for physical labor, not for their brains, when they were shipped to US. So there was likely to be some selective  pressure that played a role in their IQ. Same for Indian US ( and chinese as well ) immigrants, on the opposite direction, many studies show average IQ above of 115  or near this figure. This again is due to selective pressure.
Also, as someone pointed out i am not sure, the average black parent ( single or double ) cares about the education of his/her kids. Chinese, Indian and Korean parents spend all their energy on their kids education.

- That is why the best IQ tests are those that are culture neutral and can measure general intelligence without being too hard or easy to any one race or cultural group. I am not sure, that somehow the US blacks are at a disadvantage due to difference in black culture and white cultures. If true, even East Asians, Indians in India and US are at a bigger disadvantage many of who speak a non English language at home, are not christians .

- Generally white nations seem to be properous, and now many east asian nations also seem to be joining them.

- I see many black nations, in Africa ( and Haiti ) impoverished, and crime ridden. I dont buy that colonial rule did this to them. Many are free countries now. Even countries like Korea, China ( partially ) and India were either ruled over or very poor in the 1950s. But they seem to be prospering of late. If Africans still dont beleive, this, then may be there is  some international white conspiracy ( that i cannot apparently fathom ), that is somehow keeping these couries poor.

- Though I have no problem admitting that East Asians ( koreans, chinese, Japanese ) have a high average IQ, i must also admit that, these societies have not been the torch bearers of creativity or originators of technical inventions in the last few centuries. It is the predominantly West and central europeans that were responsible for the modern society and all the technology. So there you go, having highest IQ has not exactly given rise to geniuses ( chinese, korean and Japanese ).Something that blacks should take note of.

- At the end of the day, average IQ of a race means nothing to me. I see a black individual with 140+ IQ and a white individual with 90 IQ, i am going to select the black guy for any congitively demanding job.  At the end of the day, it is important to be objective about IQ, race and cause and effect, so that, any new knowledge gained could be put to good use in improving everyones lot.

- Well one ray of hope about this IQ. We are probably on the verge of figuring out the genes for IQ and intelligence. I am wondering, ( setting aside all the social and political minefields, doing this might generate ) one day it may become routine to selectively have kids with these genes ( or have these genes inserted from outside )  and ensure all kids have high IQ. Then perhaps , this IQ 'thing' will become a non issue.

Quote from one of the persons who posted:

"Researchers provide considerable evidence showing that traditional psychological assessment is based on skills that are considered important within white, western, middle-class culture, but which may not be salient or valued within African-American culture"

Assuming this research is very true, why cannot anyone ( black educationists or other researchers ) come up with IQ tests that do assess skills that are considered important to blacks?. Is it too hard to do that?

From a purely curiosity point of view, I wonder what criteria or items are salient or 'valued' within African-American culture. Anyone can enlighten me or offer guesses!.

I found the paper on Google Scholar. I did not read it, because I would have had to pay a fee to do so. However, I looked over the list of over 100 papers citing this one, and I found a number attacking it. This paper is by no means the final word on race and intelligence

Note that the authors are NOT reporting any original findings from a study they performed. Rather, they have compiled a review of the vast literature on race and intelligence, and are drawing sweeping conclusions from it.

When writing any review, one must choose to cite certain papers and ignore others. It is impossible to do this without introducing some type of bias. This is especially problematic when reviewing an entire subfield of research. Therefore, any conclusions should be greeted with skepticism. Given the subject matter the authors put so much effort into reviewing, it is not hard to guess what their bias is.

When a scientific community draws conclusions from many lines of research, it does not rely on a single review. Rather, a consensus among many researchers develops over time. Given that there are papers attacking this one, it does not seem that the authors are speaking of any consensus.

Typically, a review of the literature will simply summarize major results from different research groups. Attempting to draw sweeping conclusions shows hubris and a lack of scholarship.

I am a Kenyan, Black African lawyer. I am a black nationalist, in fact, a Rastafarian - a religion drawing inspiration from ultra-black nationalists like Garvey.

Does Culture play any part in IQ assessment? This study is not very clear on that. I think it does. Probably Blacks IQ is low because there does not exists a universal Black culture (e.g a black religion or political thought system which has existed over many years and probably imposed to other societies) as opposed to the other races. Take religion. Christianity, though not originally from Europe is basically a white religion;Islam is  Arab;Hindu is Asian etc.

Personally, I tend to agree that the black race has a problem though I am not sure whether it is genetic. This is because in all societies in the world, blacks are committing vices at a higher rate compared to other races(even to their very own). Secondly, We do not have a single black nation which is showing any potentiality of prospering in the near future.But most pathetic, blacks' level of assimilation by the cultures of other people is pathetic. Blacks have  adopted  the negative aspects of the other people's culture to their own detriment. Blacks tend to blame whites for their underdevelopment,but they are not offering any resistance to that perceived domination (intellectual or  even physical like what Alqueda are doing presently). I was astonished to find that the rates of black-to-black crime, divorces,abortion and extra-marital fertility  are highest amongst all other American ethnic groups.In Africa,our governments have aligned themselves with the west in all international issues;every domestic discourse   is justified by a quotation of the West. The Black youth are not interested in serious issues of politics or economics but watching European soccer. In fact, I suspect that probably,at this rate, black race with its multitude of problems will be wiped out. I understand in the US, Latinos have now overtaken Blacks in terms of population.

The East Asians, Indians and some modern Arabic counties like UAE and Kuwait  have maintained their unique cultures and this probably explains their present economic ascent.Well,we do not have a cross-cutting authentic African culture to fall back to but I am convinced that Blacks should endeavor to mould a unique,progressive culture (that is scientific) which is disengaged or independent from the West to stimulate an economic and social take-off.

Irungu, Kenya.

Mr. Katanga, I'm sure that you are aware of the infrastructure and civil service legacy of the White colonial powers as well as the value of European technology.  It would have been nice for you to have acknowledged so.

If you have any knowledge about studies, you will know this study is very flawed. It does not take into account many factors. Such as cultural and environmental issues. This study and many of you arguing I believe do not realize the difference between genetic IQ and actual IQ. Genetic IQ is the range of IQ you are able to achieve, which is dependant on your genetics. Actual IQ is the IQ you currently have due to the education, environmental, and cultural factors of your life. So to summarize that for you, because I think many of you are too dumb to understand. That we all have a range of Iq we can achieve for example 110-130, now if you live in well developed environment with great education its very possible you can achieve a 130 IQ. On the other hand if you life in a culture that is not nurturing to Intelligence you will almost certainly be at the bottom of that scale at 110. This is what im trying to point out. That this study did not take this proven factor in to account. If you do not take factors like this into account, you can not make conclusions like this study did.

Asian, does that includes Vietnamese, Filipino etc.. because last time I've checked it was all about the CHinese and Japanese or Koreans (the whitest of the Asians)

it is really interesting to see the contradictory arguments on here. Many of you are proving you'll say anything to degrade blacks which really ends up proving the argument of the "liberal media". There are people on here who have actually said that maybe if blacks weren't so dumb they wouldn't have been enslaved or colonised. Then you call blacks violent. Well, couldn't someone supposedly respond to that pathetic excuse for an argument that if whites weren't so violent, opportunistic, inconsiderate, and ruthless that there wouldn't have been enslavement, Jim Crow, the KKK, Skinheads, Neo-Nazis, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the Civil War, WWI & WWII, raping and beating slaves, etc. etc.?? All these violent and inexcusable acts throughout history, and yet to blacks you apply a different standard? Very interesting. I'll tell you what I don't believe in "race", and do see inequality around me all the time, but at least you can say that inner city or African issues remain in their respective areas for the moat part. You don't see blacks starting wars with random countries, attempting to colonise Europe, or trying to enslaving anyone in the last hundreds of years

Chris, not quite accurate to say that blacks didn't invade or enslave. The Bushmen of Southern Africa were ethnically cleansed and their lands taken away (they left evidence of  their decimation by blacks on their caves, whom they depicted as black, as opposed to their being brown). Also, starting long before the Trans-Atlantic slave-trade, the barbary pirates (Corsairs) launched continual attacks against Europe to capture slaves. Estimates are that more than a million Europeans were captured by Africans in this way. That is why France colonised Algeria, to stop the practice. In fact, I see you are from the USA: as far as I know, the first war your country fought after independence was against the African barbary pirates. Within Africa, there is a continual history of warfare and destruction and eradication of various tribes by others. The only difference is that Europe was able to project its power because they had boats to get them across the waters, but I think you are likely to find that a comparative scale would put Africans right up there. However, we are still living the post-colonial narrative of good blacks, bad whites, so this sort of thing, although freely available to read, is simply not interesting to ideologues.

Nice try, but the Corsairs weren't "black". Thry were humans though, just like blacks. And they were for the most part Arabic and/or Muslims. And there is no narrative of "good blacks", as blacks are still stereotyped by many before they can even show their character

Slavery did take place in Africa. However as it relates to hurting others, considering the World Wars, the Slave Trade, atomic bombings and killing for oil and power...historically "whites" as we like to call them has more of that rap sheet

Personally it matters not to me. I see history and I see human violence. But if we are to use the logic of many on here, the logic is really astounding. It's the equivalent of calling blacks barbaric when the KKK and Nazis still exist..not to mention the Italian Mafia once caused a lot of pain and violence.

Irony

As a Black person, I don't think Blacks get it. They are always blaming Whites for their problem, yet the tend to strive in White environment more than their own.  They complain about the White school system (when it comes to math and science or language even), yet show up for gym class and dancing contest and other nonsense just fine.

The issue with Blacks is serious, because it is a global one, so it can't be just racism. Go anywhere in the world where it's majority Black (nation, or neighbourhood) and it's the same scenario.

Now they are obsessed with Ghetto garbage.

I wonder how they came up with this study.  US, has the lowest IQ compared to other countries.  They lost me at the light skinned blacks had higher IQ than the average blacks... and brain size.... Give me a break.

If you go to the Info Please web site, you will find pages that list all of the Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics and if you copy and paste that information into a Word document and us the "Replace All" function to count up the number of times that the name "Switzerland" occurs and then do the same for "Japan", "China", "India" and "Korea", you will see that the name, Switzerland, occurs more often than all those other names combined. Why would tiny Switzerland, with only 7.6 million people, produce more Nobel science winners than billions of Asians if the Asians are, on average, smarter than the Swiss?

I don't see why people are arguing the facts. This stuff is taught in my psych classes in uni. E. Asians DO have the highest iq and Africans DO have the lowest. It's established OK? The question is: is it purely genetic or are there cultural influences or is it a combination. We've known Asians had the highest for more than 50 years now and that Africans had lower iqs. Now we're just trying to find out WHY.

Vitamin D deficiency is common among black skin even in tropics. It is worse in fully covered religious women. Brain development is abnormal and disorganized with Vitamin D deficiency. In black women in USA (northern latitudes) the amount of vitamin D reaching the developing fetal brain is close to Zero. Animal models (rats)show large brains large ventricles. Behavior in vitamin d deprived rats is abnormal showing erratic behavior suggestive of attention deficit.
There are other factors as well and genetics may play a role. Fish oil( East Asians) and teaching of eastern languages in Chinese characters is also a factor according to research.

So want to have intelligent children? (google it there are some good websites) Try the following. 4000 IU of vitamin D daily and make sure your vitamin D levels are normal before getting pregnant. Eat oily fish like salmon 2 to 3 times a week. Take omega 3 fish oil. Eat Almonds walnuts, ots of green vegetables and B vitamins.

For rest of you please stop fighting do something constructive like informing colored people to load up on vitamin D.

The entire study is based on statistical analysis of other studies they did not conduct their own research. You would think they would simply take the IQ of every person of their respective race, unfortunately that's not possible because not everyone takes the IQ test so whats the sample size?

After reading the entire document, they never list the sample sizes.

Secondly there are studies out there that show blacks do just as well as others when they are home schooled.

Its interesting they only used a very selective sets of studies that supported their view points.

We all know today sexuality orientation has nothing to do with aids but looking solely statistics it does.

This is ridiculious..
Native Born Africans are the most educated immigrants living in America currently according to the U.S Census and are actually more educated then current Americans also but im suppose to believe that Black People are genetically less smart? What lies, people are not considering culture and surroundings ..Also for the people who claim African countries are not growing, what are you talking about?

Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world while eastern Europe has zero and western europe is cripped with debt, people need to research things before they type utter foolishness.

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This whole entire argument is completely illogical. We have studied brain development and genetics for years yet have never come up with a single shred of evidence of genetic factors that point to this conclusion. Not to mention that it would be easy to see if it actually existed. One can come up with an evolutionary hoopla story to back ones thesis but if you actually look at the general logic behind this study one can clearly see that this cannot be taken seriously as factual science. With so many possible causes due to development, nutrition, IQ test specifics, education, social factors and test groups  anyone who actually chooses to think while reading this can plainly see that there are far too many variables to simply state that genetics is accountable. Differences in health and the formation of the body is completely different than stating that a specific group of people have a vastly different functional capability of an organ.

cscs.umich.edu/.../...tt-on-rushton-and-jensen.pdf

We can't broad brush Asians/whites, there are differences.

Among whites, Jews, Unitarians, Quakers, and Anglicans outscore say much larger mostly working class whites groups such as Catholics and Baptists.

Doesn't mean all Jews are super smart or Catholics are dumb. We need to see there's variations even within groups.

I think it all comes down to IQ

One factor that we fail to mention is the role of geography in explaining average IQ differences between the so-called races. Scientist generally agree that modern day humans originate from Africa, and then later gradually migrated to other parts of the world. Geographically speaking, when humans arrived in parts of Europe and Asia, the environment provided them with clear advantages that might have led to these IQ discrepancies. Its not so much the environment, but its the culture cultivated from the environment.

To further elaborate, Eurasia had the right set of  conditions that allowed for a higher IQ to come to fruition. Domestication of the native species of pigs, goats, cattle, barley, and wheat marked a transition from hunting and gathering to a more advanced form of agriculture than seen in other societies of the same era. This advanced agriculture was not only able to support denser populations, but also spurred about a divison of labor. Individuals began to have specific jobs and thus had time to master their craft and become innovators of new technologies and tools. Essentially, it could be the fact that they had to use their brains more, and this could have brought about the discrepancies in IQ levels that we see today.

With this being said, intelligence is a mutable measure and is not something that is absolute. Based on the "Flynn Effect", average IQ scores have risen over time. While IQ test are standardized so that the average is around 100, the questions inherently become more difficult over time. For instance a person who has an IQ of 85 today (an average US black) , would have scored around a 100 if they took an IQ test from 1950. This simply says, that the human brain can adapt very rapidly and all human are getting smarter.

Another point of contention is that IQ tests only measure a person's present reasoning abilities. Sure enough, if you take the time to teach people a few basic concepts then over a short amount of time, they would likely perform better on IQ tests. IQ tests say nothing about intellectual capacity, it only measures one's intelligence at its current state.

And even if science one day does point to a gene that proves without a doubt that humans have different intellecutal capacities, should that give us reason to put races in a caste system? One can have a less than average intelligence level and still make significant contributions to a society.  Even if we prove that the black race is less intelligent, it does not mean they can't hold significant roles in a society. Even African Americans score lower than other groups, just look at what impact they have exerted on the world in terms music, entertainment, sports, and social movements. Bottom line, intelligence is not a good predictor of self worth.

Well from what I have studied, I have concluded that yes everyone is of an African origin, in a sense, but after the migration of groups of people to the continents Europe, Africa, and Asia the various members of these groups'skin tones began to change based upon their need for vitamin D production. I am sure you all, being that this is a medical forum, know the rest of the story.

The mentioned article cites studies from J. Phillippe Rushton, and Arthur Jensen. They are both known racists and their work has been discredited.  IQ tests are a FRAUD created by white men with an agenda.

Most of the research is valid The fact that over population and malnutrition has an effect on brain development for generations needs to be factorized for most of the black dominated country's  involved in any IQ comparisons
    

This research doesn't appear to consider social or economical factors relating to racial differences in intelligence.
Marginalised groups and those of a poor social economic background would be expexted to achieve to a lower IQ than a priveligded racial group in society.
It should not be shocking to hear that blacks performed to a signicantly lower standard if they are tested in a continent ravaged by disease, malnutrition and civil war. Likewise in America a certain level of predudice still exists towards black americans that may effect level of education recieved.
Because despite these test being 'equal footing' for all who take them the truth of the matter is one does require a certain level of education if they are to do well. For those with a limited education these questions and concepts may be very unfamiliar.
Also if children tested aged 3 were supposed to be the control group i think their grades should be disregarded. It is not stated were these groups of children came from an the events surrounded them at the time they were tested. A number of environmental factors may have effected their level of developement.
And finally i also do not believe brain size is of any significance. Their is huge variation between the sizes of men and womens brains yet any evidence stated men with the larger heavier brain are more intelligent then women has been disproved and tossed out of scientific debate. I beleive the same principle should be applied to variation of brain size between asians, whites and blacks.

My thinking is that these results are related to testosterone levels primarily. Blacks have the highest average testosterone levels, whites in the middle, with east asians with the lowest.

Lower testosterone levels will make one prone to abstract thinking while higher testosterone levels will make one prone to practical thinking. Think street smarts vs. book smarts. Whites and Asians will do better academically and thus score higher on an IQ test, but blacks will be better at dealing with the visceral world around them in a practical, common-sense manner.

It's not that any race is more intelligent; it's that hormone levels will make one prone to different modes of thinking and understanding.

In Africa natural selection will select those who are strong, masculine, and good at dealing with the warring nature of the tribal culture they're in. When people moved towards Europe, they had to think of creative ways to survive in the harsh environment and thus had to be more inventive.

This is a matter of masculine vs. feminine intelligence, and masculine intelligence is not tested in IQ tests as effectively as feminine intelligence. In fact, masculine intelligence is much harder to design a test for in the first place.

I'm white and have an IQ of 181. I don't believe race factors into IQ. It's true that blacks in the US may have an IQ lower than their white counterparts, but this test clearly didn't take into consideration the economic differences of the races. I guarantee that more people sampled in the inner city, where education quality is lower, were black and lower the average for their race.

I have a female Springer Spaniel dog, who is AKC registered she has been with me since she was a puppy.

I have often been amazed at how this dog, which is the third Springer Spaniel I've had in my lifetime - has the ability to 'associate' and 'memorize' certain words or actions that she sees me say or do.   Such as:  Whenever I intend to go somewhere in my vehicle, I have a habit of grabbing a stainless steel drink mug that I usually fill with ice cubes and blue Gatorade to take along with me on my trip, whether it be a short trip to the grocery store or anywhere else.  As soon as she sees me pick up that drink container and hears me dropping ice cubes into it, if she's in the house - she will immediately rush to the back door and wait, showing a clear anticipation of my impending departure.  If she's outside, her hearing is such that she can actually hear and recognize the sound of ice cubes dropping into that drink container and she will start whining and barking and raising a big ruckus, to let me know that she knows I am about to leave and that she hopes she can go with me.

This is only one of the many other scenarios that this Spinger Spaniel seems to have stored away inside her head whereby she demonstrates the ability to form and remember 'associations' - that tell her, if he does this, then that means --- he is going to do this next.   This never ceases to amaze me and it is a clear indication that, simply by observing my behavior - she is able to almost read my mind and react accordingly.

Blacks and many other non-whites who manage to live inside a historic White nation - alongside and able to observe the behavior of a race who is, on average, of higher intelligence than they might be - can, to some modest degree, be able to mimic some of those behaviors and benefit from being able to form associations in their less intelligent brains between mimicking the positive behaviors and the positive results that come their way as a result of their copying a certain behavior which leads to success or which yields positive results.

The problem is - is that the vast majority of Blacks and other non-whites do not have this ability and are therefore not able to assimilate into White Western societies in such a manner as to not be a negative influence within it.    Instead, they follow their natural, genetically engrained instincts and behave as they would if they were in their natural habitat, i.e., if they were in Africa or whatever other third world, non-white nation where their race and people are dominant.   This creates an increasingly dangerous and potentially explosive degree of volatility within every historic White European nation which these nation destroying, clearly anti-white and intensely hostile, alien ruling elites have imposed - without the consent or approval of their  native White populations - the curse of multiculturalism and multi-racialism.    Never in world history has any multicultural, multi-racial civilization been successful over the long term - and they all have descended into horrible and extremely violent and bloody ethnic warfare between the various ethnic and racial groups as a result of the conflict and competition that arises between them.

America will be no different - this is the future that our hostile and alien ruling elites are charting for White European people - in literally every historic White European nation.

So, need I point out who should get top priority for 'counseling' once this ethnic conflict kicks off?

Jews let the dogs out. Who do you think started the NAACP and ran it for years? Who was the driving force behind racial integration, "affirmative action," set-asides, and civil rights and PC in general?

That's right. The main player was Jews, the nation-wreckers since time untold.

They used the blacks as a crowbar against white society in order to take over and grind the gentiles into dirt. The blacks were a very useful weapon! If you raised a hand to them, you were an "evil racist." If you bent over and let them rape, rob, and kill you, it was progress but "we still have a long way to go."

Very much true. It appears that they are for their past efforts in US today finally rewarded in Israel with black refugees complaining about discrimination, deportations and their black Jewish brothers Ethiopeans raising stink about their women being vaccinated with Depo-Provera as the means of birth rate control.

I spent several hours reading the original article and all 192 posts here as I thought it was rather interesting. I almost made it to the end without encountering blatant anti-semitism but the last two posts sneaked in there. It's interesting, Ashkenazi Jews comprise about 1/5 of 1% of the world's population yet they get blamed by anti-semites for either controlling the world or causing all the ills of the world. Jews, again about 1/5 of 1% of the world's population, received almost a third of the Nobel prizes in recent times and are highly overrepresented for their numbers in fields of science, math, medicine, law, literature, and the arts. Interestingly, the higher average IQ score of Ashkenazi Jews is reflected mainly in the verbal/reasoning abilities; the visuospatial abilities are about average--that's where the East Asians excel. But to raise the average Jewish IQ about 13 points above average means that that portion of their abilities is probably close to double that above average, since the test combines both verbal/reasoning and visuospatial components. Visuospatial abilities are important in pursuits like engineering and architecture but for mathematics, except for certain fields like topology, it is the reasoning component that is the most important. Perhaps this is why Western countries have led the world in technological innovation and mathematics in recent times, even dating back to the Greeks and Romans--this slight edge that whites have over Asians in verbal/reasoning ability, especially since the last couple hundred years of Jewish emergence, may be what drives the innovation process. Of course when it comes to manufacturing the visuospatial ability of Asians would come into play. It takes only a fraction of one percent of the population with the highest ability to create the design innovation for the rest of the world, and the higher the average IQ of a population, the higher, exponentially, is the number of geniuses in that population. On another note, I don't know where the information for lower testosterone increasing academic ability comes from but my understanding is that just the opposite is true; higher testosterone levels increases visuospatial ability, and men on average have greater visuospatial ability than women.

This is a non-issue , genetic engineering will enhance human intelligence in the future, no need to stress.

It's scientific facts at work here. Kind of hard to argue with what's been proven to be true OVER AND OVER. The white and asian population needs to wake up and realize that they are throwing away hard earned tax dollars trying to make africans intellectually equal.

So what? What difference does it really make? Seriously.

Move on to something that really matters

I feel so sorry for people who wear their presumed high IQ's like a badge to defend & protect. People like that just like to sit & talk about how superior they are, exaggerating the importance of it, while the rest of humanity just goes about living life to the fullest and having a good time.

IQ is one very small factor in determining someone's success and contributions in life. You can have he highest IQ in the world and still be a socially inept loser going nowhere. Just look at Chris Langan.