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Wanted: More race realism, less moralistic fallacy
Abstract
Despite repeated claims to the contrary, there has been no narrowing of the 15- to 18-point average IQ difference between Blacks and Whites (1.1 standard deviations); the differences are as large today as they were when first measured nearly 100 years ago. They, and the concomitant difference in standard of living, level of education, and related phenomena, lie in factors that are largely heritable, not cultural. The IQ differences are attributable to differences in brain size more than to racism, stereotype threat, item selection on tests, and all the other suggestions given by the commentators. It is time to meet reality. It is time to stop committing the "moralistic fallacy" that good science must conform to approved outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Based on these differences across traits, we expect causal accounts to vary by characteristic. However, in light of the fact that 1) genetic explanations have historically been linked to racism (e.g., Rushton & Jensen, 2005; also see Kevles, 1985), and 2) individuals in disadvantaged groups tend to prefer structural or environmental explanations (Hunt, 2004; also see Crocker et al., 1999), thus placing blame for their low status on the system, we also expect Black Americans as a group will generally shun genetic accounts (consistent with work by Schnittker, Freese, & Powell, 2000) and favor environmental ones. ...
... Black respondents' patterns of preference-Based on historical use of genetic explanation to justify social inequalities (e.g., Rushton & Jensen, 2005; see Kevles, 1985), we predicted that Black respondents would renounce such accounts. The results strongly support this hypothesis. ...
This paper examines three common explanations for human characteristics: genes, the environment, and choice. Based on data from a representative sample of White and Black Americans, respondents indicated how much they believed each factor influenced individual differences in athleticism, nurturance, drive, math ability, violence, intelligence, and sexual orientation. Results show that across traits: 1) Black respondents generally favor choice and reject genetic explanations, whereas White respondents indicate less causal consistency; 2) although a sizeable subset of respondents endorse just one factor, most report multiple factors as at least partly influential; and 3) among White respondents greater endorsement of genetic explanations is associated with less acceptance of choice and the environment, although among Black respondents a negative relationship holds only between genes and choice. The social relevance of these findings is discussed within the context of the attribution, essentialism and lay theory literature. The results underscore the need to consider more complex and nuanced issues than are implied by the simplistic, unidimensional character of the nature/nurture and determinism/free will debates - perennial controversies that have significance in the current genomic era.
... Other examples can be found in scientific literature itself (e.g. Gould, 1996;d'Arms & Jacobson, 2000;Rushton & Jensen, 2005;Stroebe, Postmes & Spears, 2012;Gorelik & Shackelford, 2017). ...
... For example, Gould and other proponents of the argument that there is no correlation between race and intelligence are accused of flawed reasoning by Rushton and Jensen (2005). They present several examples of misinterpreting evidence, of giving preference to a moral view over the obtained data. ...
The problem of moralistic fallacy, crossing the gap from ought-propositions to is-propositions, is considered with regard to four questions: Should we consider all ought-propositions (or is-propositions) in the same manner? Is the ought-is move an inference or is it just a case of a practical assumption? Is this move fallacious in any discussion? To address these questions, we use the pragma-dialectical theory, where the ought-is relation is argumentatively considered as a relation between propositions in reason and standpoint.
... They hold this view, they claim, because " 'racism' has had no adverse impact on the intelligence [scores] of east Asians and Jews, who average higher scores than do Europeans." 25 Rushton and Jensen's failure to attend to the empirically verifiable differences in the sorts of racism experienced by African Americans, "east Asians" and "Jews" is precisely the sort of empirical mistake that should evoke our moral outrage. ...
... The goal of attribute reduction methods is to reduce the number of attributes in a data set as much as possible, in order to reduce computational complexity while preserving minimal information loss. Attribute reduction is an important pre-processing step in many fields in data mining, because many application problems use data collected from real valued victors [19]. Attribute reduction has many approaches that have been proposed by different authors who have investigated it from various angles. ...
The major aim of classification is to extract categories of inputs according to their characteristics. The literature contains several methods that aim to solve the time series classification problem, such as the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and the Support Vector Machine (SVM). Time series classification is a supervised learning method that maps the input to the output using historical data. The primary objective is to discover interesting patterns hidden in the data. In this study, we use a new method called SVNN which combines the SVM and ANN classification techniques to solve the time series data classification problem. The proposed SVNN is applied to six benchmark UCR time series datasets. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the ANN and SVM on all datasets. Further comparison with other approaches in the literature also shows that the SVNN is able to maximize accuracy. It is believed that combining classification techniques can give better results in terms of accuracy and better solutions for time series classification.
... In essence, a perceived denial of psychological differentiation. The rhetoric of "race realism," as Jensen and Rushton used it, fits exactly into this falsely attributed denial of biology apparently found in social justice movements and scholarship (Rushton & Jensen, 2005). As many conservative psychologists and scholars have long argued, denying group differences and promoting policies of equality was one of the Left's most socially harmful fictions (Garrett, 1961;Gottfredson, 1994;Peterson, 2019;Rushton, 1994;Whitney, 1995). ...
In pursuing paths to methodological reform, many have drawn on the prolific work of American psychologist‐philosopher Paul Meehl. In 1996, the APA awarded both Meehl and controversial German‐British psychologist Hans Eysenck with Clinical Psychologists of the Century Awards. Two years earlier, they had both signed the “Mainstream Science on Intelligence” statement published in reaction to controversy over research on intelligence and race. To better understand Meehl's decision to include his name in that public statement, this article first explores the philosophy and politics of Karl Popper as it relates to the incompatible views of Meehl and Eysenck on the value of psychoanalysis. Despite their stark differences of opinion on psychoanalysis and psychometrics, Meehl and Eysenck shared a vision of scientific psychology with overlapping political values that, consequently, included a commitment to the liberties of race science. This article suggests that interrogating the politics and ethics of research is a crucial aspect of doing human science well, including improving its methodology.
... The model adopted here (Fig. 1) is based on the Western civilization, in which the received morality has t o s o m e e x t e n t been shaped by the secular ethical discourse. What is this extent, how it varies between populations, and how it scales to the impact of external factors (such as religion, science etc.) are all important questions which could barely be addressed so far because of moralistic fallacy promoting egalitarianism (Rushton, Jensen, 2005) and discouraging objective comparisons of ethnic or cultural groups. ...
Elzanowski, A. 2014. Whither „naturalization of morality”? Dialogue and Universalism 24(2): 81-95.
ABSTRACT
The issue widely discussed under the heading of “naturalization of morality” involves at least three major components of “morality”:
(1) value-laden experience which is the source of all genuine values;
(2) received morality, a system of behaviors and attitudes that are transmitted from generation to generation and control the exchange of primary values; and (3) an analytic-evaluative agency, here referred to as ethics, that assesses norms and assumptions underlying received moralities against an independent knowledge of values. This task requires the use of both scientific information (on values
and received moralities) and domain-specific ways of ethical reasoning that are appropriate for the subject. While the transmission of moral systems is fully explicable and thus naturalized in terms of evolutionary theory and psychology, the ongoing naturalization
of ethics appears to be more complex.
... He also found that East Asians and their descendants on an average had a larger brain size, greater intelligence, more sexual restraint, slower rates of maturation, and greater law abidingness and social organization than did the Europeans and their descendants, who on an average higher had scores on these dimensions than Africans and their descendants. Rushton's work has been criticized by many psychologists (see Suzuki and Aronson 2005), but Rushton and Jensen (2005) continue to defend Rushton's hypothesis. ...
... Rushton, Jensen, and other ''racial realists'' (their selflabel) state that sub-Saharan Black Africans have a mean IQ of 70 (Rushton & Jensen, 2005a). Combined with their hereditarian argument that 80% of race differences in IQ are genetically based (Rushton & Jensen, 2005b), the public policy implications for disadvantaged groups, especially Blacks, and developing societies in the third world, are dire to say the least. Rushton links lower Black IQs to smaller brains, a genetically based tendency to commit crime due to higher testosterone levels, a genetically based tendency to have many children and invest little care in them (''r vs. K selection theory''), and poor genetic potential for ''social organization'' (e.g., Rushton, 1995). ...
This reply reviews the conceptual, methodological, and statistical foundations of Rushton, Skuy and Bons' article in this journal that compared Black Africans, Whites and East Indians on the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, and concluded that the Raven's is an unbiased test. Through a technical re-analysis of both the internal and external validity criteria for test bias using data reported in the Rushton et al. paper, we demonstrate that the Raven's Matrices test is in fact biased against Black Africans. We take issue with several additional elements of Rushton et al.'s study, including the use of non-equivalent groups in test samples. We briefly review Rushton's racial-realist research agenda and show that the assumption of test bias is central to advancing that agenda. Industrial/organizational and occupational psychologists should critically analyze and re-evaluate the science employed in Rushton's racial-realist research and also should better understand the ethical and social implications of accepting his reports of research findings on test bias and White–Black IQ differences as established scientific facts.
... Differences in cognitive and language scaled scores were present between our AA and EA children. IQ scores favoring EA over AA have been documented [49][50][51][52][53]. Our 1-point difference in scaled score between AA and EA is equivalent to that reported by other groups [51,54]. ...
Emerging data suggest that vitamin D status during childhood and adolescence can affect neurocognitive development. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether gestational 25(OH)D status is associated with early childhood cognitive and receptive language development. The Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood Study (CANDLE) study enrolled 1503 mother-child dyads during the second trimester of healthy singleton pregnancies from Shelby County TN. Among 1020 participants of the total CANDLE cohort for whom 25(OH)D levels were available, mean gestational 25(OH)D level during the second trimester was 22.3 ng/mL (range 5.9-68.4), with 41.7% of values <20 ng/dL. Cognitive and language scaled scores increased in a stair-step manner as gestational 25(OH)D levels in the second trimester rose from <20 ng/dL, through 20-29.99 ng/dL, to ≥30 ng/dL. When controlling for socioeconomic status, race, use of tobacco products, gestational age of the child at birth, and age at the 2-year assessment, the gestational 25(OH)D was positively related to receptive language development (p < 0.017), but not cognitive or expressive language.
... That conclusion stands today: There has been no new direct evidence on the question. (See Rushton & Jensen, 2005a, 2005b, Gottfredson, 2005, and Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002, for the view that the Black-White IQ difference is owing substantially to genetic differences between the races and that indirect evidence having to do with such factors as reaction time and brain size is probative. See Nisbett, 2005Nisbett, , 2009, for the view that the direct evidence indicates that the difference between the races is entirely due to environmental factors and that the indirect evidence has little value.) ...
Reports an error in "Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments" by Richard E. Nisbett, Joshua Aronson, Clancy Blair, William Dickens, James Flynn, Diane F. Halpern and Eric Turkheimer (American Psychologist, Advanced Online Publication, Jan 2, 2012, np). In the article, two correlational values are incorrect in the 10th line on p. 134. The values are corrected in this correction. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-30298-001.) We review new findings and new theoretical developments in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following: (a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d) "Crystallized" and "fluid" IQ are quite different aspects of intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels. (e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f) Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there can be very marked effects on academic achievement and life outcomes. (g) In most developed countries studied, gains on IQ tests have continued, and they are beginning in the developing world. (h) Sex differences in aspects of intelligence are due partly to identifiable biological factors and partly to socialization factors. (i) The IQ gap between Blacks and Whites has been reduced by 0.33 SD in recent years. We report theorizing concerning (a) the relationship between working memory and intelligence, (b) the apparent contradiction between strong heritability effects on IQ and strong secular effects on IQ, (c) whether a general intelligence factor could arise from initially largely independent cognitive skills, (d) the relation between self-regulation and cognitive skills, and (e) the effects of stress on intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
... Gottfredson (2005) provides a particularly cogent discussion of the alternative point of viewthat the study of racial/ethnic differences ought not to be held to a higher standard than other studies in the field are. We do hope that those who disagree with our assumption will disagree with it and not with the misreading that we are adopting what Rushton and Jensen (2005b) refer to as a ''moralistic fallacy.'' We are doing no such thing. ...
There are signs that the debate over racial and gender differences in intelligence is about to begin again. In this article we will be concerned primarily with racial differences but will make remarks about gender differences where applicable. Previously there have been bitter arguments over whether or not races exist, over whether it is either important or proper to study racial and gender differences in intelligence, and over the conclusions that have been drawn about environmental and genetic causes as determinants of these differences. We argue that races do, indeed, exist and that studying differences in cognitive competence between groups is a reasonable thing to do. We also point out that past research on both racial and gender differences in intelligence has been marked by methodological errors and overgeneralizations by researchers on all sides of the issue. We propose ten principles of design, analysis, and reporting that ought to be considered carefully when doing or evaluating research in this area.
© 2007 Association for Psychological Science.
... The goal of attribute reduction methods is to reduce the number of attributes in a data set as much as possible, in order to reduce computational complexity while preserving minimal information loss. Attribute reduction is an important pre-processing step in many fields in data mining, because many application problems use data collected from real valued victors [19]. ...
Attribute reduction (AR) represents a NP-hard problem, and it is be identified as the problematic issue of pinpointing the least (possible) subset of characteristics taken from the reference set. The key issue related to characteristics selectors is the production of a minimal number of reductions representing the reliable meaning of all characteristics. Nevertheless, there is no approach that can ensure optimality in the process of solving this issue. However, some methods are more efficient compared to other ones due to some characteristics of the algorithm. The research of this thesis aims at providing efficient ways that help us find the characteristics which are known as the most informative ones and the least possible features with least possible data loss. This has been done through the combination between wrapper approach and genetic programming algorithm, Wrapper Genetic Programming (WGP). Numerical experiment carried out on 10 real word dataset from the University of California Irvine benchmark data sets (UCI) Repository of Machine Learning Databases has been used and presented in order to show that WGP can give competitive solutions in an efficient manner compared to approaches available in the literature on this issue.
... " That conclusion stands today: There has been no new direct evidence on the question. (See Rushton & Jensen, 2005a, 2005b, Gottfredson, 2005, and Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002 the view that the Black–White IQ difference is owing substantially to genetic differences between the races and that indirect evidence having to do with such factors as reaction time and brain size is probative. See Nisbett, 2005 Nisbett, , 2009 the view that the direct evidence indicates that the difference between the races is entirely due to environmental factors and that the indirect evidence has little value.) ...
We review new findings and new theoretical developments in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following: (a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d) "Crystallized" and "fluid" IQ are quite different aspects of intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels. (e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f) Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there can be very marked effects on academic achievement and life outcomes. (g) In most developed countries studied, gains on IQ tests have continued, and they are beginning in the developing world. (h) Sex differences in aspects of intelligence are due partly to identifiable biological factors and partly to socialization factors. (i) The IQ gap between Blacks and Whites has been reduced by 0.33 SD in recent years. We report theorizing concerning (a) the relationship between working memory and intelligence, (b) the apparent contradiction between strong heritability effects on IQ and strong secular effects on IQ, (c) whether a general intelligence factor could arise from initially largely independent cognitive skills, (d) the relation between self-regulation and cognitive skills, and (e) the effects of stress on intelligence.
... Stereotype threat yields effects in the moderate to large range and has been demonstrated in both racial and gender groups, across a variety of domains, and in K-12 and college samples (McKown & Weinstein, 2003;Shih, Pittinsky, & Ambady, 1999;Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling, & Darley, 1999). Although it is unlikely to be the sole explanation for the achievement gap, to dismiss stereotype threat as irrelevant to a discussion of the achievement gap (e.g., Rushton & Jensen, 2005) ignores the evidence of the effect. ...
... The essence of these theories is that lower intelligence test scores of Africans and African Americans compared to people of European or Asian descent have evolutionary causes (Lynn, 2006;Rushton, 2000b;Rushton & Jensen, 2005a). These theories further state that African Americans have a certain degree of genetic European-African admixture, which should raise their intelligence levels as compared to Africans (Lynn, 1991;Rushton & Jensen, 2005b). The implicit assumptions underlying this reasoning (Loehlin, 2000) are: ...
Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.
... Indeed, Nazi Germany's "racial hygiene" was directly influenced by the American conceptualization of natural law (Spiro, 2009). Even within the last decade, white supremacists have attempted to destigmatize racist concepts through the pseudoscience of "race realism" (Rushton & Jensen, 2005). Their claim of "fighting for nothing less than the biological survival of our race" (Johnson, 2011) bears an unsettling resemblance to Grant's and other early environmentalists' belief in Social Darwinism. ...
Conservation interventions such as assisted migration and genetic alterations are controversial in part because, through unintended hybridization events, they may imperil native species. Threats could stem from hybrid offspring having altered fitness or from genetic swamping due to extensive introgression of non‐native genes. Over the last 40 years, papers discussing hybridization increasingly use value‐laden terminology (e.g., “genetic contamination”). Such terms presume that any amount of hybridization equates to harm, but this perspective is at odds with modern evolutionary theory's recognition of hybridization as a creative force that can accelerate evolution or spur adaptive breakthroughs. To assess the evidence undergirding perceptions of hybridization threats, we examined the IUCN's Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). Of 870 invasive species, the GISD identified 35 as potentially threatening endemic taxa via hybridization. For each of these 35 species, we assessed the quality of data that the GISD cited pertaining to hybridization. Direct evidence for hybridization was cited for only 16 species, and there was neither direct nor indirect evidence demonstrating reduced fitness of hybrid offspring for 18 species. In our era of rapid environmental change, it is time to examine hybridization case‐by‐case and not to presume that hybridization always presents a threat to biodiversity, but rather, to consider it as a potential pathway to species survival. Conservation biologists increasingly presume that hybridization is a threat to biodiversity, but evidence to support this view is scant. Our review reveals that direct evidence for hybridization events or fitness impacts was cited for only 46% and 26%, respectively, of the species identified by the IUCN as affecting native species via hybridization. In light of rapid environmental change, it is time to examine hybridization case‐by‐case and consider its potential to enhance species survival.
This paper offers both a criticism of and a novel alternative perspective on current ontologies that take race to be something that is either static and wholly evident at one's birth or preformed prior to it. In it I survey and critically assess six of the most popular conceptions of race, concluding with an outline of my own suggestion for an alternative account. I suggest that race can be best understood in terms of one's experience of his or her body, one's interactions with other individuals, and one's experiences within particular cultures and societies. This embeddedness of human experience has been left out of most discussions of race which tie race to a set of characteristics (either biologically or sociologically defined). To rectify this omission, I articulate what I call the "physiosocial" view of race. This emphasizes the situatedness of human experience, the reciprocal and dynamic nature of the racial identities of individuals and groups. Approaching racial identity in this way entails a union of two historically uncomfortable partners: biological and sociological conceptions of race. If successful, this philosophical stance may illuminate the process of racial self-ascription as well as provide an explanation for the potential changeability of an individual's racial identity at different times and at different places.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23335116
En los recientes planteamientos teóricos en torno a la inteligencia se reflejan los signos de la sustancial evolución que ha seguido este concepto. Inicialmente definida como la capacidad para resolver problemas, la inteligencia ha sido reformulada en función de los problemas de los que se ocupa y de la finalidad con la que lo hace. Sobre una base conceptual escasamente elaborada, en parte heredera de la anterior tradición filosófica y en parte producto del marco metodológico que la Psicología asumía para sus investigaciones,distintos autores propusieron diferentes teorías y definiciones al respecto. En los posteriores desarrollos se fueron introduciendo ciertas novedades, justificadas mediante la apelación a una serie de referentes teóricos previos. Junto a la ineludible referencia a la tradición, factores de otra índole parecen haber condicionado la evolución del concepto de inteligencia. En el curso de esta evolución, resulta particularmente llamativa la transformación de la relación que media entre las nociones de inteligencia y racionalidad,términos estrechamente ligados entre sí por el origen que comparten. Dado que las implicaciones del concepto de racionalidad trascienden ampliamente el ámbito de la Psicología, podemos suponer que a la evolución del constructo psicológico de inteligencia subyacen motivos y circunstancias de mayor alcance. Con objeto de clarificar el estado actual de esta cuestión, planteamos un recorrido por los desarrollos más representativos de cada una de las etapas que conforman la historia de la inteligencia y la racionalidad.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is one of the youngest progeny of Legal Realism, but CRTs methodological approach has often failed to draw heavily from two put forth by the realists - the intersection of law & social science and law & public policy. There is a long intellectual history winding its way from Legal Realism to Law-Science-Policy, to Yale's Divisional Studies Program and Law and Society, to Critical Legal Studies and CRT. CRT could put forth stronger arguments by employing social science research and methodologies. This is nothing new, as Charles Hamilton Houston is the predecessor to Critical Race Realism (CRR). And current movements such as the New Legal Realism Project, Behavioral Realism, and Empirical Legal Scholarship, help situate CRR.
In this volume, renowned developmental psychologists and experts in gifted education come together to explore giftedness from early childhood through the elder years. Focusing on the practical implications of emerging theoretical perspectives and empirical findings, contributors examine prediction and measurement, diversity issues, and psychosocial factors as they relate to developing talent in different domains. Is the expression of gifted behavior predictable? Is it a stable individual characteristic? How do race, ethnicity, gender, and culture influence or contribute to the development of gifted and talented behaviors? What sustains the development of giftedness and talent? And how can insights gleaned from the field of gifted education inform the research, policy, and practice of psychologists? These questions are considered at each stage across the life span by an interdisciplinary team of experts. This volume is intended for developmental and educational psychologists, as well as for researchers, educators, and anyone interested in the development of high-level abilities, individual differences, educational policy and practice, and the realization of human potential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Spearman's hypothesis states that racial differences in IQ between Blacks (B) and Whites (W) are due primarily to differences in the g factor. This hypothesis is often confirmed, but it is less certain whether it generalizes to other races. We therefore tested its cross-racial generality by comparing American subjects of European descent (W) to American Hispanics (H) in two different databases. The first [Centers for Disease Control (1988). Health status of Vietnam veterans. Journal of the American Medical Association 259, 2701–2719; Centers for Disease Control (1989). Health status of Vietnam veterans: Vol IV. Psychological and neuropsychological evaluation. Atlanta, Georgia: Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control] contains 4462 middle-aged Armed Services Veterans males, and the second database (NLSY1979) holds 11,625 young male and female adults. Both samples are fairly representative of the general American population.Race differences in general intelligence g were calculated and vectors of test scores were correlated with the vectors of the tests' g loadings, following Jensen [Jensen, A. R. (1998). The g factor. Westport, CT: Praeger].W scored about 0.8 S.D. above H. The racial difference on the tests correlated significantly with the g-loadings of the tests in the VES database, but less so in the NLSY database.We therefore conclude that the present study supports, but does not unequivocally verify, the cross-racial generality of the Spearman's hypothesis.
This paper describes a study that took place from 2002-2004 in which I critically examined the discourses pertaining to social class in two sources: first, the state-sanctioned social studies curriculum used in British Columbia high schools from the first version published in 1941 to the 1997 version; second, interview transcripts with ten social studies department head teachers in Vancouver British Columbia that focussed specifically on working-class issues in social studies. The ideologies that emanated out of modernity—liberalism, socialism and conservatism—form the basis of the analysis. The evolution of the BC social studies curriculum has undergone an ideological shift in terms of social class represented from conservatism to liberalism. References to social class have almost completely disappeared. The majority of the teacher discourse about class incorporated ideas from both conservatism and liberalism. There were some occasional remarks that demonstrated a radical influence on the thinking and teaching of a few teachers. The most important conclusion is that there is a clear mirroring of the political ideology underlying the formal curriculum with the attitudes of the teachers: issues of social class were almost completely absent from both data sources. Some suggestions for social studies teachers to address this are offered.
A theoretically based, culture-fair test of new learning ability is predictive of academic achievement. A sample of 633 adults, 121 of minority status, drawn from urban private universities, colleges, and community colleges were given information as to the meanings of previously unknown words, sayings, similarities, and analogies. They were also tested for their existing knowledge of vocabulary, opposites, and analogies with a brief version of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). New learning ability proved to be culture-fair, reliable, and predictive of grades and of the brief version of the SAT.
This chapter begins with a personal narrative of becoming slowly conscious of issues of race and discrimination in Canada. The formal curriculum is identified as a hegemonic device in creating myopia around, for example, institutionalized and systemic oppression of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. The various racial discourses used during the nation-building periods of the United States and Canada, the post–World War II period, and today are explained in ways that teachers can use in the classroom. These racial discourses are connected to conservatism, liberalism, and the critical left. The analysis of the formal social studies curriculum is based on Frankenberg's (White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993) taxonomy of racial discourses and Apple's (2004) Ideology
&
Curriculum. These discourses are also apparent in the attitudes of White teachers toward racial minorities. The chapter also discusses the various forms of multiculturalism outlined by Kincheloe and Steinberg (Changing multiculturalism, Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 1997) and links them to political ideology, as well. Readers will understand that the conservative critique of multicultural education emphasizes that it waters down the western canon, while the position of many in the critical left is that liberal pluralist forms of multicultural education do not do enough to combat racism. The chapter demonstrates how the popular color-blind discourse supports the myth of meritocracy. The color-blind and the cultural-deficit discourses have greatly influenced the thinking of many teachers. Readers will develop a comprehension of how racial and cultural power structures are maintained within liberal power-blind conceptions of multicultural education. Exercises will focus on both personal and theoretical reflections on these concepts and research findings.
Around 2018, YouTube became heavily criticized for its radicalizing function by allowing far-right actors to produce hateful videos that were in turn amplified through algorithmic recommendations. Against this ‘algorithmic radicalization’ hypothesis, Munger and Phillips (2019, A supply and demand framework for YouTube politics. Preprint. https://osf.io/73jys/download; Munger and Phillips, 2020, Right-wing YouTube: a supply and demand perspective. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 21(2). doi: 10.1177/1940161220964767.)) argued that far-right radical content on YouTube fed into audience demand, suggesting researchers adopt a ‘supply and demand’ framework. Navigating this debate, our article deploys novel methods for examining radicalization in the language of far-right pundits and their audiences within YouTube’s so-called ‘Alternative Influence Network’ (Lewis, 2018, Alternative Influence. Data & Society Research Institute. https://datasociety.net/library/alternative-influence/ (accessed 9 December 2020).). To that end, we operationalize the concept ‘extreme speech’—developed to account for ‘the inherent ambiguity of speech contexts’ online (Pohjonen and Udupa, 2017, Extreme speech online: an anthropological critique of hate speech debates. International Journal of Communication, 11: 1173–91)—to an analysis of a right-wing ‘Bloodsports’ debate subculture that thrived on the platform at the time. Highlighting the topic of ‘race realism’, we develop a novel mixed-methods approach: repurposing the far-right website Metapedia as a corpus to detect unique terms related to the issue. We use this corpus to analyze the transcripts and comments from an archive of 950 right-wing channels, collected from 2008 until 2018. In line with Munger and Phillips’ framework, our empirical study identifies a market for extreme speech on the platform, which came into public view in 2017.
This article will discuss the intricate ways in which, throughout the history of Race Psychology, the “science of race” depended on and reinforced the “politics of race”. A brief presentation of the main moments in the history of Race Psychology will be followed by a closer look into the mechanisms through which politics underpins the discoveries of a “guilty” science and science, in its turn, has been used to justify the “innocent” politics of racism and discrimination. Finally, a critical outlook on the past and present of Race Psychology is proposed, one that would simultaneously consider the many facets of this discipline: scientific, political, institutional and ideological.
Measurement of General Mental Ability (GMA) using computer mediated simulations (CMS) may provide a new method of assessment. CMS used for assessments of GMA may be strongly affected by a participant's prior experience, and the predictive utility of CMS for assessment of GMA is largely unexplored. In this experiment, an existing computer video game was modified to function as an assessment of Fluid Intelligence (Gf) while controlling for participants' prior experience with CMS. Results indicated a positive relationship between tests of Fluid Intelligence (Gf) and game performance (r = .44 - 46), a weaker relationship between game performance and Crystallized Intelligence (Gc) (r = .27), no significant relationship to g, and no significant moderating effect for participants' prior experience upon any of these relationships. Based on these findings, CMS appear to hold promise as a new assessment tool for factors of GMA.
This chapter positions contemporary “positive psychology as an iteration of scientific Pollyannaism,” tracking the development of this movement, including the financial and political support it was shown for the sake of personal and professional gain. The torture of animals and human beings in pursuit of positive-psychological research is discussed. In addition, the chapter highlights a significant push to re-introduce evolutionary and biologized views of happiness as genetic, as well as links between research in positive psychology and organizations and scientists who uphold racial and other inequalities. Some problematic scientific assumptions of positive psychology are noted, in particular its denials of the significance of socio-political context or oppression.
Many Western societies have equated happiness and goodness while vilifying other human emotional states. These efforts are shown to promote particular social, cultural, religious, and political views. This chapter introduces the notion of scientific Pollyannaism as an ideological strategy, enforced through scientific rationales and empirical methods, which works to promote happiness as both a mark of human superiority over other groups as well as a tool of social control over these groups. Moreover, the refusal to account for social context, especially social oppression and violence, distinguishes scientific Pollyannaism from other efforts to empirically define human emotional life. The original story of orphaned Pollyanna (Porter in Pollyanna. Colonial Press, Boston, MA, 1913) is introduced as a framework for understanding the function of Pollyannaist “glad games” used by scientists and popularized as scientific to the public.
In this article, the concept of moralistic fallacy introduced by B. D. Davis is elaborated on in more detail. Th e main features of this fallacy are discussed, and its general form is presented. Th e moralistic fallacy might have some undesirable outcomes. Some of them might even be in direct confl ict to the original moral position. If this occurs, it is possible to characterize it as a paradox of moralistic fallacy. Th e possibility of this paradox provides a further reason not to prevent any scientifi c inquiries and not to depict any knowledge as dangerous. Paradox moralistického omylu: argument proti nebezpečné znalosti Abstrakt: V článku je rozveden koncept moralistického omylu, který předložil B. D. Davis. Jsou diskutovány základní charakteris-tiky tohoto omylu s cílem představit jeho obecnou formu. Moralistický omyl má přitom nechtěné následky, z nichž některé dokonce mohou být v přímém rozporu s původní morální pozicí, která stojí v začátku tohoto samotného omylu. Pokud takovýto stav nastane, lze ukázat, že mora-listický omyl způsobuje paradox. Možnost takovéhoto paradoxu pak poskytuje důvod k tomu, aby bylo odmítnuto omezování vědeckého zkoumání a aby nebyla žádná zna-lost charakterizována jako nebez-pečná. Klíčová slova: moralistický omyl; reverzní naturalistický omyl; Bernard D. Davis; paradox moralistického omylu; nebezpečná znalost TOMÁŠ ONDRÁČEK
Varied theories have been used to justify as well as critique xenophobia in social sciences. Evolutionary theories, just as during era of social Darwinism and eugenics, have been used to justify anti-immigrant sentiments as based on genetic differences and mythologized historical accounts. In addition, treating immigration as a “real” threat or focusing on immigrants’ “acculturation” to dominant culture have also been central to creation of other theories of xenophobia. In contrast, many theorists have offered critical perspectives in regard to attitudes toward Others, foreigners, strangers, and minorities. Theories of guilt, splitting/projection, Motherland/Fatherland discourse, archetypes/hostile imagination, Other/Othering, social death, self-idealization/psychophobia, and de-colonialism are discussed in relation to xenophobia.
A nuanced understanding of psychological assessment may be an important avenue for reducing observed disparities between ethnic groups. Psychological assessment plays an important role in clinical, educational, and legal settings. Bias inherent in clinical, intellectual, and neuropsychological assessment may contribute to disparate prevalence rates and invalidate the results for diverse populations. Excluding or ignoring diverse psychological experiences can affect the validity of assessment outcomes. Gaining a better understanding of how cultural issues relate to the assessment of mental health, intellectual, and cognitive functioning may increase diagnostic accuracy, as well as help address educational and mental health disparities.
Keywords:
mental health;
assessment;
cultural diversity;
multiculturalism
'Spearman's hypothesis' states that Black-White differences in intelligence are largely a function of the demand of a test on the general factor, Spearman's g. The present study investigates Spearman's hypothesis using the standardization sample of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III, 1991). As additional comparison groups, data from two samples of children with sensory impairments were also analyzed. Findings support Spearman's hypothesis as an account of average Black-White differences in subtest performance. Differences on WISC-III in the disabled samples were not significantly related to Spearman's g despite these groups' experience of deprivation. Thus, the deprivation hypothesis is not affirmed, while Spearman's g gains further credibility as an explanation for observed racial differences on IQ-type tests.
Feminist epistemologies consider ways in which gender (among other social factors) influences knowledge. In this article, I want to consider a particular kind of feminist empiricism that has been called feminist radical empiricism (where the empiricism, not the feminism, is radical). I am particularly interested in this view's treatment of values as empirical, and consequently up for revision on the basis of empirical evidence. Proponents of this view cite the fact that it allows us to talk about certain things such as racial and gender equality as objective facts: not just whether we have achieved said equality in our society, but whether we are, in fact, all equal. I will raise the concern that the way in which they model the role of values in epistemology may be a problematic idealization of the open-mindedness of human agents. In some cases, resistance to value-change cannot be diagnosed as a failure to respond adequately to evidence. If so, the strategy of empirically testing our values that some feminist radical empiricists suggest may not be as useful a tool for social change as they think.
Measurement of General Mental Ability (GMA) using computer mediated simulations (CMS) may provide a new method of assessment. CMS used for assessments of GMA may be strongly affected by a participant s prior experience, and the predictive utility of CMS for assessment of GMA is largely unexplored. In this experiment, an existing computer video game was modified to function as an assessment of Fluid Intelligence (Gf while controlling for participants' prior experience with CMS. Results indicated a positive relationship between tests of Fluid Intelligence (Gf and game performance (r =.44-46), a weaker relationship between game performance and Crystallized Intelligence (Gc) (r =.27), no significant relationship to g, and no significant moderating effect for participants' prior experience upon any of these relationships. Based on these findings, CMS appear to hold promise as a new assessment tool for factors of GMA.
The Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT; Bracken & McCallum, 1998) is standardized, norm referenced measure of intelligence that requires only universal hand gestures from the examiner and examinee. The UNIT was constructed in order to measure the cognitive abilities of children who may be disadvantaged by more traditional intelligence tests, which typically emphasize receptive and expressive language abilities. In the present study, standardization data from the UNIT is examined to identify group differences in performance. Despite its novel nonverbal format and response demands, group differences are identified. Subsequent analysis confirms the substantial influence of Spearman's g in explaining these observed group differences.
Anews story reports that 12.6 percent of the United States population was poor in 2004. No demographic information is provided. Who do you think the poor are? You watch a television program about low-income mothers trying to make ends meet. One of the mothers featured says that employers don't want to hire her because of her Spanish accent. Who is responsible for her situation? While visiting the city, you give a homeless man a dollar. Your friend tells you that handouts only encourage laziness. Do you regret giving him money? When you were growing up you believed that with hard work anyone could move up the socioeconomic ladder. At your child's high school graduation, though, you notice that a lot of the graduates who aren't going on to college are black and from poorer families. Is there a level playing field for everyone? Each of these scenarios raises everyday questions about inequality. Our answers, and the beliefs that inform them, play an important role in justifying or challenging economic disparity. This chapter examines the ideological foundations of inequality in the United States, particularly how beliefs about individualism, meritocracy, and opportunity influence understandings of poverty. It also explores how classism (attitudes and stereotypes that derogate poor and working class people), sexism (attitudes and stereotypes that devalue women), and racism (attitudes and stereotypes that devalue people of color) constrain upward mobility and have a cumulative impact on disadvantage.
In recent years, according to U. S. Census reports, the number of people who classify themselves as “mixed race” is rapidly increasing. As a consequence, scholars have become increasingly interested in the nature of racial identity. Currently, scholars and laypersons tend to view the concept of race from a biological perspective, from a social-constructivist perspective, or from a mixture of the two. In this paper, we address several questions: How do political, religious, and legal experts classify various people (racially)? How do men and women (especially those of mixed ancestry) decide to what race they belong? Does one’s own identity, be it monoracial or multiracial, influence one’s perception of race as socially constructed or biologically determined? In order to understand how the concept of race is viewed in the U. S.—especially as the American landscape becomes increasingly complex—we reviewed 40 studies, conducted from 1986-2006, that explored the nature of racial and ethnic identity. This comprehensive review suggested that: 1. Americans often find it difficult to classify people of mixed ancestry. 2. Men and women (of mixed race) generally possess a complex view of race. They generally agree that race is, at least in part, a social construct. Nonethess, they are well aware that (at least in society’s eyes) ancestry, appearance, “blood,” and genetic make-up also play a part in one’s racial classification. 3. Multiracials appear to be more flexible in “choosing” a racial identity than are their peers. How they choose to present themselves depends on their physical appearance, how accepting their family and friends are of their claims, and how profitable they think it will be to identify with various aspects of their racial heritage.
Considerable evidence has demonstrated that many scientists attempt to avoid disconfirmation of a favored theory. This tendency sometimes characterizes the scholarship of both those who favor the Rorschach (Exner, 2000) method and those who find it seriously flawed. Psychologists who use the Rorschach impressionistically are not deterred by the literature demonstrating that this procedure has thus far shown little established validity. Those who criticize the Rorschach dismiss the objectivity of the American Psychological Association (APA) Blue Ribbon Panel, which concluded that the test has proven validity, and by implication, they also dismiss the APA peer review process that approved the panel report. In addition, they ignore over 400 published studies showing the Rorschach has acceptable validity when responses are scored objectively.
This commentary highlights previous literature (see record
2005-03637-001) focusing on cultural and environmental explanations for the racial/ethnic group hierarchy of intelligence. Assumptions underlying definitions of intelligence, heritability/genetics, culture, and race are noted. Historical, contextual, and testing issues are clarified. Specific attention is given to studies supporting stereotype threat, effects of mediated learning experiences, and relative functionalism. Current test development practices are critiqued with respect to methods of validation and item development. Implications of the genetic vs. culture-only arguments are discussed with respect to the malleability of IQ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Markers informative for ancestry are necessary for admixture mapping and improving case-control association analyses. In particular, African Americans are an admixed population for which genetic studies require accurately evaluating admixture. This will require markers that can be used in African Americans to determine if a given genomic region is of European or African ancestry. This report shows that, despite studies indicating high intra-African sequence variation, markers with large inter-ethnic differences have only small variations in allele distribution among divergent African populations and should be valuable for evaluating admixture in complex disease genetic studies.
The conventional wisdom in contemporary social science claims that human races are not biologically valid categories. Many argue the very words '?race? and ?racial differences? should be abolished because they support racism. In Race, Vincent Sarich and Frank Miele challenge both these tenets. First, they cite the historical record, the art and literature of other civilizations and cultures, morphological studies, cognitive psychology, and the latest research in medical genetics, forensics, and the human genome to demonstrate that racial differences are not trivial, but very real. They conclude with the paradox that, while, scientific honesty requires forthright recognition of racial differences, public policy should not recognize racial-group membership. The evidence and issues raised in this book will be of critical interest to students of race in behavioral and political science, medicine, and law.
What do conventional intellectual-ability tests tell us about the abilities of Black Africans living in non-Westernized environmental contexts? We examined an aspect of this question in a study employing dynamic testing, conducted in rural villages near Bagamoyo, Tanzania. A total of 358 experimental-group children in 10 schools, ranging in grade levels from 2 to 5, participated in the study. An additional 100 students of the same ages served as control participants. All experimental-group participants received three dynamic tests (administered in Kiswahili) of largely fluid intellectual abilities: Syllogisms, Sorting, and Twenty Questions. Each test given to the experimental group comprised administration of a separately scored (a) pretest, (b) intervention teaching cognitive skills and strategies contributing to success on that kind of test, and (c) posttest. Control participants received only the pretest and posttest. In addition, scores were available for the experimental-group children on reference tests of intellectual abilities and school achievement. We found that scores of children in the experimental group increased significantly from pretest to posttest relative to scores of children in the control group. Pretest scores of experimental-group children were relatively weak predictors of posttest scores, whereas pretest scores of control-group children were significantly stronger predictors of posttest scores. Posttest scores on the dynamic tests generally were better predictors than were pretest scores of the reference ability and achievement measures.
J. P. Rushton and A. R. Jensen (see record
2005-03637-001) review 10 bodies of evidence to support their argument that the long-standing, worldwide Black-White average differences in cognitive ability are more plausibly explained by their hereditarian (50% genetic causation) theory than by culture-only (0% genetic causation) theory. This commentary evaluates the relevance of their evidence, the overall strength of their case, the implications they draw for public policy, and the suggestion by some scholars that the nation is best served by telling benevolent lies about race and intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The culture-only (0% genetic-100% environmental) and the hereditarian (50% genetic-50% environmental) models of the causes of mean Black-White differences in cognitive ability are compared and contrasted across 10 categories of evidence: the worldwide distribution of test scores, g factor of mental ability, heritability, brain size and cognitive ability, transracial adoption, racial admixture, regression, related life-history traits, human origins research, and hypothesized environmental variables. The new evidence reviewed here points to some genetic component in Black-White differences in mean IQ. The implication for public policy is that the discrimination model (i.e., Black-White differences in socially valued outcomes will be equal barring discrimination) must be tempered by a distributional model (i.e., Black-White outcomes reflect underlying group characteristics). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
J. P. Rushton and A. R. Jensen (see record
2005-03637-001) purport to show public-policy implications arising from their analysis of alleged genetic bases for group mean differences in IQ. This article argues that none of these implications in fact follow from any of the data they present. The risk in work such as this is that public-policy implications may come to be ideologically driven rather than data driven, and to drive the research rather than be driven by the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
J. P. Rushton and A. R. Jensen (see record
2005-03637-001) ignore or misinterpret most of the evidence of greatest relevance to the question of heritability of the Black-White IQ gap. A dispassionate reading of the evidence on the association of IQ with degree of European ancestry for members of Black populations, convergence of Black and White IQ in recent years, alterability of Black IQ by intervention programs, and adoption studies lend no support to a hereditarian interpretation of the Black-White IQ gap. On the contrary, the evidence most relevant to the question indicates that the genetic contribution to the Black-White IQ gap is nil. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In the present research two studies are used to investigate the relation between g loading of tests and practice (test-retest) and coaching (active teaching) effects. The data on practice do not support the hypothesis that the higher a test’s g loading, the less susceptible it is to preparation, but the data on coaching support the hypothesis. There is evidence that practice and coaching reduce the g-loadedness of a collection of tests. The implications of these results for predictive validity, practical usability of the tests, the relevance of traditional intelligence taxonomies, and for future research are discussed.
We worked in a rural village in Western Kenya to test the notion that academic and practical intelligence are separable and relatively distinct constructs. Eighty-five children (43 boys and 42 girls) between the ages of 12 and 15 years participated in the study. The main dependent variable of interest was their set of scores on a test of their tacit knowledge for natural herbal medicines used to fight illnesses. This kind of knowledge is viewed by the villagers as important in adaptation to their environment, which is understandable given that the overwhelming majority of the children have, at a given time, parasitic infections that can interfere with their daily functioning. We found that scores on the test of tacit knowledge correlated trivially or significantly negatively with measures of academic intelligence and achievement, even after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). We suggest that, among these villagers, time spent developing academic skills may be perceived as taking away from time that needs to be spent developing practical skills and vice versa. The result is that academic and practical intelligence can develop independently or even at odds with one another.
Rushton and Skuy [Intelligence 28 (2000) 1.] found that White university psychology students in South Africa averaged between one and two standard deviations higher than African students on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. This new study was carried out to determine whether Feuerstein's Mediated Learning Experience would improve the scores of the African students. The sample comprised 70 African and 28 non-African first year psychology students. Subjects were given the Raven's on two occasions and, in-between, randomly constituted experimental groups were exposed to mediated learning experience. Both the African and non-African groups improved over the baseline on the Raven's compared to the control groups, with significantly greater improvement for the African group.
Professor Thoday reviews a recent book by Arthur R. Jensen.
Cognitively loaded tests of knowledge, skill, and ability often contribute to decisions regarding education, jobs, licensure, or certification. Users of such tests often face difficult choices when trying to optimize both the performance and ethnic diversity of chosen individuals. The authors describe the nature of this quandary, review research on different strategies to address it, and recommend using selection materials that assess the full range of relevant attributes using a format that minimizes verbal content as much as is consistent with the outcome one is trying to achieve. They also recommend the use of test preparation, face-valid assessments, and the consideration of relevant job or life experiences. Regardless of the strategy adopted, it is unreasonable to expect that one can maximize both the performance and ethnic diversity of selected individuals.
Bernard B. Davis of the Bacterial Physiology Unit, Harvard Medical School, discusses whether or not scientific inquiry should be blocked on moral grounds
IQ and the wealth of nations IQ and human intelligence
- R Lynn
- T Vanhanen
Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2002). IQ and the wealth of nations. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Mackintosh, N. (1998). IQ and human intelligence. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press.
Individual differences and population differences in Spearman's g. Acceptance speech at Kistler Prize Ceremony, Foundation for the Future
- A R Jensen
Jensen, A. R. (2003, August 23). Individual differences and population differences in
Spearman's g. Acceptance speech at Kistler Prize Ceremony, Foundation for the
Future, Seattle, WA.
Race, evolution, and behavior: A life history perspective
- J P Rushton
Rushton, J. P. (2000). Race, evolution, and behavior: A life history perspective (3rd ed.).
Port Huron, MI: Charles Darwin Research Institute.