Holy non-PC, Batman!
Has anybody looked at the following article? I ran across it following a pointer from Arts & Letters Daily:
Rushton, J. P., & Jensen, A. R. (2005). Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 11, 235-294. (commentaries on this page)
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.
I found it disturbingly convincing. Somebody please tell me they know of a culture-only model consistent with the evidence mentioned in this article.
Afterwards, I ran across the following suggestive science news article:
Genes tied to recent brain evolution
Two genes already known to influence brain size have undergone relatively recent, survival-enhancing modifications in people and appear to still be evolving, a research team reports.
Specific variants of these genes have spread quickly by natural selection, say Bruce T. Lahn of the University of Chicago and his colleagues, who publish separate reports on each gene in the September 9 science.
The researchers examined DNA from 1186 adults representing 59 populations worldwide and determined the frequency of specific variants of the two genes called microcephalin and ASPM.
A variant of microcephalin originated roughly 37,000 years ago now appears in seven of 10 people, the scientists conclude from comparisons of the gene's sequence for the different groups. Populations outside of sub-Sahara Africa most frequently possess this modified gene.
A distinctive ASPM variant arose approximately 5800 years ago and now shows up in three of 10 people. It occurs most often in Europeans, north Africans, middle Easterners, and South Asians.
The functions of these particular DNA alterations, including any potential influence on intelligence or reasoning, remain unknown.
Rushton, J. P., & Jensen, A. R. (2005). Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 11, 235-294. (commentaries on this page)
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.
I found it disturbingly convincing. Somebody please tell me they know of a culture-only model consistent with the evidence mentioned in this article.
Afterwards, I ran across the following suggestive science news article:
Genes tied to recent brain evolution
Two genes already known to influence brain size have undergone relatively recent, survival-enhancing modifications in people and appear to still be evolving, a research team reports.
Specific variants of these genes have spread quickly by natural selection, say Bruce T. Lahn of the University of Chicago and his colleagues, who publish separate reports on each gene in the September 9 science.
The researchers examined DNA from 1186 adults representing 59 populations worldwide and determined the frequency of specific variants of the two genes called microcephalin and ASPM.
A variant of microcephalin originated roughly 37,000 years ago now appears in seven of 10 people, the scientists conclude from comparisons of the gene's sequence for the different groups. Populations outside of sub-Sahara Africa most frequently possess this modified gene.
A distinctive ASPM variant arose approximately 5800 years ago and now shows up in three of 10 people. It occurs most often in Europeans, north Africans, middle Easterners, and South Asians.
The functions of these particular DNA alterations, including any potential influence on intelligence or reasoning, remain unknown.