Racial Difference In Intelligence Essays - Intelligence,

Racial Difference In Intelligence Is there a racial difference in Intelligence? Is There a Racial Difference in Intelligence? Starting with birth, most Americans are consistently measured and their abilities consistently assessed. While no clear definition of intelligence has been adopted universally, in general, definitions stress either an ability to adapt to environment, the capacity to learn, or the ability to think abstractly. Like the word love, intelligence remains a term we all have a feel for but cannot quite pin down. Today, this undefined ability has become one of the most controversial topics in psychology. Psychological researchers have resisted racism by denying the existence of innate differences between races, such as intelligence. Many argue that this debate has dire consequences for both the scientific and psychological fields and needs to be based on objective empirical evidence versus political agendas. Blacks are born stupid, even dumber than Poles,Jews are smart,Country hicks are easily taken by city common, Women cant handle mathematics well enough to be good scientists. Sound familiar? They should. Society has shot through with tons of prejudices about the comparative intellectual capacities of different groups. And science has tried hard to confirm or disprove many of these folk conclusions. Why should group comparisons be made at all? What differences have been observed? Are the IQ differences observed best interpreted as being caused by genetic or environmental differences among groups? A strong promoter of the belief that there is undoubtedly a racial difference in intelligence is Phillippe Rushton. As a professor of psychology, he argues that there is irrefutable scientific evidence of differences in intelligence between races. He feels that these differences are genetically based, arguing that blacks consistently score lower on IQ tests (the mainstream basis for intelligence testing) than whites. Many surveys of experts who administer IQ tests, as well as behavioral geneticists, agree with Rushton that the IQ-Intelligence barrier is genetically based. To further reinforce his genetic basis theory, Rushton has proven that on average, blacks have smaller skulls than their white counterparts. Since brain size can, and has been, correlated with intelligence, Rushton feels that this proves blacks are genetically predetermined to have lower intelligence levels. This positive correlation between mental ability and brain size has been established in studies over the years using even the most high-tech instrumentation, such as magnetic resonance imaging. Along with longitudinal studies following kids of different races, time and time again scientists and psychologists, such as Rushton, have been able to reinforce the idea of a brain size-IQ link. As I stated before, it has been recorded over time that Caucasians seem to consistently rank above their African-American counterparts in IQ test scores. Many contenders of Rushtons ideas argue that these scores are merely the product of culturally biased testing materials. Rushton himself highly contends this, stating that the tests seem to show similar patterns of internal item consistency and predictive validity for all groups, and the same differences are found on relatively culture-free tests. On the other hand of this debate, there are many supporters who firmly disagree with Professor Rushton. One such man, Zack Z. Cernovsky, a teacher and psychologist, argues that Rushtons data is based not on contemporary scientific research, but on racial prejudice. He asserts that the genetic basis model for intelligence ignores the plasticity of human beings which in itself is highly supported by empirical data. Cernovsky also contends that Rushton uses nonscientific and methodologically inadequate sources to support his claims about racial differences and lacks quality in his empirical evidence. He blatantly compares Rushtons evidence and theories to those of the Nazis in GermanyThe history of science teaches us that many ambitious racists attempted to manufacture scientific evidence for their beliefs. Sooner or later, their charlatan style methodology (e.g. the use of skull circumference measurement by Nazi scientists during WWII) and logical inconsistencies resulted in their rejection by the scientific community (Slife, 184). Cernovsky considers the research that links brain size and intelligence to be faulty. He contends that although Rushton implied that Blacks are consistently found to have smaller brains than Whites, some studies have actually shown opposite results. Rushtons opponents have found that Blacks seems to be superior to Whites in brain weight, have excess number of neurons compared to Caucasoids