From: Arthur Jenson and Philippe Rushton. 2005. Thirty Years of Research on Race Differences in Cognitive Ability, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Vol. 11, No. 2, 2.
The Bell Curve (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994) presented general readers an update of the evidence for the hereditarian position along with several policy recommendations and an original analysis of 11,878 youths (including 3,022 Blacks) from the 12-year National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. It found that most 17-year-olds with high scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, regardless of ethnic background, went on to occupational success by their late 20’s and early 30’s, whereas those with low scores were more inclined to welfare dependency. The study also found that the average IQ for African Americans was
lower than those for Latino, White, Asian, and Jewish Americans – 85, 89, 103, 106, and 113, respectively (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994, pp. 273–27.)Currently, the 1.1 standard deviation difference in average IQ between Blacks and Whites in the United States is not in itself a matter of empirical dispute. A meta-analytic review by Roth, Bevier, Bobko, Switzer, and Tyler (2001) showed it also holds for college and university application tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT; N = 2.4 million) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE; N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests for job applicants in corporate settings (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million). Because test scores are the best predictor of economic success in Western society (Schmidt & Hunter, 199), these group differences have important societal outcomes (R. A. Gordon, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997).
At this point, the matter is pretty much settled. These are simply the facts. As the article states, it is no longer a matter of empirical debate that Blacks and Whites differ on these test scores or in fact that these differences represent a measure of intelligence.
As an Alt Left person though, these facts are very depressing to me, but I recognize them as true. I suppose an argument for the Alt Left is that given these facts, to paraphrase a great revolutionary, “What is to be done?”
References
- Gordon, R. A. (1997). Everyday life as an intelligence test: Effects of intelligence and intelligence context. Intelligence, 24, 203–320.
Herrnstein, R. J., & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve. New York: Free Press.
Roth, P. L., Bevier, C. A., Bobko, P., Switzer, F. S., III, & Tyler, P. (2001). Ethnic group differences in cognitive ability in employment and educational settings: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 54, 297–330.
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262–274.
