This Gladwell article is almost too stupid to acknowledge, much less argue with. The challenge he places before himself is this: whether it is possible so to interpret the scientific evidence as to demonstrate that there is no genetic basis for interracial IQ differences. And, wonder of wonders, he discovers that it is possible! There are a couple of minor caveats involved, of course. First, we must relegate logic to the dustheap of political incorrectness. Then, we must be extremely selective in deciding what evidence to adduce. By this procedure it is shown that Good-Thinking=Truth.
His thesis seems to be that the Flynn effect (the observation that IQ scores in advanced nations have been rising about 2 points per decade for a century) undermines the idea that intelligence is genetically determined. This is what we call a straw man argument, since no consequential scientist in the last two generations has claimed IQ is purely heritable. The current consensus is that adult IQ is 70-80% heritable--the rest is hammered out by various "nurture" factors. So Gladwell can be congratulated for beating this non-existent foe.
But, then he segues into his real interest, racial differences. My deduction from much evidence reviewed over the years is that the 17 point white-black American IQ gap is partly genetic, partly environmental--my educated guess is 10 points genetic, 7 points environmental--though we would have a clearer idea of this if the whole field of intelligence research weren't considered morally dubious at best. Gladwell mentions two forms of evidence that these differences are environmentally determined. The studies on which he bases the first are not noted and I do not know what they are. I seriously doubt, though, that they were valid for Gladwell’s purposes here. The second form of evidence is the 1961 Eyferth study—read about it on Wikipedia. The bottom line is that these “black” GIs were not altogether black and, moreover, were smarter than average black Americans, whereas the control group of white GIs were not smarter than average white Americans. Also, the children were tested at age 10 on average, at which stage, per Gladwell, there is typically an 8 point white-black IQ gap. By adulthood, the gap, per Gladwell, is 16.6 points. Given that these children are at most half black, one would expect only a 4 point gap at that age. I would guess they are genetically only 30% black (American blacks are 20% white on average and north africans are not black), which would produce a 2.4 point gap. When you have such a long list of qualifications (and I could continue ad nauseam as this is an abysmal study) this is the result: it's not a valid study to prove interracial IQ equality, IQ inequality, or anything else.
I think my indictment on grounds of lack of logic and lack of evidence should produce an easy conviction of this Gladwell on the charge of rank mendacity. And, yet, he's a celebrated author among our "educated" classes. Why? He's part black and all politically correct.But, then he segues into his real interest, racial differences. My deduction from much evidence reviewed over the years is that the 17 point white-black American IQ gap is partly genetic, partly environmental--my educated guess is 10 points genetic, 7 points environmental--though we would have a clearer idea of this if the whole field of intelligence research weren't considered morally dubious at best. Gladwell mentions two forms of evidence that these differences are environmentally determined. The studies on which he bases the first are not noted and I do not know what they are. I seriously doubt, though, that they were valid for Gladwell’s purposes here. The second form of evidence is the 1961 Eyferth study—read about it on Wikipedia. The bottom line is that these “black” GIs were not altogether black and, moreover, were smarter than average black Americans, whereas the control group of white GIs were not smarter than average white Americans. Also, the children were tested at age 10 on average, at which stage, per Gladwell, there is typically an 8 point white-black IQ gap. By adulthood, the gap, per Gladwell, is 16.6 points. Given that these children are at most half black, one would expect only a 4 point gap at that age. I would guess they are genetically only 30% black (American blacks are 20% white on average and north africans are not black), which would produce a 2.4 point gap. When you have such a long list of qualifications (and I could continue ad nauseam as this is an abysmal study) this is the result: it's not a valid study to prove interracial IQ equality, IQ inequality, or anything else.
I have never seen or heard of a study that demonstrates that equal environments for blacks and whites produce equal IQs. This would, of course, be the holy grail of the elite establishment as it would justify to the end of time government intervention to impose equality of results among all the peoples of the world.
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