cosmo kramer
Banned
No. It is done all the time. What those intellectual differences mean, however, is another matter altogether.Wouldn't testing whether a race is indeed more intelligent than another be almost impossible?
I think I get that you're asking "Wouldn't finding out whether one population is more intelligent than other due to genotypes be almost impossible?" There are several methods that provide differing degrees of inferential certanity to finding out whether variation between two populations is mediated by genotypes or enviromental variance. One, as you said, is to control for enviroments** to see whether a gap between populations still persists despite a matched equality on broad socioeconomic indicators percieved to be pertinent to the development of intelligence. For instance, when U.S census defined populations are matched for socioeconomic status and compared via the SAT test, an equality in test score is not reached in the slightest.Your results would be "tainted" if you like by differences in upbringing and the way a familiy's cultural values and ideals are imposed onto a child both consciously and subconsciously.
This is likewise true for proper IQ tests, such as the WAIS.
Of course, persistent inequality in spite of matching on socioeconomic indicators is hardly enough to establish dispositive proof of a genotypic difference. They certainly point, and strongly, in my opinion, in that direction, but theoretically the control of broad socioeconomic indicators can not control for all environmental influences that (putatively) influence IQ. Other lines of evidence can also point in the direction of a basic genetic disparity, and the data, compared vis-a-vis the data that supports the position that there is an intellectual equality between the races, can be evaluated to determine whether it more parsimoniously explains all of the available information and thus is most plausible and likely to be so over its alternative. Truly dispositive evidence employing means via what is available is currently possible, but would be incredibly unethical to attain. For example, one could conduct an experiment where one would take random samples of theWhite and Negro populations and then force them to have sexual intercourse, randomly. Then the children cross-fostered at random in Negro and White homes. You could then put the results into an analysis of variance, those data could then be analysed and then it would be possible to determine the extent to which the difference between the populations would be attributable to genotypic and environmental influences..
Wouldn't this answer your question? If two children raised in separate homes and locales that have been specifically engineered in such a way to be identical down to the most minute detail environmentally were not intellectually equal, wouldn't it be plausible to suggest that the difference between the two is mediated by a genotypic difference?I mean, even in the article, you have two children brought up pretty much the same way, but one of them was more talented than the other in playing the piano piece.
I don't think this is really plusible. It isn't as if Whites are NAMs in comparison to Orientals; Orientals don't do that much better than Whites. They are extremely overrepresented in Australian universities to be true, but this is partially due to the fact that they are imported on the basis of their skills. The Orientals in Australia are probably not representative of Orientals as a whole...Under chinese parenting, if a child does excel academically, his/her talent is nurtured whereas under the Western style of parenting, it may go unnoticed?
**controlling for environments is not necessarily the best idea, as to a considerable degree it is likely that environments are themselves the products of the genotypic predilections of parents. If an intellectual gap between two populations is diminished or eliminated via the control of socioeconomic status of the parents for instance, one cannot attribute this as unequivocal proof that the gap between the two populations was environmental in origin because when one controls for environments they are also controlling for genotypes. Adoption studies instead may prove more useful, as long as the correct methodologies are implemented.
Last edited: