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Aneirin -> The intelligence Quotient and it's uses ? (6/2/2010 6:50:56 AM)
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The intelligence Quotient, the I.Q. since it's introduction in 1909 as a standard method of measuring intelligence has been used and abused by so many to further their agendas, but aside from it's use in the pseudo science of eugenics which caused so much damge to society, it appears the IQ of a person might reveal some interesting facts.
Whilst reading a post on another website. I came across a posting where the person said that they believed it is no coincidence that the higher the education level of a country, the less importance religion carries, this made me wonder if this was true, could a better world be gained simply by investing more in the education of all, not just the privileged few.
Could famine be sorted out, could poverty be sorted out, could war be sorted out and with that, could war based on religious ideals be sorted out? Could we infact have a more productive and settled world, you know, the utopian dream where people see the futility of war and resign it to the history books and we all sort of live happily ever after, to a fashion.
For example ;
On religion ;
In 2008, intelligence researcher Helmuth Nyborg examined whether IQ relates to denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which includes intelligence tests on a representative selection of American youth, where they have also replied to questions about religious belief. His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence demonstrated that on average, Atheists scored 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. [4] "I'm not saying that believing in God makes you dumber. My hypothesis is that people with a low intelligence are more easily drawn toward religions, which give answers that are certain, while people with a high intelligence are more skeptical," says the professor
On Fertility ;
Among a sample of women using a reliable form of birth control, success rates were related to IQ, with the percentages of high, medium and low IQ women having unwanted births during a three-year interval being 3%, 8% and 11%, respectively. [15] Since the effectiveness of birth control is directly correlated with proper usage, an alternate interpretation of the data would indicate lower IQ women were more prone to misuse of birth control. Another study found that after an unwanted pregnancy has occurred, higher IQ couples are more likely to obtain abortions [16]; and unmarried teenage girls who become pregnant are found to be more likely to carry their babies to term if they are doing poorly in school.[17]
On Aggression ;http://www.crimetimes.org/95c/w95cp10.htm
Also;
A final causal explanation links IQ to crime through school performance. Less intelligent students do less well in school, which results in academic frustration. This frustration, in turn, weakens their attachment and commitment to schooling, and a weakened bond to school, as per social control theory, allows for more criminal behavior (Hirschi and Hindelang). This school-performance hypothesis has received strong support from empirical studies, and it is probably the most widely accepted explanation of the IQ-crime correlation (Moffitt). One last approach to IQ and crime deserves mention even though few criminological studies have examined it. Rather than low IQ increasing criminal behavior, criminal behavior might decrease IQ. Many facets of a criminal lifestyle can impair cognitive abilities, including physical injuries, especially head traumas, drug use, and withdrawing from school (Moffitt).
So, if IQ testing is a method of perhaps explaining some of the human ills in our world, can IQ be increased ?
Maybe ;
Dickens and Flynn[56] postulate that the arguments regarding the disappearance of the shared family environment should apply equally well to groups separated in time. This is contradicted by the Flynn effect. Changes here have happened too quickly to be explained by genetic heritable adaptation. This paradox can be explained by observing that the measure "heritability" includes both a direct effect of the genotype on IQ and also indirect effects where the genotype changes the environment, in turn affecting IQ. That is, those with a higher IQ tend to seek out stimulating environments that further increase IQ. The direct effect can initially have been very small but feedback loops can create large differences in IQ. In their model an environmental stimulus can have a very large effect on IQ, even in adults, but this effect also decays over time unless the stimulus continues (the model could be adapted to include possible factors, like nutrition in early childhood, that may cause permanent effects). The Flynn effect can be explained by a generally more stimulating environment for all people. The authors suggest that programs aiming to increase IQ would be most likely to produce long-term IQ gains if they taught children how to replicate outside the program the kinds of cognitively demanding experiences that produce IQ gains while they are in the program and motivate them to persist in that replication long after they have left the program.[56][57]
But what would it take to enable the rise of IQ in the world ?
Is it feasible ?
Or do we just keep chasing our tail until someone or something encourages our extinction ?
( Disclaimer : This post is not designed to create yet more differences where they might not exist, nor is it posted for the purpose of flaming anyone, but it is posted for the sole purpose of inviting thoughtful and positive discussion on something that affects us all )
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