Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

modsarebrainstems t1_iu7hul2 wrote

Reply to comment by personAAA in Controversial race researcher gets prestigious Cambridge University fellowship by hieronymusanonymous

And yet he didn't actually say anything objectionable in that passage at least. More like his critics proved themselves to be exactly what he claimed they were all along.

24

OtisTetraxReigns t1_iu7tn7h wrote

There are some serious flaws with his whole hypothesis if it’s based on using IQ as a measure of “intelligence”. That test has been shown repeatedly to be heavily culturally biased. If you’ve never encountered one before, you’re likely to score worse than someone who has. All it really tests is your ability to take IQ tests.

14

Payed_Looser t1_iu9d953 wrote

Depends on the age group and such. IQ tests are designed to check for mental shortcomings not celebrate the difference between 130 and 140

It is very useful to figure out who needs to be processed for a SPED ruling

1

OtisTetraxReigns t1_iu9ewfm wrote

Tell that to the people determined to use it to “prove” that Africans and their descendants are naturally mentally inferior.

0

Hydra_70 t1_iubql8b wrote

>All it really tests is your ability to take IQ tests.

That's oversimplifying it. It clearly measures something. Childhood IQ tests correlate too strongly to all sorts of life outcomes to be as meaningless as just measuring your ability to take an IQ test.

1

OtisTetraxReigns t1_iubwe5r wrote

Oh sure. I was being a little deliberately obtuse. They can be used to demonstrate that a person has certain cognitive abilities that we in the West have deemed are indicators of intelligence - logic puzzles, pattern recognition, mathematics, grammar and syntax tests. But not every culture values these things the same. And someone who doesn’t score highly on such a test doesn’t necessarily lack intelligence. Anyone can improve their IQ score simply by taking repeated tests and learning how they work.

If you’re from a culture where such tests are fairly common, you’ve got more chance of getting a high score. Even within one geographical area, chances are, if you go to a decent school, you’ll be better prepared than someone who doesn’t.

1

Sevinceur-Invocateur t1_iu8sye4 wrote

I don’t think any culture is better at taking those tests than others.

−4

OtisTetraxReigns t1_iu9ef3e wrote

Cool.

That aligns you with a small handful of right-wing “thinkers” who are desperate to prove that black people are just naturally inferior to everyone else. This opinion is based on one paper, published in 1980, that reads like it was written by a KKK member cosplaying as an academic, but gets trotted out as a counter-argument by the types of websites that rant about “the left” “dismissing college”.

2

Sevinceur-Invocateur t1_iu9mqq2 wrote

All I meant is that people, regardless of background, do not usually take those tests. Thus nobody can be prepared for it.

−2