Is there a racial difference in Intelligence? Is There a Racial Difference in Intelligence? Starting with birth, most Americans are consistently measured and their abilities consistently assessed. While no clear definition of intelligence has been adopted universally, in general, definitions stress either an ability to adapt to environment, the capacity to learn, or the ability to think abstractly. Like the word “love,” intelligence remains a term we all have a feel for but cannot quite pin down.Today, this undefined ability has become one of the most controversial topics in psychology. Psychological researchers have resisted racism by denying the existence of innate differences between races, such as intelligence. Many argue that this debate has dire consequences for both the scientific and psychological fields and needs to be based on objective empirical evidence versus political agendas. “Blacks are born stupid, even dumber than Poles,”…”Jews are smart,”…”Country hicks are easily taken by citycommon,” “Women can’t handle mathematics well enough to be good scientists.” Sound familiar? They should. Society has shot through with tons of prejudices about the comparative intellectual capacities of different groups. And "science“ has tried hard to confirm or disprove many of these folk conclusions. Why should group comparisons be made at all? What differences have been observed? Are the IQ differences observed bestinterpreted as being caused by genetic or environmental differences among groups? A strong promoter of the belief that there is undoubtedly a racial difference in intelligence is Phillippe Rushton. As a professor of psychology, he argues that there is irrefutable scientific evidence of differences in intelligence between races. He feels that these differences are genetically based, arguing that blacks consistently score lower on IQ tests (t...
