Richard Lynn: Race differences in intelligence: A global
perspective
"The world literature on racial
differences in intelligence is
reviewed from three points of view. Firstly, studies using
intelligence tests indicate that Caucasoids in North America,
Europe and Australasia generally obtain mean IQs of around
100. Mongoloids typically obtain slightly higher means in the
range of 100-106. African Negroids obtain mean IQs of around
70, while
Negroid-Caucasoids in the United States and Britain
obtain means of about 85. Amerindians and the South East
Asian races typically obtain means in the range of 85-95.
A
second source of evidence comes from studies of reaction
times which provide measures of the neurological efficiency
of the brain. These studies show that Mongoloids have the
fastest reaction times followed by Caucasoids and then by
Negroids. Thirdly, the races can be assessed for their
contributions to civilization. Here the Caucasoids and the
Mongoloids have made the most significant advances both
in the foundation of the early civilizations and in more recent
developments.
The mean IQs of Negroids have invariably been
found to be
substantially lower than those of Caucasoids. Many studies
have been done in the United States and by the mid-1960's
Shuey (1966) was able to present a summary of 362 investigations.
The overall mean IQ of American Negroids was approximately
85. Subsequent studies in the United States such as those of
Coleman (1966), Broman, Nichols and Kennedy (1975) and
others have confirmed that this is about the right
figure.
Negroid-Caucasoid Hybrids
As noted, virtually
all American Negroids are hybrids with some
Caucasoid ancestry. The same is probably the case with West Indian
and British Negroids. Although this has never been documented,
West Indian Negroids lived as slaves on white owned plantations
from the 17th to the 19th century in similar conditions to those
of Negroids in the United States. There was undoubtedly a certain
amount of interbreeding between white estate owners and Negroid
slaves, which gave rise to a number of Negroid-Caucasoid hybrids
whose
existence as a considerable class was noted by Anthony
Human
Populations
"Negroids evolved in the warmest climate
(tropical Africa),
Mongoloids in the coldest (the North
China-Siberia area), and
Caucasoids in intermediate climates
(Europe and the Middle
East)...
Negroids are
reported (by Rushton) to be the most aggressive
and Mongoloids least aggressive
(Caucasoids intermediate)...
Very similar comments can be made
regarding dominance,
where Negroids are reported to be the strongest seekers
of
dominance and Mongoloids least (Caucasoids
intermediate)...
Mongoloids are reported to be the most anxious,
and Negroids
least (with Caucasoids in between).
This is closely related to
dominance seeking and aggression, in
that high anxiety deters
dominance seeking and aggression. The
more prone an individual
is to anxiety, the less likely he is to
seek additional matings
beyond his first wife...
Closely related to
impulsivity is the ability to delay gratification.
Mischel (1958, 1961c,
1971, p. 127) found a racial difference
in preference for delayed
gratification. Trinidad Indians (i.e.
India origin) children would wait longer for a reward
than Negro
children, although he interpreted this as reflecting the
greater
absence of fathers among the Negro children. As is common
in Negroid populations (see below), many of the Negroes
lacked a father in the home, while few Indians lacked a father
in the home...
Criminal
activity is closely related to behavior restraint, for
which the evidence is that Negroids are highest,
Mongoloids
lowest, and Caucasoids in between (for documentation see
Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985; Ellis, 1988, p. 532; Jaynes &
Williams, 1989, chap. 9; Rushton, 1990a). Paternal investment
theory would explain high crime rates as resulting from high
aggressivity and low empathy, altruism,
and rule following
behavior, traits that contributed to
tropical reproductive
success...
The form of
behavioral restraint most sensitive to natural
selection is sexual restraint. With regard to a wide range
of
sex related variables, including
marital instability, Rushton
(1988) and Rushton & Bogaert
(1987) show that Mongoloids
are the most sexually restrained, and
Negroids least, with
Caucasoids
intermediate...
Rushton and Bogaert (1987) document differences in
sexual
behavior. Besides a literature review,
they reanalyzed the Kinsey
data on sexual behavior in American
whites and blacks. This
showed greater sexual activity in blacks than in whites. For
instance, the black frequency for
coitus in their first marriage
was 3.83 times per week for those aged
21-25 versus 3.11 for
similar whites...
One
consequence of higher levels of puberty causing hormones
could be greater development of the sex organs. Rushton
and
Bogaert (1987) use the Kinsey data to document longer
penises
and greater circumference of penises in blacks than in whites.
From other sources they find Mongoloids
to have shorter penises
than Caucasoids...
There
are racial differences in body build. Negroes have a more
masculine body build than Caucasians
(Laska-Mierzejewska, 1982).
The masculine body build implies strong
accentuation of such
masculine characteristics as a large
chest, and muscular body.
Negro soldiers (males) have been found
in two studies to be
more mesomorphic (and less endomorphic)
than white soldiers,
with the difference being more than one
standard deviation
(Damon, Bleibtreu, Elliot, & Giles,
1962)...
An interesting set of statistically significant
differences in muscle
characteristics has been found between black and white
sedentary
males (Ama, Simonau, Boulay, Serresse,
Theriault, and Bouchard,
1986). African blacks were found to
have less type I muscle fibers,
more type IIa and lower activities in
enzymes catalyzing reactions
in phosphagenic and lactase
dehydrogenase metabolic pathways.
These were interpreted as likely to be
inherited, and suggesting
that blacks would exhibit better
performance in sports requiring
a short duration of
exertion...
Negroids have shorter lives than Caucasoids, who have
shorter
lives than Mongoloids. For instance, U.
S. whites have a life span
estimated at 76.1 years versus 69.1
years for U. S. blacks (U. S.
Department of Health and Human
Services, 1993). If testosterone
shortens life (Hamilton, 1948), as it
appears to do (shown by the
shorter life span of males than
females, and of normal males
compared to castrated males),
differential testosterone levels
could explain the life span
ranking.
Part of the shorter Negroid life span reflects more
violent and
accidental deaths, which could result
directly from higher
aggression...
Races differ
in average age at sexual maturity (Rushton and
Bogaert, 1987, p. 537). Negroids mature
earlier than Caucasoids,
and Caucasoids earlier than Mongoloids.
Rushton interprets this a
s showing less K selection in
Negroids...
Lynn (1990) has argued that differences in testosterone
could
explain many of the observed racial
differences, including the
racial ordering in prostate cancer
rates (Negroids highest, Caucasoids
intermediate, Mongoloids lowest).
Testosterone was 19% higher in
black college students than in white
students (Ross, Bernstein, Judd,
Hanisch, Pike, & Henderson, 1986).
Ellis and Nyborg (1992) have
documented higher male testosterone
levels in black veterans than
nations have been discussed for some
two and a half centuries.
In 1748 Montesquieu published De
l'Esprit des Lois in which
he proposed that temperate climates
were more favorable to
economic development than tropical
climates. In 1776 this
problem was discussed by Adam Smith in
his Wealth of Nations,
in which he proposed that the skills of
the population are the
principal factor responsible for
national differences in incomes
and wealth.
We believe it
has never been suggested that national differences
in intelligence might play some role in
national differences in
economic development. It is widely
assumed that the peoples of
all nations have the same average level
of intelligence. For instance,
Kofi Annan, the United Nations
Secretary General, asserted in April
2000 that intelligence "is one
commodity equally distributed among
the world's people" (Hoyos and
Littlejohns, 2000). It is known in
psychology that this is incorrect and
that there are large differences
in average levels of intelligence
between different nations. Reviews
of the literature have shown that in
relation to average IQs of 100
in Britain and the United States, the
peoples of north east Asia have
average IQs of around 105 and the
peoples of sub-Saharan Africa
have average IQs of around 70 (Lynn,
1991).
In view of these differences, it seems a reasonable
hypothesis that
national differences in intelligence may be a factor
contributing to
national differences in wealth.
APPENDIX
1
Data on National IQs Obtained from the Colored and Standard