EDUC 391 Intelligence in Everyday Life

Name:
Date:
"Calendar"

P/F Writing Assignment for Day 23

Magnitude and implications of group differences I: Race and class

Readings

  • Jensen's Straight Talk, pp. 191-196, 206-212 (pp. 213-223 recommended)
  • Rough rendition of differences in bell curves for races, sexes, and social classes.
  • Different views of whether we should research or talk about racial differences in ability--not required
    • Glazer ("The lying game") 
    • Loehlin ("Should we do research?") 

Here are 3 graphs of the IQ bell curves for different groups of American adults-- different races, sexes, and social classes. Please understand that they are very rough; they are meant to give the trends and not the actual numerical data.

1. As an IQ expert, what do you need to know about these data before concluding whether there are, in fact, group disparities in intelligence?

2. Let's assume for the moment that these bell curves represent real disparities in intelligence. Based on what you have read so far about the predictive validity of IQ scores, what practical and political implications might you expect these group differences in IQ to have? What about health, in particular?

·        Race

·        Social class