Thanks so much for doing this. It's because of you I became interested in psychology. This might be too many questions for an AMA so I don't expect an answer to all of them. I know you don't shy away from the taboo so here goes.
Q1: The popular explanation for the cause of rape is that rape is about power; rather than sex or attraction or anything else. In The Blank Slate you wrote:
I believe that the rape-is-not-about-sex doctrine will go down in history as an example of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. It is preposterous on the face of it, does not deserve its sanctity, is contradicted by a mass of evidence, and is getting in the way of the only morally relevant goal surrounding rape, the effort to stamp it out.
From what I've read of behaviour studies - the causes of behaviour are very complex and there are zero behaviours except for rape that are explained by one single cause. Why is rape pretty much the only behaviour out there for which academics will accept only one single explanation? How does a delusion spread among people who should be immune to them?
Q2: Some differences in IQ scores between males and females have been shown to exist; including in spatial ability and math ability. The differences appear 1) in the mean and 2) in the variance of the scores. Do you think this explains part of the difference between the proportions of men and women in STEM degrees and related occupations? If so, how much do you think it explains?
EDIT: (I put all these in after SP answered the questions) - Sources for differences in IQ and math ability variance:
The proportions of girls and boys in each band were significantly different, 2(15) = 147.9, P < .001. this is not just a reflection of different numbers of boys and girls in the population: girls represent 49.6%, and boys 50.4%, of the participants providing these data. In the IQ bands that cover the range 90 to < 115, girls are found in slight excess, a difference of about 2%. At the extremes, boys are over-represented. In the IQ band from 50 to < 60 boys make up 58.6% of the population, a gender gap of 17.2%. In the IQ band 130 to < 140 boys make up 57.7% of the population, a gender gap of 15.4%. The gradation between the extremes appears regular: as the population moves away from the extremes the sex difference in proportions steadily lessens with, eventually, a slight excess of girls in the average score range.
Q3: What do you think is the likelihood of in the future discovering intelligence differences between population groups using neurological comparisons and genetic comparisons rather than by just comparing IQ scores? Academics today seem to dismiss the idea as impossible. But is the idea that groups can evolve in very different environments and not end up with different intelligence levels realistic? I've read that more than half of genes are expressed in the brain.
EDIT: (I put all these in after SP answered the questions) - Background & sources: Going back decades in the literature, many studies have shown that Jews of European descent (Ashkenazi Jews) have a higher than average IQ of 112-115 and higher than average scores on verbal and math tests. In 2005 Gregory Cochran, James Hardy and Henry Harpending published a paper which suggested that Jews of European descent have higher IQs due to them posessing genes that in homozygotes lead to diseases (that Jews have at a higher frequency than other groups like Tay-Sachs, Gaucher's and some others) but in heterozygotes lead to higher intelligence (maybe an example of Heterozygote advantage). They hypothesize that these genes were selected for because Jews in Europe over the Middle Ages were limited to cognitively demanding jobs like trade and finance, and people successful in these jobs had more children.
Quote from The 10,000 Year Explosion by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending:
Jewish intellectual prominence is striking. As we have said, Ashkenazi Jews are vastly overrepresented in science. Their numbers among prominent scientists are roughly ten times
greater than you’d expect from their share of the population in the United States and Europe. Over the past two generations they have won more than a quarter of all Nobel science prizes, although they make up less than one-six-hundredth of the world’s population. Although they represent less than 3 percent of the U.S. population, they won 27 percent of the U.S. Nobel Prizes in science during that period and 25 percent of the A. M. Turing Awards (given annually by the Association for Computing Machinery).
Ashkenazi Jews account for half of twentieth-century world chess champions. American Jews are also overrepresented in other areas, such as business (where they account for about a fifth of CEOs) and academia (where they make up about 22 percent of Ivy League students). Although these statistics show intelligence in a broad range of disciplines, we emphasize measures of scientific and mathematical achievement in our present argument because we believe they are more objective measures than the others. Everyone agrees about what constitutes important discoveries in science and mathematics, whereas there are no comparable objective criteria to evaluate accomplishments in art and literature.Was Freudian theory, for example, a landmark achievement in psychology or the equivalent of the pet rock, a silly passing fad? We don’t know (although we do have a strong suspicion), and we have no objective way of finding the answer.
This is just one possible example of a group intelligence difference. It can be further explored with more studies. This shouldn't be used for any racist or hateful purposes.
sanderbelts1259 karma
Thanks so much for doing this. It's because of you I became interested in psychology. This might be too many questions for an AMA so I don't expect an answer to all of them. I know you don't shy away from the taboo so here goes.
Q1: The popular explanation for the cause of rape is that rape is about power; rather than sex or attraction or anything else. In The Blank Slate you wrote:
From what I've read of behaviour studies - the causes of behaviour are very complex and there are zero behaviours except for rape that are explained by one single cause. Why is rape pretty much the only behaviour out there for which academics will accept only one single explanation? How does a delusion spread among people who should be immune to them?
Q2: Some differences in IQ scores between males and females have been shown to exist; including in spatial ability and math ability. The differences appear 1) in the mean and 2) in the variance of the scores. Do you think this explains part of the difference between the proportions of men and women in STEM degrees and related occupations? If so, how much do you think it explains?
EDIT: (I put all these in after SP answered the questions) - Sources for differences in IQ and math ability variance:
Deary et. al (2003) Population sex differences in IQ at age 11: the Scottish mental survey 1932
Download pdf
Quote:
What a sex difference in IQ variance looks like (from a talk Ian Deary gave) - a higher percentage of boys at the low IQ percentiles and a higher percentage of boys at the high IQ percentiles.
Jones (2008) What is the Right Number of Women? Hints and Puzzles from Cognitive Ability Research
The pseudo-feminist show trial of Larry Summers
Why Feminist Careerists Neutered Larry Summers
Can stereotype threat explain the gender gap in mathematics performance and achievement?
SEX DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL APTITUDE
THE MATH SEX GAP REVISITED: A THEORY OF EVERYONE
Here's a good and humorous (english subtitled) documentary on massive left-wing and feminist bias in Norway's social sciences.
Hjernevask (Brainwash) documentary
Ep. 1 The Gender Equality Paradox
Ep. 2 The Parental Effect
Ep. 3 Gay/Straight
Ep. 4 Violence
Ep. 5 Sex
Ep. 6 Race
Ep. 7 Nature or Nurture
Articles on left-wing creationism:
Quadrant Online - The War Against Human Nature in the Social Sciences
Quadrant Online - The War against Human Nature II: Gender Studies (Part 1)
Quadrant Online - The War against Human Nature II: Gender Studies (Part 2)
Q3: What do you think is the likelihood of in the future discovering intelligence differences between population groups using neurological comparisons and genetic comparisons rather than by just comparing IQ scores? Academics today seem to dismiss the idea as impossible. But is the idea that groups can evolve in very different environments and not end up with different intelligence levels realistic? I've read that more than half of genes are expressed in the brain.
EDIT: (I put all these in after SP answered the questions) - Background & sources: Going back decades in the literature, many studies have shown that Jews of European descent (Ashkenazi Jews) have a higher than average IQ of 112-115 and higher than average scores on verbal and math tests. In 2005 Gregory Cochran, James Hardy and Henry Harpending published a paper which suggested that Jews of European descent have higher IQs due to them posessing genes that in homozygotes lead to diseases (that Jews have at a higher frequency than other groups like Tay-Sachs, Gaucher's and some others) but in heterozygotes lead to higher intelligence (maybe an example of Heterozygote advantage). They hypothesize that these genes were selected for because Jews in Europe over the Middle Ages were limited to cognitively demanding jobs like trade and finance, and people successful in these jobs had more children.
Quote from The 10,000 Year Explosion by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending:
This is just one possible example of a group intelligence difference. It can be further explored with more studies. This shouldn't be used for any racist or hateful purposes.
Sources & background:
Cochran, Gregory; Hardy, Jason; and Harpending, Henry (2006) Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence
The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution
Charles Murray (2007) Jewish Genius
Risch’s Conjecture
Hjernevask Ep. 6 Race
Five years later ... still no study
Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? - 20 Possible Explanations
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