http://www.bloggernews.net/124041 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Sun, 27 May 2012 19:26:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.bloggernews.net/124041#comment-1544217 Jim Giles Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:16:34 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/124041#comment-1544217 The study was even more deeply flawed than you suggest, particularly with the intelligence - liberal philosophy correlation. For intelligence estimates he used two studies, the first a long-term tracking study of young people called the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health), and the second was a yearly study of all ages called General Social Surveys (GSS). Neither was intended to provide in-depth intelligence data. In fact, each was based on a short vocabulary quiz, which Kanazawa assures us is correlated to general intelligence. While vocabulary is certainly a component of intelligence, it is not general intelligence, and such metrics would favor those who have spent more time in academic institutions, being exposed to new words. Interestingly, those who have spent more time in academic institutions, exposed to their liberal environments, would also more likely self-identify themselves as liberal. In other words, the study would, intentionally or unintentionally, tend to create an artificial correlation between intelligence and liberal philosophy. Interestingly, in data from the GSS study, Kanazawa also finds a positive correlation between intelligence and level of education. Since correlation is not causation you could say that intelligent people are more likely to go to school, or you could, with equal confidence, say that people who have gone to school are more likely to score well on a the intelligence metric used in the study. The study was even more deeply flawed than you suggest, particularly with the intelligence - liberal philosophy correlation. For intelligence estimates he used two studies, the first a long-term tracking study of young people called the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health), and the second was a yearly study of all ages called General Social Surveys (GSS). Neither was intended to provide in-depth intelligence data. In fact, each was based on a short vocabulary quiz, which Kanazawa assures us is correlated to general intelligence. While vocabulary is certainly a component of intelligence, it is not general intelligence, and such metrics would favor those who have spent more time in academic institutions, being exposed to new words. Interestingly, those who have spent more time in academic institutions, exposed to their liberal environments, would also more likely self-identify themselves as liberal. In other words, the study would, intentionally or unintentionally, tend to create an artificial correlation between intelligence and liberal philosophy. Interestingly, in data from the GSS study, Kanazawa also finds a positive correlation between intelligence and level of education. Since correlation is not causation you could say that intelligent people are more likely to go to school, or you could, with equal confidence, say that people who have gone to school are more likely to score well on a the intelligence metric used in the study.

]]> http://www.bloggernews.net/124041#comment-1543105 Zach Freeman Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:09:15 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/124041#comment-1543105 "Putting it another way, smarter people are more likely to go to college and there they come under pressure to adopt Leftist ideas, which include a contempt for religion generally and Christianity in particular." - this is total nonsense. There's no "contempt" for religion. Like any superstitious explanation for anything, the more you learn about science's constant upheaval of, to steal your word, naive religious interpretations - the world is flat, the world is 10,000 years old - the less likely you are to buy into it the rest of it. The only reason you even think Christianity is singled out is because religious Americans are predominantly Christian. I'm sure some elitist Muslim in Iran is writing this exact blog about how college educated Iranians have a "contempt" for Islam. “Putting it another way, smarter people are more likely to go to college and there they come under pressure to adopt Leftist ideas, which include a contempt for religion generally and Christianity in particular.” - this is total nonsense. There’s no “contempt” for religion. Like any superstitious explanation for anything, the more you learn about science’s constant upheaval of, to steal your word, naive religious interpretations - the world is flat, the world is 10,000 years old - the less likely you are to buy into it the rest of it. The only reason you even think Christianity is singled out is because religious Americans are predominantly Christian. I’m sure some elitist Muslim in Iran is writing this exact blog about how college educated Iranians have a “contempt” for Islam.

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