Editing Race and intelligence (section)

== Group differences ==
The study of human intelligence is one of the most controversial topics in psychology, in part because of difficulty reaching agreement about the meaning of ''intelligence'' and objections to the assumption that intelligence can be meaningfully measured by IQ tests. Claims that there are innate differences in intelligence between racial and ethnic groups—which go back at least to the 19th century—have been criticized for relying on specious assumptions and research methods and for serving as an ideological framework for discrimination and racism.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}}{{sfn|Jackson|Weidman|2004|p=222}}

In a 2012 study of tests of different components of intelligence, Hampshire et al. expressed disagreement with the view of Jensen and Rushton that genetic factors must play a role in IQ differences between races, stating that "it remains unclear ... whether population differences in intelligence test scores are driven by heritable factors or by other correlated demographic variables such as socioeconomic status, education level, and motivation. More relevantly, it is questionable whether [population differences in intelligence test scores] relate to a unitary intelligence factor, as opposed to a bias in testing paradigms toward particular components of a more complex intelligence construct."<ref name=":1">{{Harvnb|Hampshire|Highfield|Parkin|Owen|2012}}.</ref> According to Jackson and Weidman, 
{{blockquote|There are a number of reasons why the genetic argument for race differences in intelligence has not won many adherents in the scientific community. First, even taken on its own terms, the case made by Jensen and his followers did not hold up to scrutiny. Second, the rise of population genetics undercut the claims for a genetic cause of intelligence. Third, the new understanding of [[institutional racism]] offered a better explanation for the existence of differences in IQ scores between the races.{{sfn|Jackson|Weidman|2004|p=222}}}}

=== Test scores ===
{{main|Achievement gap in the United States}}
In the United States, Asians on average score higher than White people, who tend to score higher than Hispanics, who tend to score higher than African Americans.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}} Much greater variation in IQ scores exists within each ethnic group than between them.{{Clarify|reason=The prose here should be clarified. Is it saying that the recorded IQ range within each race is greater than any differences of averages between races?|date=December 2023}}<ref name="Reynolds-2021">{{Cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Cecil R. |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-59455-8_15 |title=Mastering Modern Psychological Testing |last2=Altmann |first2=Robert A. |last3=Allen |first3=Daniel N. |publisher=Springer |year=2021 |pages=573–613, 582 |chapter=The Problem of Bias in Psychological Assessment|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-59455-8_15 |isbn=978-3-030-59454-1 |s2cid=236660997 }}</ref><ref name=SAGE>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yDDqLBBk7BcC |title=Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education |date=2012 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-8152-1 |page=1209 |language=en |access-date=2018-01-20 |archive-date=2023-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320043631/https://books.google.com/books?id=yDDqLBBk7BcC |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2001 [[meta-analysis]] of the results of 6,246,729 participants tested for cognitive ability or aptitude found a difference in average scores between black people and white people of 1.1 [[standard deviations]]. Consistent results were found for college and university application tests such as the [[Scholastic Aptitude Test]] (N = 2.4 million) and [[Graduate Record Examination]] (N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests of job applicants in corporate settings (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million).<ref name="Roth et al. 2001">{{harvnb|Roth et al.|2001}}</ref>

In response to the controversial 1994 book ''[[The Bell Curve]]'', the [[American Psychological Association]] (APA) formed a task-force of eleven experts, which issued a report "[[Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns]]" in 1996.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}} Regarding group differences, the report reaffirmed the consensus that differences within groups are much wider than differences between groups, and that claims of ethnic differences in intelligence should be scrutinized carefully, as such claims had been used to justify racial discrimination. The report also acknowledged problems with the racial categories used, as these categories are neither consistently applied, nor homogeneous {{xref|(see [[Race and ethnicity in the United States]])}}.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}}

In the UK, some African groups have higher average educational attainment and standardized test scores than the overall population.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Feyisa |last1=Demie |first2=Christabel |last2=McLean |title=Raising the achievement of African heritage pupils: a case study of good practice in British schools |journal=Educational Studies |date=1 December 2007 |issn=0305-5698 |pages=415–434 |volume=33 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/03055690701423606 |s2cid=144579288}}</ref> In 2010–2011, white British pupils were 2.3% less likely to have gained 5 A*–C grades at [[General Certificate of Secondary Education|GCSE]] than the national average, whereas the likelihood was 21.8% above average for those of [[British Nigerian|Nigerian]] origin, 5.5% above average for those of [[Ghanaians in the United Kingdom|Ghanaian]] origin, and 1.4% above average for those of [[Sierra Leone|Sierra Leonian]] origin. For the two other African ethnic groups on which data was available, the likelihood was 23.7% below average for those of [[Somalis|Somali]] origin and 35.3% below average for those of [[Congo Basin|Congolese]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rutter |first=Jill |title=Back to basics: Towards a successful and cost-effective integration policy |work=IPPR |publisher=Institute for Public Policy Research |year=2013 |url=https://www.ippr.org/articles/back-to-basics-towards-a-successful-and-cost-effective-integration-policy |page=43 |access-date=2020-05-23 |archive-date=2020-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413214928/https://www.ippr.org/publications/back-to-basics-towards-a-successful-and-cost-effective-integration-policy |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2014, Black-African pupils of 11 language groups were more likely to pass [[Key Stage 2]] Maths 4+ in England than the national average. Overall, the average pass rate by ethnicity was 86.5% for white British (N = 395,787), whereas it was 85.6% for Black-Africans (N = 18,497). Nevertheless, several Black-African language groups, including [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Akan language|Akan]], [[Ga language|Ga]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Edo language|Edo]], [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Amharic]] speakers, and English-speaking Africans, each had an average pass rate above the white British average (total N = 9,314), with the Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Amhara having averages above 90% (N = 2,071).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Feyisa Demie |first=Andrew Hau |title=Language Diversity and Attainment in Primary Schools in England |publisher=Lambeth Research And Statistics Unit |year=2016 |url=https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/rsu/sites/www.lambeth.gov.uk.rsu/files/language_diversity_and_attainment_in_primary_schools_in_england_2017.pdf |page=18 |access-date=2020-05-24 |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806165229/https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/rsu/sites/www.lambeth.gov.uk.rsu/files/language_diversity_and_attainment_in_primary_schools_in_england_2017.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017–2018, the percentage of pupils getting a strong pass (grade 5 or above) in the English and maths GCSE (in [[Key Stage 4]]) was 42.7% for whites (N = 396,680) and 44.3% for Black-Africans (N = 18,358).<ref>{{Cite web |title=GCSE English and maths results |url=https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/11-to-16-years-old/a-to-c-in-english-and-maths-gcse-attainment-for-children-aged-14-to-16-key-stage-4/3.0 |date=2019 |website=Gov.UK |access-date=2022-09-20 |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173733/https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/11-to-16-years-old/a-to-c-in-english-and-maths-gcse-attainment-for-children-aged-14-to-16-key-stage-4/3.0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Flynn effect and the closing gap ===
{{Main|Flynn effect}}
The '[[Flynn effect]]' — a term coined after researcher [[James Flynn (academic)|James R. Flynn]] — refers to the substantial rise in raw IQ test scores observed in many parts of the world during the 20th century. In the United States, the increase was continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to about 1998 when the gains stopped and some tests even showed decreasing test scores. For example, the average scores of black people on some IQ tests in 1995 were the same as the scores of white people in 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Mackintosh|1998|p=162}}</ref> As one pair of academics phrased it, "the typical African American today probably has a slightly higher IQ than the grandparents of today's average white American."<ref>{{cite book |last=Swain |first=Carol |title=Contemporary voices of white nationalism in America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK New York |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-01693-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/70 70] |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/70}} Note: this quote is from the authors' introductory essay, not from the interviews.</ref>

Flynn himself argued that the dramatic changes having taken place between one just generation and the next pointed strongly at an environmental explanation, and that it is highly unlikely that genetic factors could have accounted for the increasing scores. The Flynn effect, along with Flynn's analysis, continues to hold significance in the context of the black/white IQ gap debate, demonstrating the potential for environmental factors to influence IQ test scores by as much as 1 standard deviation, a scale of change that had previously been doubted.{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2001}}

A distinct but related observation has been the gradual narrowing of the American black-white IQ gap in the last decades of the 20th century, as black test-takers increased their average scores relative to white test-takers. For instance, Vincent reported in 1991 that the black–white IQ gap was decreasing among children, but that it was remaining constant among adults.{{sfn|Vincent|1991}} Similarly, a 2006 study by Dickens and Flynn estimated that the difference between mean scores of black people and white people closed by about 5 or 6 IQ points between 1972 and 2002,{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}} a reduction of about one-third. In the same period, the educational achievement disparity also diminished.<ref>Neisser, Ulric (Ed). 1998. The rising curve: Long-term gains in IQ and related measures. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association</ref> Reviews by Flynn and Dickens,{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}} Mackintosh,{{sfn|Mackintosh|2011}} and Nisbett ''et al.'' accept the gradual closing of the gap as a fact.{{sfn|Nisbett|Aronson|Blair|Dickens|2012a}} Flynn and Dickens summarize this trend, stating, "The constancy of the Black-White IQ gap is a myth and therefore cannot be cited as evidence that the racial IQ gap is genetic in origin."{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}}