According to this article, it is impossible to establish a relationship between intelligence, race and genetics. This article argues that scientists who have found this relationship did not base it on scientific analysis, but on folk taxonomies. Many scientists fail to agree on the definition of intelligence, and this, further compounds the idea of finding a relationship. Race on the other hand, is not a scientific term and does not have a scientific definition. Finding the relationship between other constructs and race would therefore not serve any scientific purpose, but rather social ends.
So far, scientists have not conclusively managed to link any gene to intelligence; therefore, it would be impossible to make a link between intelligence and genetics.
Intelligence
According to this article, different scientists have come up with different definitions of the term intelligence. However, most of these definitions mentioned the importance of being able to adapt to the environment, as well the ability to learn. However, these constructs are not very well specified. Most tests also fail to measure these, as they often fail to include the tasks that people face on a daily basis. Most tests also fail to measure the learner’s ability to learn, but instead focus on how well they excelled in their past learning. Even the IQ tests made today do not adequately measure what the makers claim they measure.
Modern intelligence tests are also not easy to generalize, especially in a multicultural group. One of the reasons why intelligence tests tend to be wrong is because they fail to consider the cultural background of the person taking the test. This makes most IQ tests inaccurate. In order to answer some of the questions asked in intelligence tests, one must be familiar with the culture of the person who set the particular test. There is no single intelligence test, which can uniformly measure intelligence across board, and across different cultural backgrounds.
The Relationship between Intelligence and Race
There is no pure race. According to research by most historians and other scientists, life began in Africa. It was the cradle of all humankind. Through migration, people moved to occupy all the parts of the world. The changes we see between the races were the result of any different forces, including mutation, random genetic drift, genetic exchange or gene flow, and natural selection. With time, people intermarried and mixed races resulted from these unions. As people migrated, their bodies had to adapt to the new environment, thus the differences we see in the world today.
The lack of a pure race contributes to the difficulties in finding a relationship between intelligence and race. The genetic makeup of different races varies significantly. This could have resulted from the various forces, which were at play. However, scientists cannot fully explain why there are such tremendous differences in the races, and why people found in one geographical location can be so different from each other. People belonging to one race also tend to have certain significant differences. This makes it difficult for scientists to find the relationship between race and intelligence, when races vary so significantly.
Race as a Non- Scientific Construction
The classification of people into different races was society’s way of further stratifying itself. Regardless of their color, different animals of the same species are not classified according to their “races”. This is because race is not a scientific construct, but a social construct. Within one race, one can find that the people found in a certain region tend to be taller or shorter than others are, and yet they are not further classified into other smaller groups. This is because the concept of race is founded society’s need to classify people, and not on science. Some of the differences in the degree of intelligence could be attributed to the specific geographical location. They could have developed higher intellectual abilities to enable them to face the challenges, which may be specific to that region. This would not prove that the members of their race are more intelligent than the rest of society.
There are also many factors than shape and form intelligence. Some of them include life experiences. Some people may have gone through certain experiences, which may have made their brains develop higher intellectual capacities than other people may have. The environment they live in may have shaped their intelligence and enabled them to think differently from other people in society. This would not prove that their race is either more intellectually gifted or inferior in terms of intelligence than other races. Their heightened intelligence does not have anything to do with their race, but rather, it was shaped by their experiences.
Origin of the Idea of races
Over the years, different groups of people had different ways of classifying themselves into different races. When people only interacted with small groups of people, long before long-distance travel became popular most people classified themselves according to their ethnicities. When people began to travel further and with time discovered that there existed people who differed from them, the classification was broadened to include other races. They continued to change the manner in which they classified themselves as more people travelled further and further and discovered the existence of many other people who differed significantly from them. Some of these racial classifications also included mythical creatures and monsters from the tales of travelers.
The manner in which the races are classified today is no different from the past. People have come up with a way through which they may stratify society in order to make sense of the differences among them, and for ease of description. These racial classifications, however, are not scientific and do not serve any purpose in showing a link with intelligence.
The Relationship between Intelligence, Race and Genetics
As stated earlier, there is no distinct race. Since the origin of all races is traced back to Africa, then the changes we see today are only the effects of evolution and migration. Intermarriages between people of different races have also ensured that a pure race does not exist. This means that it is impossible to find a race that is unique, with different genetic makeup from the other races. All the races are somehow related, with the changes seen resulting from the differences in their environments.
The environment in which they live affects the genetic makeup of groups of people and the changes that these genes go through. The environment influences the manner in which they will evolve, and the final product that will result from this evolution. This is why people belonging to the same race may be very different, both in appearance and in intellectual abilities.
Generalization of findings
Many researchers have carried out different studies on the differences between races. Some of the scientists found that people belonging to a certain region and are members of a given race, tend to have certain similar characteristics. Some their genetic characteristics may also be similar. For instance, the Masai community found in East Africa, lives in very hot regions. The climatic conditions in these regions are very harsh. Their way of life involves a lot of movement and they are constantly on their feet. This is because they are nomadic pastoralists, and are constantly on the move, in search of greener pastures and water. Many of them tend to be tall and lanky, with very dark skin. This is a necessary adaptation to enable them to live in this hot environment comfortably. Many Masais, especially the ones born in past years did not receive formal education. They held strongly to their traditions and educated their children through informal means. Experience was their teacher. However, a Masai who was born and raised in Western nations may develop very different features from the ones in his native home. Due to differences in the quality of life and nutrition received, he would probably not be as lean as the people would be in his native home. He would also be lighter in complexion than the Masais in East Africa would due to the differences in climatic conditions between these two regions. This person would probably also score differently in an IQ test because of the difference in the quality of education received. However, these two people do not belong to different races. They are members of the same race and ethnicity, yet displaying significant differences. This shows that differences may arise even within the same race.
People from different races living in the same conditions may also show certain similarities. For example, in a person from Western nations lived in Africa for several decades, he would acquire some of their habits and borrow certain aspects of their culture. This is especially true for a person who was born and raised in Africa. Such a person would not score the same in intelligence tests taken in the West, due to the influence from the nation in which he has been living for the past years. This shows that intelligence is shaped more by the environment one lives in than their race or genetic make up.
There have also been cases of children born to parents with very high IQ scores scoring very low on their own IQ scores. One would expect that these children would automatically inherit intelligence from their parents, and become equally brilliant. This, however, may not always be the case. Many factors shape intelligence, including the environment in which one lives.
Conclusion
The article makes a valid argument. Different people come up with different definitions for intelligence. So far, there is no universal definition of intelligence. Since intelligence is so difficult to define, it is even more difficult for scientists to find its relationship with race and genetics. The concept of race is also not founded on science, making it difficult to scientifically connect it to intelligence. Being a social construction, it would not make scientific sense to find a biological connection with intelligence.
Works Cited
Blakeslee, Sandra. On Intelligence. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. Print.
McQuail, Lisa. The Masai of Africa . London: Lerner Publications, 2002. Print.
Robert J. Sternberg, Elena L. Grigorenko, and Kenneth K. Kidd. "Intelligence, Race, and
Genetics." American Psychological Association 60.1 (2005): 46- 59.Print.
