The
Igbo used their location on the Niger Delta to become traders between the coast
and the interior. In the 18th century, they were already described as high
achievers with a strong commercial sense. Cognitive ability seems to be higher
in populations that specialize in trade, probably because the cognitive demands
are likewise higher.
(Map
of Niger - Wikicommons)
I
was asked to comment on a recent study by John Fuerst, Emil Kirkegaard, and
Davide Piffer. This study is well worth reading. It provides the strongest
evidence to date for differences in mean cognitive ability between human
populations, specifically by showing how cognitive ability correlates with
alleles for educational attainment and with degree of European / African / Amerindian
ancestry in European Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Also
worth reading is a related paper by John Fuerst, Meng Hu, and Gregory Connor.
The
following is the abstract of my commentary:
Human populations may differ genetically
not only in their anatomy but also in their mental characteristics. Our species
is not too young for such differentiation. In fact, human genetic evolution has
proceeded faster over the past 10,000 years than over the previous million.
With the rise of farming, and social complexity, humans were no longer adapting
solely to a limited range of natural environments. They were adapting to an
ever-widening range of cultural environments, each of which imposed its demands
on mind and body.
Thus, mental characteristics do not have
the same adaptive value in all environments, and differences in adaptive value
will lead, over time, to genetic differences. Are the latter large enough to
explain IQ differences between human populations? That question has led to
studies of people who are ancestrally diverse but raised in the same
environment, such as transracial adoptees. Unfortunately, the environment can
never be fully equalized. We should measure genetic differences directly, and a
promising step in that direction has come with research to identify alleles
associated with educational attainment. There is no need to identify all of
them, just a large enough sample. These “witnesses” can then be questioned to
determine the strength and direction of natural selection, and its
consequences.
Also promising is the study of IQ and
ancestry in ethnically mixed groups. This research instrument is not without
problems. Large continental populations often have high-achieving minorities
who may contribute disproportionately to the founding of new groups or to
admixture with old ones. In addition, natural selection can alter the
distribution of alleles within a new group, even after a few generations.
References
Frost,
P. (2021). Commentary on Fuerst et al: Do Human Populations Differ in Their
Mental Characteristics? Mankind
Quarterly 62(2): 366-380.
http://doi.org/10.46469/mq.2021.62.2.9
Fuerst,
J., Hu, M. & Connor, G. (2021). Genetic ancestry and general cognitive
ability in a sample of American youths. Mankind
Quarterly 62(1): 186-216.
Fuerst,
J., Kirkegaard, E.O.W. and Piffer, D. (2021). More research needed: There is a
robust causal vs. confounding problem for intelligence-associated polygenic
scores in context to admixed American populations. Mankind Quarterly 62(1): 151-185.
3 comments:
You are part of the fascist fear and propaganda machine, and still an average translator. As for 'intelligence,' not above average.
Kelvin Haight
The comment I deleted was an apology. Sorry, wrong Forum. Will not repeat.
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