Race and Iq, Evaluating the Assumptions

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Race and IQ – Evaluating the assumptions The purpose of this assignment is to discuss and evaluate the logic behind the assumptions below. You must locate scholarly sources to back your position. * IQ test scores indicate fundamental intellectual activity * It is scientifically valid to examine “racial differences” * Group differences in IQ reflect genetic differences * IQ is immutable * High IQ leads to socio-economic success The questionable validity of intelligence testing in the assessment of intellectual ability across a broad range of cultural, racial and genetic differences Abstract The study of intelligence has been in the spotlight for over 100 years, the definitions of intelligence vary widely through cultural, economic and social perspectives on just what intelligence defines while the ways of creating an objective, standardised way of paralleling the human experience of cross-cultural intelligence have always seemed to fall short of exact scalar quantities. This essay sets out to logically evaluate some common assumptions about intellectual ability and show why coming to a holistic, objective view of the subjective, multidimensional phenomenon that is human intelligence may be impossible. Introduction Since Alfred Binot first instrumented standardised intelligence tests in the schools of Paris to identify learning difficulties, there has been substantial questioning into the objectivity and validity of IQ testing. Intelligence testing has been wildly controversial for both scientific and political reasons because of the problem in the belief that intelligence is an entity which can be somehow captured or measured. This essay aims to address a number of assumptions put forward by the broader psychological community that intelligence testing can indicate fundamental intellectual ability, examine “racial differences”,
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