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A Comparison of Heritability Estimates of US Negro and White High School Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

S. G. Vandenberg
S. G. Vandenberg*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
*
Dept. of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. 80302, USA

Extract

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As you all know, there is a growing concern with the Negro problem in America. I will look at one small aspect of that problem today: the possible hereditary difference in ability between Negro and White.

Fig. 1 is just one of many examples that could be chosen. It shows the extent of such differences in ability for different years, for male and female separately, between Negro and White students admitted to the University of Georgia, as reported by Hills (cf. Stanley and Porter, 1967). Ability was measured by the verbal score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test — a test widely used by college admission officers in the USA for selection of students.

Fig. 2 shows a comparison of the fertility of Negroes and Whites, indicating that less able Negroes have the highest fertility, while more able ones have lower fertility (Bogue, 1969).

Should the combined effect of these two factors (i.e., lower IQ,'s and greater fertility of low IQ, Negroes) lead us to worry about a gradual decline of the national level of intelligence in the USA? I believe not, and I will present some evidence which supports the thesis that the observed lower intelligence in US Negroes is due to an interaction between innate potential and unfavorable environmental conditions. If, as I believe, social conditions for the Negro are improving and if their greater fertility will level off as social conditions improve, we will not need to be concerned about a national decline in ability.

Type
Session 16 - Twins Studies in Psychology
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 19 , Issue 1-2 , April 1970 , pp. 280 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1970

References

Bogue, D. J. (1969). The Population of the United States. Free Press of Glencoe, Illinois.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1968). Social class, race and genetics: implications for education. Amer. Educ. Res. J., 5: 1–42.Google Scholar
Stanley, J. C., Porter, A. C. (1967). Correlation of scholastic aptitude test score with college grade for Negroes versus Whites. J. Educ. Measmt., 4: 199–218.Google Scholar
Vandeneerg, S. G. (1969). A twin study of spatial ability. Multivar. Behav. Res., 4: 273–294.Google Scholar
Vandeneerg, S. G., Stafford, R. E., Brown, A. M. (1968). The Louisville twin study. In Vandenberg, S. G.: Progress in Human Behavior Genetics. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar