Survey of Expert Opinion on Intelligence:

Transcription

1 The 5 th Meeting of the London School of Intelligence conference, May th. Survey of Expert Opinion on Intelligence: Intelligence research in the media, the public and their self-reflection David Becker TU Chemnitz, Germany Heiner Rindermann TU Chemnitz, Germany Thomas R. Coyle University of Texas at San Antonio, USA 1

2 1. The Survey - Oriented to Snyderman & Rothman (1987/88) - 62 questions on: - Nature of intelligence - Intelligence testing - Genetics and heritability - Media and public - Future of intelligence (Flynn-Effect) - Causes of cross-national differences - Sociodemographic and scientific background of participants - Conducted from May 2013 to March Until July, 2013: 1237 addressees; 228 responses - Partly presented at ISIR 2013 in Melbourne, Australia - Until March, 2014: 1345 addressees; 265 responses 2

3 1. The Survey 3

4 N of respondents 2. The Respondents Fig. 1: 12 Age-distribution of respondents (N=77) M=48.88y; SD=14.51y < 25 years years years years years years years years years years years 75+ years 4

5 2. The Respondents Fig. 2a: Sex-/Gender-ratio of respondents (N=72) 5

6 2. The Respondents Fig. 2b: "Percentage distribution of full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by academic rank, race/ethnicity, and sex: Fall 2015 (US-data) Male total 53-54% 67-68% 55-56% 48-49% 48-49% 44-45% Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2017). Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty. From: 6

7 N of respondents 2. The Respondents Fig. 3: Self-rated childhood family income of respondents (N=76) Well below average Average M=5.55; SD= Well above average 7

8 2. The Respondents Fig. 4: Average percentages of ethnic affiliation of respondents 8

9 2. The Respondents Fig. 5: Nationalities of respondents (N=72) Becker, Rindermann London Conference & Coyle, The on 5th Intelligence, Meeting of the London May School 2017of Intelligence conference, May 11-13th. London 9

10 3. Are they Experts? Table 1: Academic background Background % Yes N (total) Studied psychology Studied intelligence and related Studied genetics Studied a discipline unrelated to psychology PhD Tenured faculty member Department of psychology Department of education

11 3. Are they Experts? Table 2: Author activities Activities M SD N (total) Ed. or aut. of a journal on ability and testing (0=no; 1=yes) Ed. or aut. of a book on ability and testing (0=no; 1=yes) Articles or chapters written on int./cog.ab. (acad. aud.) Articles or chapters written on int./cog.ab. (gen. aud.) Articles or chapters written on total research (acad. aud.) Articles or chapters written on total research (gen. aud.)* General h-index (Scopus) General h-index (Harzinger) * Without one outlier "3000" 11

12 3. Are they Experts? Table 3: Conference activities (given speeches or lectures, delivered papers, or served on panel discussions on intelligence or cognitive ability) Activities M SD N (total) Towards scientists in the same discipline Towards scientists in other discipline Towards general college audiences Towards business or industrial groups On public meetings or demonstrations Towards public interest groups

13 3. Worldviews Fig. 6: Religious affiliations (N=68) childhood current 13

14 N of respondents 3. Worldviews Fig. 7: Political perspective of respondents (N=67) very lib./left M=4.19; SD= center very con./right 14

15 3. Worldviews Table 4: Political opinions on certain statements Statement (1=strongly disagree; 9=strongly agree) M SD N (total) Western economic exploitation has contributed to third worlds poverty Western countries should be open for immigrants Strong affirmative action should be used in job hiring to assure minority representation. Strong affirmative action should be used in job hiring to assure representation of immigrants. The USA would be better if moved toward more social democratic policies The USA would be better if moved toward more econ. liberty Homosexual people should have the same marriage rights incl. all legal benefits of marriage as heterosexual people

16 3. Worldviews Fig. 7: Jensenism (N=24) 75.00% 25.00% Yes No 16

17 4. Media Activities Table 5: Activities with/for media on the subject of intelligence testing and related issues Activities M SD N (total) Served as a source of information for the news media (frequency). Declined to serve as a source of information for the news media (frequency). Written letters to or phones newspapers or magazines (frequency) Have you ever had problems with media? (0=no; 1=yes)

18 5. Opinions on the Media Table 6: Rating of the treatment of intelligence, cognitive ability, and related topics by the media Treatment (1=strongly disagree; 9=strongly agree) M SD N (total) Important topics are chosen Treatment is correct and fair Competent experts are chosen Science is correctly reported Reporting is rational

19 5. Opinions on the Media Fig. 8: Top-3 rated media in accuracy (1-9) towards issues related to intelligence testing Anatoly Karlin Steve Sailer Dieter Zimmer M=6.10 SD=2.73 N=10 M=7.38 SD=2.25 N=26 M=5.10 SD=2.57 N=20 19

20 5. Opinions on Media Table 7: Ratings of common Anglo-Saxonian media in accuracy towards issues related to intelligence testing Common Anglo-Saxonian media M SD N (total) The Times Economist Wall Street Journal New York Times Daily Telegraph Guardian Time Washington Post National Public Radio Newsweek State-owned TV-networks Commercial TV-networks 2.67* * Overall the worst 20

21 6. Opinions on the Public Debate Table 8: Rating of the public debate of intelligence, cognitive ability, and related topics Development of the debate (1=worse; 9=better) M SD N (total) About intelligence About genes (incl. heritability) About relationship between intelligence and genes (incl. heritability) Fig. 9: Ideology M=66.95% On the whole, what is your opinion about public debates about intelligence and genes (incl. heritability)? Are the arguments more based on scientific results or individual, cultural and political convictions? (N=78) Science M=33.05% 21

22 7. Opinions on Intelligence Research Table 9: Problems in research Problems Yes (%) N (total) Have you ever hesitated in expression your opinion on an issue related to intelligence or cognitive ability Have you ever had problems with publishing research on intelligence and cognitive ability? Table 10: Abuse of research Abuse (1=strongly disagree; 9=strongly agree) M SD N (total) Do you see in intelligence research any hidden intentions to discriminate unfairly among different groups of people? Do you see in intelligence research any inclination of group related hostility (incl. Racism)? Abuse in science? Abuse in politics?

23 8. Positions on Controversial Topics Table 11: Scientific positions on certain topics Position M SD N (total) Which amount of racial/ethnic content bias is in the most commonly used int./ca-tests? (1=insignificant; 9=large)* Should cognitive ability be considered in immigration policy) (1=never; 9=always) To what degree are SES-dif. in Western societies determined by IQ? (%) To what degree are US black-white dif. in IQ explainable by environmental factors? (%) * Scale transformed from 1-4 into

24 N (answers) 8. Positions on Controversial Topics Fig. 10: US-black-white-differences due to environment? % of environment Distribution of expert-ratings of environment and genetics as causes of differences in cognitive ability between Blacks and Whites in the USA for all experts (M=51.16; SD=31.34; N=86). 24

25 8. Positions on Controversial Topics Table 12: Correlation matrix between Experts characteristics and opinion toward US-B/W-differences in intelligence Pol. Child.- Gender Age Pos. SES USA US-B/W-dif. Pol. Pos * *** Gender * *** Age ** Child.-SES USA US-B/W-dif. <.001 < Notes: Pearson s r above the diagonal; p-values below the diagonal Coding: Pol.Pos: higher score = more conservative; Gender: 1=female, 0=male; Age: grouped in 25y, 27y, 32y, 37y, 42y, 47y, 52y, 57y, 62y, 67y, 72y, 75y; Child.-SES: higher score = higher SES; USA: 1=USA, 0=non-USA; US-B/W-dif.: higher score = dif. more due to environmental factors and less due to genetic factors. 25

26 Rating of environment (%) 8. Positions on Controversial Topics Fig. 11: Political Position and US-B/W-differences Political position (1=very liberal/left; 5=center; 9=very conservative/right) Scatter plot of relationship between political position of experts and their ratings of environment and genetics as causes of differences in cognitive ability between Blacks and Whites in the USA (N=58; r=-.49; p<.001). 26

27 8. Positions on Controversial Topics Table 13: Results of regression between Experts characteristics and opinion on US-B/W-differences in intelligence r B S.E. β T Sig. Pol. Pos <.001 Gender <.001 Age Child.-SES USA Notes: R=.661; S.E.=

28 References National Center for Education Statistics (2017). Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty. From: Rindermann, H., Becker, D., & Coyle, Th. R. (2016). Survey of Expert Opinion on Intelligence: Causes of International Differences in Cognitive Ability Tests. Frontiers in Psychology, 23 March doi: /fpsyg Rindermann, H., Becker, D., & Coyle, Th. R. (2017). Survey of expert opinion on intelligence: The FLynn effect and the future of intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 106, doi: /j.paid Snyderman, M., & Rothman, S. (1987). Survey of expert opinion on intelligence and aptitude testing. American Psychologist, 42, Snyderman, M., & Rothman, S. (1988). The IQ-controversy, the media and public policy. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction. 28