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The July 2007 Psychological Review has Michael Mingroni reviewing an interesting theory he published in Intelligence in 2004, that IQ has increased mainly because of more interracial and cross-cultural mating:
IQ test scores have risen steadily across the industrialized world ever since such tests were first widely administered, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. Although the effect was documented more than 2 decades ago, there is currently no generally agreed-on explanation for it. The author argues that the phenomenon heterosis represents the most likely cause. Heterosis, often referred to as hybrid vigor, is a genetic effect that results from matings between members of genetically distinct subpopulations, such as has been occurring in human populations through the breakup of small, relatively isolated communities owing to urbanization and greater population mobility.
Regardless of whether Mingroni’s theory is true, I find it striking that it seems less politically correct than it could be.
The first response you often hear to genetic explanations of IQ, or even the very idea of IQ, is that such ideas encourage racists, such as Nazis. But Mingroni’s hybrid vigor theory seems tailor-made to oppose racist and other xenophobic mating policies; instead of killing off "lower" races or preventing interracial mating, Mingroni’s theory suggests one wants to encourage diverse mating and preserve other races as sources of genetic diversity.
The currently political correct environmental explanations of IQ, in contrast, are quite compatible with racist and other xenophobic mating policies. That is, one can nearly as easily oppose contact and mating with outsiders for fear of contamination from outsiders’ cultural and other environmental influences, as from outsiders’ genes. Such arguments were offered in the recent immigration debate, for example. So why are environmental IQ theories so praised for opposing racism, relative to hybrid vigor?
Is Hybrid Vigor IQ Warm And Fuzzy?
I agree but your last sentence is the opposite of reality. Cold climates have produced people who are big, but also smart. Scandinavian countries have one of the highest IQs on Earth and they are also one of the largest people to. Reason being, dumb people cant survive easily in a cold climate, they will either freeze to death, or starve to death.
On the other hand, Tropical climates lend themselves to those who are small and dumb. You dont need to think about how to survive the winter there...since even in winter, its still hot in the tropics. This is probably why hunter/gatherer societies were common until the early 1900s in Africa and S.America, the native people never had a reason to advance beyond that point. A cold climate can force people to adapt and weed out the ones not intelligent enough to adapt.
Don't want to delve too deep here since; a) I'm not addressing hybrid virgor directly and b); I can see I'm a bit out of my league intellectually, but let's be careful about presuming that intellegence is a net plus.
It seems that desirable traits such as strength or intellegence often come at the expense of some other desirable trait. So, much depends on the environment.
Being brainy might not make up for the loss of some other desirable trait. In a cold environment it might be better to be big and dumb as opposed to smart and small.