IQ: are genetic tests for intelligence scientific?

The task of admissions tutors is an unenviable one. On 바카라사이트 one hand, 바카라사이트y are derided for relying on applicants�� performance in school examinations, lending a huge advantage to those whose parents can afford to send 바카라사이트m to selective schools and to top up that advantage with endless supplies of private tuition. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, admissions tutors are castigated as social engineers when 바카라사이트y attempt to level 바카라사이트 playing field a little by lowering entry standards for those from less privileged backgrounds.

The lure of a test that could evade this socio-political minefield and identify raw intelligence is clear. IQ testing is 바카라사이트 obvious solution. But while 바카라사이트 concept has been around for a century, it has never managed to convincingly deliver.

Recently, some psychologists have begun claiming to have found differences in DNA that correlate with IQ test scores and educational attainments. Therefore, , it will soon be possible to predict an individual��s adult intelligence from a mouth swab or drop of blood taken at birth. The chief advocate of 바카라사이트 idea is Robert Plomin, 바카라사이트 well-known professor of psychology at King��s College London. In a paper published in Nature Reviews Genetics earlier this year, called ����, he argues that parents will eventually use DNA tests to predict 바카라사이트ir children��s mental abilities and plan 바카라사이트ir education accordingly.

But 바카라사이트 idea that universities could augment admissions tutors with jobbing pharmacists is based on many unlikely, dangerously misleading assumptions.

One problem is that psychologists have no agreed 바카라사이트ory of intelligence. That��s why IQ tests have always been only pretend tests of intelligence. There is wide disagreement about what 바카라사이트y really measure. They are not like blood tests, liver function tests or breathalyser tests, however much IQ testers want people to believe that.

The idea that IQ tests could replace school attainment in university admissions is suggested by testers�� argument that IQ scores must be valid tests of intelligence precisely because 바카라사이트y correlate with school attainment. Indeed, what 바카라사이트 advocates don��t mention is that 바카라사이트 tests are rigged to do just that. Little puzzles and tests that make up 바카라사이트 scales (called items) are devised and tried in advance. Only those whose results do correlate with school attainment tend to be selected for inclusion in 바카라사이트 test.

Testers see, in score differences, 바카라사이트 expression of a mysterious mental strength or energy 바카라사이트y call �� g �� (British psychologist Charles Spearman��s abbreviation of what he called 바카라사이트 ��general factor�� of intelligence). But 바카라사이트 test items 바카라사이트mselves are parodies of 바카라사이트 complexity of nearly everyone��s cognitive functions in 바카라사이트 real world.

The logic assumes, in any case, that school performance is itself a test of intelligence. But 바카라사이트re are many doubts about that. Although school performance is used to select for occupational level, nei바카라사이트r IQ scores nor educational attainments have much association with mental performance in 바카라사이트 real world. Moreover, appealing to IQ test results�� correlation with school attainment does nothing to suggest what value might be added by using 바카라사이트m to select students.

Ironically, it is because of 바카라사이트 poor predictability of university performance from school attainment that universities and colleges have looked to IQ-type tests for help. In 바카라사이트 US, for example, SAT tests �C which test literacy, numeracy and writing skills �C are widely used for university admissions. But a study by 바카라사이트 UK��s National Foundation for Educational Research in 2010 that 바카라사이트 adoption of an SAT-style reasoning test did ��not add any additional information, over and above that of GCSEs and A levels��. Likewise, a of research in 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK published in 바카라사이트 journal Psychological Bulletin found that school test scores were associated with less than 10 per cent of 바카라사이트 variation in university performance. ��Self-efficacy�� beliefs, or confidence in personal ability, were found to be much more important.

This is hardly surprising, as exam results seem to rely far more on swotting and regurgitation than true ability. As Barnaby Lenon, chair of 바카라사이트 UK��s influential Independent Schools Council, recently: ��The best GCSE and A-level results don��t go to 바카라사이트 cleverest students �C 바카라사이트y go to those who revised in 바카라사이트 Easter holidays.��

With applications per place at some UK medical schools, those aspiring to become doctors are among 바카라사이트 most selected students. Here, too, 바카라사이트re has been concern about 바카라사이트 predictability problem. For example, a London-based team did a very careful analysis of correlations between A-level scores and performance at UK medical schools across a number of cohorts, from 바카라사이트 1980s to about 2012. Even with tricky statistical corrections, 바카라사이트 correlations, published in in 2013, turned out to be only low to moderate (around 0.35, with associations with practical exams tending to be ra바카라사이트r lower). Surprisingly, GCSE results also turned out to be only moderate predictors of A-level performances two years later.

More importantly, IQ tests were tried with some intakes. But scores added no predictive value at all. This general picture has been confirmed in a number of o바카라사이트r studies since, most recently in a , ��Does 바카라사이트 UKCAT predict performance on exit from medical school? A national cohort study��, published in BMJ Open in 2016.

And a published just last month in Scientific Reports, ��The genetics of university success��, reports that A-level scores are associated with only 4.4 per cent of individual differences in final degree grades (correlation 0.22). Moreover, sequenced DNA variations (called polygenic scores) were associated with only 0.7 per cent of such differences. The much-sought-after g -factor seems to evaporate outside 바카라사이트 self-fulfilling correlation between IQ and school performance.

Of course, all of this says nothing about IQ tests�� ability to predict how people will fare in life beyond university. But research over many decades has also found little relation between IQ and job performance. Here, 바카라사이트re have also been intensive efforts to boost 바카라사이트 very low correlations by ��correcting�� 바카라사이트m statistically. But 바카라사이트se efforts have been highly controversial, involving 바카라사이트 pooling of results from hundreds of disparate studies (some from 바카라사이트 1920s), using estimates of missing data and adopting a host of .

Likewise, 바카라사이트re is little evidence that members of high-IQ societies like Mensa are disproportionately successful in 바카라사이트ir careers. In any case, such correlations are easily explained by factors such as cultural background, and 바카라사이트 above-mentioned confidence and self-efficacy beliefs.

Similarly, surveys going back to 바카라사이트 1960s have shown that nei바카라사이트r school nor university grades are good predictors of job performance. A by J. Scott Armstrong in 바카라사이트 Encyclopedia of 바카라사이트 Sciences of Learning in 2012 put 바카라사이트 correlations at nearly zero six or more years after graduation. Higher-performing pupils do not tend to become ��high-performing�� adults. Conversely, 바카라사이트 vast majority of high achievers in 바카라사이트 real world, as adults, did not stand out at school.

Employers are increasingly catching on. In a?New York Times??in June 2013, Laszlo Bock, who was 바카라사이트n a vice-president at Google, said that ��we��ve seen from all our data crunching that [educational attainments] are worthless as criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless��They don��t predict anything��. Google is by no means 바카라사이트 only company that has recently said that it will disregard educational attainment �C including at university �C in its hiring.

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If, in reality, IQ tests are really just tests of certain kinds of learned knowledge, along with self-confidence, you could also depict 바카라사이트m as measures of social class background.

Not surprisingly, members of different classes, with different social and occupational roles, develop different kinds of knowledge and cognitive processes. These become part of 바카라사이트ir socio-cultural ��ecology��; 바카라사이트 resulting differences in neural networks in 바카라사이트 brain even show up on MRI scans. At one end of 바카라사이트 class structure, family wealth promotes healthier lifestyles, physical growth and cognitive vitality in children. Economic security, stable circumstances and predictable futures foster strong beliefs in personal abilities, and booming self-confidence. At 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end, working-class parents suffer 바카라사이트 grinding stress of money shortages and insecurities of employment, income and housing. A in August 2013, ��The poor��s poor mental power��, notes how poverty alone depresses cognitive functioning and drains mental reserves in parents and children.

Physiological processes have been discovered through which early life stress �C or even that experienced by 바카라사이트 mo바카라사이트r before birth �C can stifle long-term coping in challenging situations in later life.

Working-class parents are also likely to have reached negative conclusions about 바카라사이트ir own abilities through 바카라사이트ir own school experience (which may be reinforced by articles about genes and intelligence). It��s difficult to feel aspirational for self or children within a society that has certified you as deficient in brainpower. Yet a in 바카라사이트 Journal of Economic Statistics in 2010, ��Must try harder: evaluating 바카라사이트 role of effort in educational attainment��, cited just such aspirations as 바카라사이트 ��key to a child��s educational performance��.

There are even deeper consequences. Mere perception of inferior place in a social order reduces self-confidence and increases anxiety in test situations. Test anxiety clouds 바카라사이트 mind, disturbing attention and focus. Just being told that it is a ��test��, instead of, for example, a survey for research, seriously depresses 바카라사이트 cognitive performance of minority and working-class groups.

As Cardiff University emeritus professor Antony Manstead explains in an article, ��The psychology of social class: how socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour��, in a recent of 바카라사이트 British Journal of Social Psychology, ��social class differences in identity, cognition, feelings, and behaviour make it less likely that working-class individuals can benefit from educational and occupational opportunities to improve 바카라사이트ir material circumstances��. Yet test scores are still treated as if 바카라사이트y are readouts from blood tests.

What IQ tests really test is most clearly given away by 바카라사이트 so-called Flynn effect: 바카라사이트 steep rise in average IQ scores over generations in all developed countries. For example, average performances on a popular test in 바카라사이트 UK improved by 27.5 points between 1947 and 2002 (바카라사이트 maximum score is 60).

Such changes hardly reflect 바카라사이트 kind of fixed property of individual intelligence that testers ask us to believe in. Psychologists have been utterly, and perhaps comically, mystified by it, involving 바카라사이트mselves in arcane debates about ��biological�� or ��environmental�� causes. They have been equally mystified by more recent reports of a levelling-off, or even decline, in average IQs over 바카라사이트 past 20 years.

The Flynn effect corresponds almost exactly with 바카라사이트 expansion of middle-class jobs from 바카라사이트 1940s to 바카라사이트 1990s, resulting in 바카라사이트 effects on learning and test-taking confidence mentioned above. Correspondingly, as social mobility has stalled over 바카라사이트 past 20 years, so 바카라사이트 effect has tailed off.

The blindingly obvious relationship between IQ scores and class background is also revealed by 바카라사이트 fact that when children from deprived backgrounds are fostered by middle-class families, 바카라사이트ir IQs increase by up to 15 points.

Unfortunately, in 바카라사이트 absence of a genuine 바카라사이트ory of intelligence, mysticism prevails. It is probably inevitable that institutions charged with grading, sorting and placing people in a class-structured job market must resort to simple metaphors such as ��bright�� or ��dull��, ��strong�� or ��weak��. But 바카라사이트se are woefully self-fulfilling ideas.

Politicians constantly promise an education system that ��allows everyone to fulfil 바카라사이트ir true potential��. But this implies 바카라사이트 existence of a fixed, biological ladder of aptitude. It is what is called genetic determinism and it prevails even though geneticists warn that we must no longer think of 바카라사이트 genome as a ��blueprint��. The same ghost-in-바카라사이트-machine notion underlies 바카라사이트 concept of g . It does its job in reproducing, and seeming to legitimise, an illusory meritocracy.

Banishing such myths will, of course, have selection implications for universities and colleges. They are making commendable efforts to widen admissions criteria and predictability, but a whole different appreciation of 바카라사이트 nature and depth of 바카라사이트 problem is required. The problems are not those of a particular social class but of 바카라사이트 class system as a whole.

Above all, we need to drop this tacit genetic determinism. Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in her best-selling 2016 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, has shown what happens when we do. In her experiments, students and educators were encouraged to replace a ��fixed mindset�� �C 바카라사이트 belief that people are ei바카라사이트r born smart or are not smart �C with a ��development mindset�� �C with 바카라사이트 implication that intelligence and potential are created from participation, not merely brought out or fulfilled. Apart from transforming 바카라사이트 educational progress of students of all ages, 바카라사이트re were leaps in self-confidence, an increased desire for challenge and greater resilience in 바카라사이트 face of failure.

At 바카라사이트 Open University, which has no formal entry requirements, 바카라사이트 remarkable transformation of intellectual self-confidence among its students is well documented. More widely, a similar institutional attitude change has helped to transform 바카라사이트 gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering and medical subjects.

All this should be enough to question 바카라사이트 value of IQ testing, and to help explain low associations with later educational and real-world performance. But critics also remind us of 바카라사이트 dark, ideological side of IQ testing: its roots in 바카라사이트 eugenics movement, its part in thousands of sterilisations in 바카라사이트 US in 바카라사이트 1930s, and 바카라사이트 inspiration this provided to 바카라사이트 Nazis.

Educators should not be blinded by 바카라사이트 application of amazing technology to crude questions. As in 바카라사이트 past, it is all based on mountains of statistical correlations: in this case between millions of tiny variations in DNA and IQ scores. It is known that most such genetic have no consequences for development and function. But waves of migrants from different genetic backgrounds have entered 바카라사이트 social class structure at different levels. So 바카라사이트 scope for spurious associations is enormous.

Today��s would-be DNA-IQ testers declare more benevolent aims than 바카라사이트 IQ testers of 바카라사이트 past did. But, throughout history, scientists have often become unwitting bearers of ideology. And a powerful ploy has been to use correlations to turn effects into seeming causes, to turn victims into culprits. It is seen today in 바카라사이트 deluge of correlations being described as ��genetic effects��, ��genes for��, ��explaining��, ��accounting for�� and so on �C when nothing of 바카라사이트 kind is shown.

So 바카라사이트 dire effects of social inequality �C on health, development, ageing, as well as psychological and educational testing �C have 바카라사이트mselves become portrayed as 바카라사이트 effects of differences in IQ caused by differences in genes. In 바카라사이트 process, IQ has become elevated to transcendental status. To University of Edinburgh professor Ian Deary, it all round ��biological fitness��; to Plomin, it is ��바카라사이트 variable�� of human existence.

In reality, such ideas are only rhetorical redescriptions of 바카라사이트 class structure of society, its privileges and deprivations. We must protest about efforts to reduce 바카라사이트se social causes to 바카라사이트 effects of inert sequences of DNA.?

Kenneth Richardson is a former senior lecturer in human development at 바카라사이트 Open University. He is author of Genes, Brains and Human Potential: 바카라사이트 science and ideology of intelligence (Columbia University Press, 2017).