Distribution of Jews in central and eastern Europe, circa 1900 (Wikicommons) For almost a millennium, Ashkenazi Jews saw their mean cognitive ability steadily increase from one generation to the next. That increase ended in the 20th century and has given way to a noticeable decline since the 1970s.
One important aspect was left out. In an Ashkenazi person's career, in addition to their own genetics/skills, their network of contacts also plays a big role. A person's close social network of people with whom he or she has intellectual and social connections is in the hundreds. The average Jewish person (IQ110) will have 9 people in the IQ range above 130 in his network of contacts, while the average European (IQ 100) will have 2... In addition to mixed marriages and the end of endogamy, the decline in Ashkenazi performance is also associated with a decline in the smart fraction of their network of contacts.
It is an interesting thought that monogamy is beneficial because it increases the reproductive importance of upper-class women. In a world of high infant mortality this makes perfect sense, as the lower-class pairings would simply have fewer children and in a polygamous society the upper-class men share resources with children from upper and lower class. A very good point that I had not thought about before.
What about all the illustrious Quaker-dynasties? Not mentioned much among all you IQ-nerds. I guess they sort of died out, so there's so current data to study. But I guess they kind of started the whole hereditary genius-thing. Guess Galton also was inspired by them?
Thanks, very interesting. I assume plenty of losses in the competitions are explainable by outcrowding by asians, but still seems like a solid evidence.
Out of curiosity, is there any way to try to estimate Amish IQ?
Intelligence may be a blessing or a curse - depending on the support and accept from your culture/etnic group and/or culture. - Interesting, I think, section about the alleged super-genius Christopher Langan vs. Bob Oppenheimer:
"In comparing the lack of academic and life success of Langan to the successes of Robert Oppenheimer, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, in his 2008 book Outliers, points to the background and social skills of the two men. Oppenheimer was raised in a wealthy cosmopolitan neighborhood in Manhattan. His father was a successful businessman and his mother was an artist, he was educated at the Ethical Culture School and summered in Europe, and studied at Harvard University and subsequently started a PhD at Cambridge University. Gladwell points to an illustrating example: when Oppenheimer tried to poison his tutor at Cambridge, he used his social savvy and his parents used their influence to have Oppenheimer merely sent for psychiatric help without any criminal or academic consequences; in contrast, when Langan's mother missed a deadline for financial aid, Langan lost his scholarship and when Langan tried to convince college administration at Reed College to switch a class to a later time (owing to a broken down car) his request was denied. Langan grew up in poverty and had an unsettled early life filled with abuse, which created a resentment of authority which Gladwell reported Langan still carried during his interview decades after his academic hardships. He had had little or no guidance from his parents or his teachers, and never developed the social skills needed to cope with and overcome his challenges.[7]: 108–110 "
One more thing - promise: So the Catholic church basically killed off the smartest, most bookish people via celibacy for almost 2000 years? Priests, monks and nuns? Cool -not! May also have had positive societal effects though - surplus poeple (men) may just have started even more wars.
But may be an area of study: Orthodox, Jews, Lutheran and non-European religions didn't neuter their best brains. Maybe the ascendancy of North-West Europe was due to the Lutheran priest suddenly being able to marry and procreate. Of course e.g. Weber writes about Protestant ethics as factor behind capitalism and such. But what about smart genes suddenly not being lost from arund 16th century?
And what about Orthodox priest-effect in places like Russia? In Germany and Scandinavia for sure there were/are dynasties of Protestant priests for 10+ generations (who from around 1850 diversified to law, science, medicine, arts etc).
I digress: What about homosexuals and intelligence. Some indication that they (men) score quite high. If there's such a thing as homo gene and IQ, they probably had to procreate like it or not (marriage and procreate being the done thing). A lot of these now probably don't procreate and maybe adopt, but generally are much less "forced" to procreate compared to before. So will homesexuals die out (and maybe some IQ-"talent") due to less societal pressure to marry like "normal" people?
One important aspect was left out. In an Ashkenazi person's career, in addition to their own genetics/skills, their network of contacts also plays a big role. A person's close social network of people with whom he or she has intellectual and social connections is in the hundreds. The average Jewish person (IQ110) will have 9 people in the IQ range above 130 in his network of contacts, while the average European (IQ 100) will have 2... In addition to mixed marriages and the end of endogamy, the decline in Ashkenazi performance is also associated with a decline in the smart fraction of their network of contacts.
It is an interesting thought that monogamy is beneficial because it increases the reproductive importance of upper-class women. In a world of high infant mortality this makes perfect sense, as the lower-class pairings would simply have fewer children and in a polygamous society the upper-class men share resources with children from upper and lower class. A very good point that I had not thought about before.
What about all the illustrious Quaker-dynasties? Not mentioned much among all you IQ-nerds. I guess they sort of died out, so there's so current data to study. But I guess they kind of started the whole hereditary genius-thing. Guess Galton also was inspired by them?
Thanks, very interesting. I assume plenty of losses in the competitions are explainable by outcrowding by asians, but still seems like a solid evidence.
Out of curiosity, is there any way to try to estimate Amish IQ?
So Ashkenazi made their money that they’d go on to use in moneylending from slave trading white Europeans?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Langan
Intelligence may be a blessing or a curse - depending on the support and accept from your culture/etnic group and/or culture. - Interesting, I think, section about the alleged super-genius Christopher Langan vs. Bob Oppenheimer:
"In comparing the lack of academic and life success of Langan to the successes of Robert Oppenheimer, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, in his 2008 book Outliers, points to the background and social skills of the two men. Oppenheimer was raised in a wealthy cosmopolitan neighborhood in Manhattan. His father was a successful businessman and his mother was an artist, he was educated at the Ethical Culture School and summered in Europe, and studied at Harvard University and subsequently started a PhD at Cambridge University. Gladwell points to an illustrating example: when Oppenheimer tried to poison his tutor at Cambridge, he used his social savvy and his parents used their influence to have Oppenheimer merely sent for psychiatric help without any criminal or academic consequences; in contrast, when Langan's mother missed a deadline for financial aid, Langan lost his scholarship and when Langan tried to convince college administration at Reed College to switch a class to a later time (owing to a broken down car) his request was denied. Langan grew up in poverty and had an unsettled early life filled with abuse, which created a resentment of authority which Gladwell reported Langan still carried during his interview decades after his academic hardships. He had had little or no guidance from his parents or his teachers, and never developed the social skills needed to cope with and overcome his challenges.[7]: 108–110 "
One more thing - promise: So the Catholic church basically killed off the smartest, most bookish people via celibacy for almost 2000 years? Priests, monks and nuns? Cool -not! May also have had positive societal effects though - surplus poeple (men) may just have started even more wars.
But may be an area of study: Orthodox, Jews, Lutheran and non-European religions didn't neuter their best brains. Maybe the ascendancy of North-West Europe was due to the Lutheran priest suddenly being able to marry and procreate. Of course e.g. Weber writes about Protestant ethics as factor behind capitalism and such. But what about smart genes suddenly not being lost from arund 16th century?
And what about Orthodox priest-effect in places like Russia? In Germany and Scandinavia for sure there were/are dynasties of Protestant priests for 10+ generations (who from around 1850 diversified to law, science, medicine, arts etc).
I digress: What about homosexuals and intelligence. Some indication that they (men) score quite high. If there's such a thing as homo gene and IQ, they probably had to procreate like it or not (marriage and procreate being the done thing). A lot of these now probably don't procreate and maybe adopt, but generally are much less "forced" to procreate compared to before. So will homesexuals die out (and maybe some IQ-"talent") due to less societal pressure to marry like "normal" people?
Interesting. Just browsed through - don't have time for detailed comment. But interesting.
Is there similar research on Sephardic Jews?