Open Veils · Answer
Are there racial differences in average IQ?
Measured score differentials between racial groups on cognitive tests are among the most replicated findings in psychometrics — the dispute is entirely about causation, not the gaps themselves. The hereditarian, environmentalist, and gene-environment interaction camps each marshal peer-reviewed data. What is suppressed is not the gap data but the full range of causal hypotheses and the researchers willing to publish on them.
Evidence
- The score differentials are documented across decades of occupational and educational testing.
- (2001), cited in a 2025 Trends in Psychology systematic review, found approximately one standard deviation separating Black and White mean scores on cognitive ability tests in occupational samples; a 2022 Sackett et al. meta-analysis revised that figure slightly downward to d = .79, still a large effect.
- Arthur Jensen's work, particularly his 1969 Harvard Educational Review paper and later 'The g Factor' (1998), argued that the Black-White gap shows disproportionate loading on g and is not fully explained by SES.
- Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen's national IQ datasets, refined in successive volumes, form the backbone of the geopolitical intelligence literature.
- Linda Gottfredson's research documented how the gap persists after controlling for many environmental proxies.