The Effect of Biracial Status and Color on Crystallized Intelligence in the U.S.-Born African–European American Population

“To explore the data further, we tested for mediation using the variables in Model 2 ([25]; Aroian test).”

“As a result, there are no standard values for assessing reliability [22].”

“Applying the standard formula to correct the correlation for unreliability in both color and Wordsum [24], given the weighted ICCs noted in Section 3.”

“These results have been cited as evidence in favor of a hereditarian hypothesis for racial differences in intelligence [3].”

“Nonetheless, while indices of BGA are generally acknowledged to be correlated with SES in admixed populations—in sociology, this association is often interpreted as evidence of race-associated phenotypic-based discrimination, called “colorism” [13]—whether these indices do so with cognitive ability continues to be dis…”

“Concerns about reverse causality (in this case, individual SES→ cognitive ability) can be addressed using longitudinal data and by looking at the extent to which cognitive ability measured prior to completing schooling and/or entering the workforce explains completed education and/or employment outcomes [36,37].”

“Thus, contra what has sometimes been claimed [26,27], one could not expect a more than small correlation given the population examined and the measures used.”

“44) [2], Lynn (2002a) [1] took this association as confirmatory evidence that European genetic ancestry positively correlates with cognitive ability in this population [1].”

“, reference [23]) and as there is range restriction in the degree of White background in this population.”

“Concerns about reverse causality (in this case, individual SES→ cognitive ability) can be addressed using longitudinal data and by looking at the extent to which cognitive ability measured prior to completing schooling and/or entering the workforce explains completed education and/or employment outcomes [36,37].”

“, [21]), the color measure has low reliability.”

“We note that we tried IRT (Item Response Theory) scores as an alternative as they have previously been found to have increased reliability [18], but the effect was non-substantial, so we used simple Wordsum scores to aid replicability.”

“Thus, contra what has sometimes been claimed [26,27], one could not expect a more than small correlation given the population examined and the measures used.”

“The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis [1,9] that indices of BGA are associated with cognitive ability scores in African and European American populations.”

“Lynn (2002a) [1] analyzed the 1982 General Social Survey (GSS) and found a small but significant correlation between interviewer-rated skin color and Wordsum vocabulary scores in the self-identifying African American population (r = 0.17, p 0.01, N = 430) [1].”

“Given the results, the most parsimonious explanation is that European genetic ancestry correlates with cognitive ability among self-identifying African Americans, as found by Kirkegaard et al. (2019) [28].”

“Nonetheless, while indices of BGA are generally acknowledged to be correlated with SES in admixed populations—in sociology, this association is often interpreted as evidence of race-associated phenotypic-based discrimination, called “colorism” [13]—whether these indices do so with cognitive ability continues to be dis…”

“The exchange between Lynn (2002a; b) [1,5] and Hill (2002) [4] raises at least three issues of interest: Does color robustly correlate with cognitive ability among African Americans?”

“This interpretation is consistent with a large number of—though not all—older studies [6] and with studies on the relation between genetic ancestry and individual SES [8].”

“To be clear, by “biogeographic ancestry (BGA),” we mean geographic–racial ancestry in the natural scientific sense (for conceptual clarification, see reference [7]).”

“Lynn (2002a) [1] analyzed the 1982 General Social Survey (GSS) and found a small but significant correlation between interviewer-rated skin color and Wordsum vocabulary scores in the self-identifying African American population (r = 0.17, p 0.01, N = 430) [1].”

“Additionally, replicating and extending the results of Lynn (2002) [18], Fuerst, Lynn, and Kirkegaard (2019) found that biracial status and color were associated with crystallized intelligence among African Americans [19].”

“Additionally, children with mixed heritage (e.g. a Black and a White parent) generally score in between the scores of children from each parental population, as has been shown based on several large national studies (Gullickson, 2005; Fuerst et al., 2019; Rowe & Rodgers, 2005).”