Race and intelligence: Difference between revisions

Spearman's hypothesis states that the magnitude of the black-white difference in tests of cognitive ability is entirely or mainly a function of the extent to which a test measures general mental ability, or g. The hypothesis, first formalized by Arthur Jensen in the 1980s based on Charles Spearman's earlier comments on the topic, argues that differences in g are the sole or major source of differences between blacks and whites observed in many studies of race and intelligence.

Studies on Spearman's hypothesis have often confirmed that racial IQ differences between Blacks and Whites are in line with Spearman's hypothesis.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hartmann, Kruuse, Nyborg |journal=Intelligence |volume=35 |pages=47-57 |year=2007 |url=http://occidentalascent.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/hartmannspearmanshispanic.pdf |title=Testing the cross-racial generality of Spearman's hypothesis |ref=harv}}</ref> Some have criticized these results. Hunt and Carlson argues Spearman's hypothesis is just one of several models that could explain the observed distributions in test scores.<ref name="Hunt & Carlson 2007"/>