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Thread: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    from


    (snip)Birth rates are lowering across America, most of all among educated women. A 2010 Pew Research study found 24 percent of 40- to 44-year-old women with a master’s, doctoral or professional degree never had children. In 1994, 31 percent of that same demographic did not have children.

    In the US, some point to the rigidity of the current workplace and its expectations for success as a deterrent for working women who want children.

    “No one ever mentions the selflessness of women who choose not to have a baby, not because they wouldn't love one, but because they don't feel they are in a position to provide that baby with the kind of life it deserves,” Sadhbh Walshe wrote in a column for The Guardian.(snip)

    (snip)“I know this area of research and teach [the class] Women and Work to undergraduates who do not want to believe this is true. But it is.” Smock went on to explain that while women’s lives have changed substantially in recent decades, with more entering the workplace, the workplace has not changed enough accordingly. Even in workplaces with so-called family-friendly policies, “the CEOs are not leaving the office, by and large, early afternoon to see their daughter or son act in a 2nd grade play.” Many highly intelligent and highly educated women who enjoy their jobs and careers see the hours and effort required to successfully climb the ladder at the office, and ultimately determine, “something’s got to give, and for many highly successful women it is children.”(snip)

    (snip)Hirshman pointed out that there are fundamental changes occurring in American society that are having a direct impact on the increasing number of women bypassing marriage and motherhood, such as the impact of income inequality on child-rearing. (snip)

    I think the story is a much bigger story than a bunch of brainy women sitting around in earth shoes with their legs crossed,” she told the Washington Post. “The easy answer is if you’re smart you don’t want to have children but I’m not sure that’s the right interpretation of this data. But he isn’t controlling for another factor which is if you’re really smart and accomplished you have a tough time finding a worthwhile partner.”(snip)


    In light of this additional insight, could the author of the OP story has missed a key correlation ? Could it be as simple as the economic 'necessity' of two earner families increasingly being required to maintain a 'middle class' lifestyle ... and the resulting job pressures / schedule requirements being placed on the female workers ... leading to a case where a decision to have ( more ) children also means accepting a ( likely permanent ) reduction in the family's 'middle class' standard of living ?

    Validating this possibility would require a deeper analysis of the women actually having babies, versus the women who are not. Not wanting to steer this thread off the original point, but the following data would seem to be pertinent ...

    (snip)"A new study out of George Washington University School of Public Health finds that the number of births in the U.S. covered by Medicaid has risen again, from 40 percent of births in 2008 to 48 percent—nearly half of all births—in 2010.(snip)

    ... with the pertinent point being that women who are able to qualify for Medicaid cannot have substantial incomes, thus likely do not have the types of jobs where the employer requires mandatory working hours, where the employer bases job retention / pay raises / promotions on a record of successful work history ( versus lots of missed work days, leaves of absence etc. ). One obviously needs to be careful in inferring that Medicaid recipients ... thus their children ... 'automatically' have lower IQ's, however, because there doesn't appear to be any official published data to directly support that conclusion. However, there is a body of published data which appears to provide indirect support ... i.e. the elevated number of Medicaid recipients ( 47% in California ) ... and their children ... who are high school dropouts, etc.

    (snip)The first thing that should be apparent is that dropping out of school is rare for kids of either average SES [ socio-economic status - sic ] or intelligence. But dropout rates escalate dramatically for those of below average intelligence. IQ is more than a 3x predictor than SES of the school dropout.(snip)




    Shifting to a totally different aspect, author Hirschmann also raises another curious point ... that women who are 'smart and accomplished' may also hesitate to have children due to the level of difficulty in finding a 'worthwhile partner'. However, this potentially involves a 'whole 'nuther story' ... which I don't have the energy to delve into right now.
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-22-2014 at 02:56 AM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    My theory on why better educated women have a harder time finding a husband who will stay married long enough to have more than 1 kid- a lot of men truly want to feel like they have the upper hand in a marriage. It's hard to feel that way if the wife's education level exceeds her husband's.... even worse if she makes more money.

    BTW in my family university degrees are common because the local culture encourages education, plus my family's culture does too. My personal sentiment of "stupid people breeding too much" has to do with lower middle class culture that teaches young women that they "need" a man, so they trap men into marriages via kids (hood rat tactics.) If you saw birth control more available you would see less witless people having way too many kids they cannot afford.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by SnuffleUffleGrass View Post
    My theory on why better educated women have a harder time finding a husband who will stay married long enough to have more than 1 kid- a lot of men truly want to feel like they have the upper hand in a marriage. It's hard to feel that way if the wife's education level exceeds her husband's.... even worse if she makes more money.

    BTW in my family university degrees are common because the local culture encourages education, plus my family's culture does too. My personal sentiment of "stupid people breeding too much" has to do with lower middle class culture that teaches young women that they "need" a man, so they trap men into marriages via kids (hood rat tactics.) If you saw birth control more available you would see less witless people having way too many kids they cannot afford.
    I do see birth control very available (many schools with high teen pregnancies offer it like candy for example)but the problem is these women want lots of kids. It could be because they get welfare but it's also because they want to feel loved, which is sad. Many also get pregnant to trap the man but the problem is many of these men will still leave them anyway. There's also this problem in the hood (which is spreading to other areas)with multiple baby mamas/daddies. This used to be unacceptable but now many brag about the kids they had with various people. When I did online I came across many of these men and they were all income levels which is sad.

    I do agree with that idea about educating women having trouble finding a husband. I have a MA and it has scared men away. When I did online dating several men were turned off because they wanted a woman who would be submissive and they knew I wouldn't be because I didn't need their money. I read a study not long ago that was is happening with online dating is that tipping in favor of educated professional women and less educated men. Since women generally marry men at their education or above, and since many men still want less educated women, educated women are going to have to either dating someone less educated or not marry at all.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    I'm finding it hard to read/depressing (this thread) but I can't stay away either


    MANY MEN WANTED TO LAY ME DOWN, BUT FEW WANTED TO LIFT ME UP

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    @Kellydancer, you're aging yourself. But yeah I agree with the points made.
    "Fear is temporary. Regret is forever."--Unknown


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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Yeah sometimes I think I'm aging myself by all the thinking I do. I look at it as both my younger and older selves and it is depressing.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Aww you're Sweet, Kell, & we wuvs you


    MANY MEN WANTED TO LAY ME DOWN, BUT FEW WANTED TO LIFT ME UP

    -Eartha Kitt

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by Naiad View Post
    This may be controversial, but I'm surprised that this hasn't been brought up on the other comment section either - is it possible that these numbers are also affected by immigration and increasing proportions of certain "minority" populations that tend to have lower test results?

    I'm not suggesting that these populations are stupid, but iq tests were basically made for and by western/primarily white populations, at least that is one theory as to why many "minority" populations tend to score lower, because the tests are biased. It might not really translate well for people who come from certain backgrounds. Plus the fact that it only tests for certain types of intelligence, and the fact that a lot of these populations receive less education overall, or are not as encouraged to, have less exposure to, or in some cases unable to access certain types of resources due to a variety of complex socioeconomic and cultural factors.

    But beyond that, I agree that there are other factors that play into this, such as intelligent people having less children. It could be argued that the women's rights movement and access to birth control has something to do with this (another controversial idea, I know...but bear with me). Like, back in the day women were basically expected to have children, and on top of that it was difficult to have much of a choice on the matter. So it all kind of equaled out between less intelligent and more intelligent women. Now, an intelligent woman would be discouraged by many of her peers to have children, and there's a lot more pressure to have a career and "make use of your intelligence/abilities" in other ways (and she may very well prefer this, too). Whereas the "less intelligent" women continue to have more children for a variety of reasons, and though she may have access to birth control as well, she may be less concerned about the implications of it in terms of her career, the "use of her abilities", how her peers will view it, etc. (Totally not trying to say that if you have kids at a young age you're less intelligent. There are plenty of very intelligent and gifted, thoughtful women with kids and it's an extremely important and immense task. But at the very least where I'm from, the social pressure to not have children could be enough to change the mind of someone who is on the fence).

    I'm not really sure what the solution is to the above dilemma because I imagine that with the way we currently address it, less intelligent and educated people will probably always have more kids, on average, than women who are more intelligent. Touting the benefits of not having or waiting to have children will prob always seem more appealing and accessible to intelligent and ambitious women. But I'm not saying we all need to start pumping out babies. Maybe part of the solution is cultural, such as valuing intelligence more (both emotional and cognitive) and being less accepting of the garbage our society consumes via the media. Being less complacent. Having more resources for children and young adults who come from disadvantaged families and backgrounds, whether their family is just poor, or is supportive of poor life decisions, or is abusive, or they are facing discrimination, so then as adults they can break away from the cycle, whether they choose to have children or not.

    And I agree that our environment and quality of our food, and other cultural factors, such as our use of technology, having lower standards (arguably, or perhaps it's more complex then that), and increased social isolation play a role as well.
    I personally don't think that has much to do with it because a.) this country always has a lot of immigrants every decade, and b.) a lot of immigrants from Asia or even the Middle East relocate here with a fuckton of resources. Many come to work in tech, or just come from massive resources like oil money. These foreign nations often already produce people that are more intelligent just because they have lots of resources and are taught to be ambitious.

    And if you think about it, unless they border the U.S., how are poor people even getting here with a lack of resources? The only border state I could even think of that has a large poor population is Mexico. I would think that still, more wealthy people migrate here from other countries, than poor people.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    I side-stepped this issue earlier, but here goes. Before I left NY, one of my BFF's was a former dancer who made a bunch of money, subsequently became a 'professional student', and eventually wound up working as a high school principal after running out of post-grad courses. The guy she eventually married was an absolute 'hunk' ... but also a HVAC technician. Thus while they both had similar incomes, she had a doctorate and he had a vocational tech certificate. Everything worked out great for the first few years. But age began to take its toll ... on the husband !!! Thinning hair, expanding beer gut, and 'poof' she gave him the boot !!! As such, it was a good thing ( after the fact ) that they had both been too busy pursuing their careers to think about children.

    The point is that, while my BFF might have been a bit before her time, she also exemplifies the complications in today's world of relatively high earning, relatively well educated, strong and self-assured 'professional' women. And bottom line in that equation is that they may 'want' a man, but they certainly don't 'need' a man. Collateral effect of course ... as was pointed out in earlier snippets regarding 'middle class' working women and employer requirements ... is that serious pursuit of a career and having children tend to be 'mutually exclusive'.

    So where does that leave us in terms of who is actually having babies. Well, if not pursuing a long term full time job has become a de-facto requirement for having children, that basically leaves two categories. The first was just discussed ... i.e. welfare / medicaid recipients, where having children arguably 'improves' their financial situation in lieu of a full time job. The second are the seriously rich, where there is enough money available in the household via inherited wealth, via a husband with a very high income level etc., that the family's standard of living will not change if the wife / mother spends a couple of decades raising children while not earning a second paycheck.

    By 'pure coincidence' this corresponds to the two documented areas of 'growth' in today's economy ... the top 10% earners, and the bottom 40% social welfare benefit recipients.


    I would think that still, more wealthy people migrate here from other countries, than poor people.
    The facts of the matter appear to be as follows ...

    - In terms of serious money, indeed there is now a rash of Chinese, middle eastern, and occasional Russian millionaires immigrating to the USA. This is arguably the result of America's 'instant legal residence if you spend a lot of money' EB-5 visa program. Latest figures show 7,600 applicants last year.

    - In terms of middle class money, there's the H1-B visa program for foreign 'professionals'. Latest figures show a capped 85,000 applicants this year. Indeed H1-B based immigrants do have some financial resources to start with, and will acquire additional financial resources once working in the USA ( albeit at somewhat lower pay rates than US citizen 'professionals' ). There are also some smaller guest worker programs, probably bringing the total 'profession' related immigrants to somewhere around 100,000 per year.

    - In terms of working class immigrants ...

    Categories Ceilings 2012 Admissions

    Relatives 680,799
    Immediate Relatives of United States Citizens Unlimited 478,780
    Unmarried Adult Children of United States Citizens 23,400 20,660
    Spouses and Unmarried Adult Children of Residents 114,200 99,709
    Married Adult Children of United States Citizens 23,400 21,752
    Siblings of United States Citizens 65,000 59,898

    Employment Preferences 140,000 143,998
    Priority Workers 40,040 39,316
    Professionally Exceptional 40,040 59,959
    Skilled and Unskilled Workers and Professionals 40,040 39,229

    Special Immigrants 9,940 7,866
    Investors 9,940 6,628
    Other 225,247
    Lottery 55,000 40,320
    Refugees 90,000 105,258
    Asylees Unlimited 45,086
    Miscellaneous 16,170

    Legal Immigrants, Total 1,031,631

    ... which illustrates that ~90% of legal US immigrants do not have an abundance of education or financial resources. Many are refugees and asylum seekers who left their home countries with next to nothing. Many are relatives of legal US immigrants who also leave their home country with very little. Many more are 'temporary' non-professional workers ( farm labor, construction labor, etc. ) who also leave their home country with very little, and who don't earn very much from their 'temporary' US jobs.

    And then, of course, we get to the topic of illegal US immigrants. While statistics on this topic are nebulous, concensus seems to be that the 'net' number of illegal immigrants ( i.e. illegal border crossers minus deportations ) is now somewhere around the 1,000,000 mark - about equal to total legal US immigrants. Obviously, the vast majority of these illegal US immigrants bring virtually nothing with them in the way of financial resources.

    So to answer your question, perhaps 3-5% of annual US immigrants are in fact top 10% earners, and only 7,600 / 2 million or 0.4% are millionaire 'wealthy'.

    And to circle back onto the central topic, birth rates for US immigrants are significantly higher than for US citizens in general. See ... which lists 3.5 children per Mexican immigrant, 2.3 children per Chinese immigrant, and 3.1 children per illegal immigrant. The CIS study also includes the following observations ...

    (snip)While immigrant fertility is significantly higher than that of natives, their presence in the United States is not the reason the overall fertility rate in the United States is much higher than in other western countries. Fertility in the U.S. is roughly 2.0 children, with or without immigrants.

    • New immigrants (legal and illegal) plus births to immigrants add some 2.3 million people to the United States each year, accounting for most of the nation's population increase.

    • Immigrant fertility differs by education level much more than that of natives. For example, immigrants without a high school degree have 3.3 children on average, 74 percent higher than the 1.9 children for college graduate immigrants. In contrast, native high school dropouts have 2.3 children on average, only 27 percent higher than the 1.8 fertility for native college graduates.

    • Because immigrant fertility differs so much by education, immigrants now account for more than one in three births to mothers without a high school diploma(snip)
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-22-2014 at 03:24 PM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by whirlerz View Post
    Aww you're Sweet, Kell, & we wuvs you
    Ah, you're so sweet too.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by GlamourRouge View Post
    I personally don't think that has much to do with it because a.) this country always has a lot of immigrants every decade, and b.) a lot of immigrants from Asia or even the Middle East relocate here with a fuckton of resources. Many come to work in tech, or just come from massive resources like oil money. These foreign nations often already produce people that are more intelligent just because they have lots of resources and are taught to be ambitious.

    And if you think about it, unless they border the U.S., how are poor people even getting here with a lack of resources? The only border state I could even think of that has a large poor population is Mexico. I would think that still, more wealthy people migrate here from other countries, than poor people.
    I don't know the stat but I would suspect most legal immigrants are visa workers and most are likely childless. Illegal though is another issue and that is probably part of it. Most are uneducated beyond a fifth grade level according to many things I've read.

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    I side-stepped this issue earlier, but here goes. Before I left NY, one of my BFF's was a former dancer who made a bunch of money, subsequently became a 'professional student', and eventually wound up working as a high school principal after running out of post-grad courses. The guy she eventually married was an absolute 'hunk' ... but also a HVAC technician. Thus while they both had similar incomes, she had a doctorate and he had a vocational tech certificate. Everything worked out great for the first few years. But age began to take its toll ... on the husband !!! Thinning hair, expanding beer gut, and 'poof' she gave him the boot !!! As such, it was a good thing ( after the fact ) that they had both been too busy pursuing their careers to think about children.

    The point is that, while my BFF might have been a bit before her time, she also exemplifies the complications in today's world of relatively high earning, relatively well educated, strong and self-assured 'professional' women. And bottom line in that equation is that they may 'want' a man, but they certainly don't 'need' a man. Collateral effect of course ... as was pointed out in earlier snippets regarding 'middle class' working women and employer requirements ... is that serious pursuit of a career and having children tend to be 'mutually exclusive'.

    So where does that leave us in terms of who is actually having babies. Well, if not pursuing a long term full time job has become a de-facto requirement for having children, that basically leaves two categories. The first was just discussed ... i.e. welfare / medicaid recipients, where having children arguably 'improves' their financial situation in lieu of a full time job. The second are the seriously rich, where there is enough money available in the household via inherited wealth, via a husband with a very high income level etc., that the family's standard of living will not change if the wife / mother spends a couple of decades raising children while not earning a second paycheck.

    By 'pure coincidence' this corresponds to the two documented areas of 'growth' in today's economy ... the top 10% earners, and the bottom 40% social welfare benefit recipients.
    I do wonder if the changing role of corporate jobs will change all of this. I don't need a man, which is why I refuse to settle and many women are like this. As more women feel this way it will lead to more childless/childfree women which will be interesting.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    I don't know the stat but I would suspect most legal immigrants are visa workers and most are likely childless
    See my posted stats above. In fact only about 14% of legal immigrants are visa workers. The vast majority - 67% - of legal immigrants are relatives of previous legal immigrants ... who face no particular US immigration requirements regarding intelligence, education or socio-economic status. Of those legal immigrant relatives, many are in fact children. And of the legal immigrant adult relatives, many will have 3+ children once they settle in the USA.


    I do wonder if the changing role of corporate jobs will change all of this. I don't need a man, which is why I refuse to settle and many women are like this. As more women feel this way it will lead to more childless/childfree women which will be interesting
    It's very possible that 'where this wlll lead' is toward many of those intelligent, successful, self-assured women not passing on their chromosomes to another generation !!! According to the previously posted snippets, this has already been somewhat the
    case since the economic downturn of the 70's 'forced' lots of additional middle class women into the work force. Arguably, today's 'professional' women are under even more pressure not to have children than their middle class working mothers were.

    However, as the CIS study points out, the ( intelligent ) children that today's 'professional' women ( as well as middle class working women ) choose NOT to have will be more than made up for by the elevated birth rates of legal and illegal immigrants ... as well as by the elevated birth rates of social welfare recipient American citizen mothers, as was pointed out earlier. And, based on earlier author's claims, that might bring us full circle back to the title of this thread ... that IQ scores have been dropping in the US and other Western countries.
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-22-2014 at 03:28 PM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    See my posted stats above. In fact only about 14% of legal immigrants are visa workers. The vast majority - 67% - of legal immigrants are relatives of previous legal immigrants ... who face no particular US immigration requirements regarding intelligence, education or socio-economic status.
    Wouldn't the ones who are not on the U.S.'s radar (read: illegal), not participate in any data or studies that happen in the U.S. then?

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    ^^^ the 14% and 67% figures are for published data for 2012 legal immigrants only ... who total just over 1,000,000. You are correct that the additional 1,000,000 or so of illegal immigrants are not included in these figures ( potentially meaning that only 7% of ALL US immigrants entered via work visas ). Both the gov't and private think tanks like CIS do attempt to collect stats on illegal immigrants, but the accuracy of such data is obviously sketchy.

    The CIS figures it this way. There are about 1 million legal immigrants annually. There are about another 1 million illegal immigrants annually ( net of deportations ). And on top of these, the US population increases by another 300,000 annually due to children born to previous legal and illegal immigrants. Thus, using the CIS figures, a total annual US population contribution of 2.3 million was attributable to immigrants. With 316,364,000 total Americans in 2013, and 312,781,000 total Americans in 2012, annual US population growth was 3.6 million. Thus new ( legal and illegal ) immigration, plus previous years ( legal and illegal ) immigrants having children, was arguably responsible for 64% of America's population growth last year. Even if a low-ball 500,000 figure for annual illegal immigration is used, the percentage figure still comes out to be 58% !

    Either way, credible stats show that immigrants are now contributing more to US population growth than US citizens are !!! Combine that with the fact that the vast majority of ( legal and illegal ) immigrants are NOT highly educated / highly skilled, and also given the fact that 45+% of all US births last year were Medicaid eligible, the original author's 'claim' of this thread may very well have a factual explanation.


    Yeah sometimes I think I'm aging myself by all the thinking I do. I look at it as both my younger and older selves and it is depressing.
    Don't sweat it Kellydancer. I've been told many times that as long as a woman's age doesn't exceed her bust measurement she's still good to go !!!
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-22-2014 at 03:34 PM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    There are a LOT of factors being overlooked in this discussion, the net result of which is - rather than trying to find A cause, it's obvious that there are a plethora of contributing factors. Has anyone accounted for the fact that autistic spectrum disorders cause people to score 15-25% lower than they should on an IQ test, and that autism has spiked in the last 50 years? Or that sleep and hydration can both affect IQ score performance, and most Americans are chronically dehydrated and exhausted? What about the actual testing? Has it become more rigorous, less rigorous (i.e. the problem is actually WORSE than we think), or static - and has it changed to suit the type of education and exposure that the test takers (testees? :p) have today? And so on. Far too many threads to follow without condusting a MASSIVE, multi-pronged study.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    ^^^ I'll certainly agree with you that there are a lot of 'gray areas' in the author's claim. IQ test accuracy ( or lack thereof ), and changes in IQ test accuracy over time, are certainly part of those 'gray areas'.

    But that doesn't alter the fact that some factors carry MAJOR weight, while other factors carry far less weight. In regard to Autistic disorders, CDC estimates 1 in 68 Americans are affected today, versus 1 in 150 Americans being affected a generation ago. Thus Autistic disorder distortion of IQ test results is arguably a ~1% factor.

    I'll agree that the various authors' observations certainly do not constitute a 'scientific' study. But they appeared to qualify as an interesting topic for discussion, given that a significant segment of the SW 'audience' falls into the category of intelligent, educated, 'professional', independent women which the authors' observations specifically address.
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-22-2014 at 04:52 PM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    well, whether or not IQ is something you inherit or nature rather than nature is something that is debated too, i think some came to the conclusion that only about 50% of differences in IQs can be attributed to genetics, and that's debated as well by the scientific community.
    i still think it has much more to do with the horrible foods we eat, fluoride, and technology that fries our brains and makes us lazy

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  20. #43
    God/dess ScarletKitten's Avatar
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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    I don't believe that humans have an intellectual peak. I theorize that humans have the capability to keep increasing their intelligence and the growth of neuron synapses, and that there is no such thing as reaching a limit to that, unless by using control methods to keep yourself dumbed down, through various means.

    I know that psychedelic mushrooms, for example, CREATE new brain cells and neural pathways. Therefore, there really is no limit to the evolution of human intelligence. Of course, world governments are doing everything they can to suppress this information, and also to keep dumbing us down on multiple fronts.

    And yes, western culture is completely entrenched in the dumbing down of its people. It reminds me of what George Carlin said - "Keep the people just smart enough to do their jobs and the paperwork, but just dumb enough not to question anything." (I'm paraphrasing here.)

    All the ways I am aware of that the governments are attempting and mostly succeeding in dumbing us down:

    1. Fluoride in the water supply, toothpaste, and dental work.

    2. Heavy metal poisoning such as mercury consumption.

    3. Massive MK-ULTRA programming methods used on us since the 40's. This is a huge topic I can't really get into right now, but it's definitely a MAJOR factor.

    4. Advertisements bombarding our brain space via TV, internet, magazines, billboards, radios, etc.

    5. The constant flickering on TV, the light frequency of light bulbs (esp. fluorescent lighting), cell phone tower frequencies, and other frequencies being used all over this planet (such as HAARP) all contribute to the mass insanity being done to our brains. These frequencies exhaust our brain and put us in a fight-or-flight mode which leaves us in a constant state of stress which shuts down our brains. I could get more into this, here, but it's too much.

    6. Extremely poor diet (which was already mentioned in this thread many times.) What you feed your brain is what you become. Meat comes from diseased, tortured, extremely-stressed, and broken animals raised in factory farms, and then forced into slaughterhouses where they smell and see death all around them. Therefore, their bodies release stress/fear/pain hormones just before they die, which then becomes stored in the meat. When you consume meat, you are consuming this stress/fear/pain into your body, which adds even more stress to your body and slowly begins to shut down brain cell growth, etc.

    7. Mass brainwashing and propaganda by the media, education system, and religion.

    8. The fact that certain natural plants and mushrooms are ILLEGAL (making nature illegal is fucking RIDICULOUS and CRIMINAL) makes it more difficult to take part in these sacred substances, which are, in fact, responsible for the evolution of the human brain to begin with! Since the beginning of human presence on this planet, they have been consuming psychedelic substances which evolve the human brain. Now that this culture completely suppressed these substances, (although we are seeing them becoming more mainstream now, with cannabis legalization in certain states) our intelligence and evolution suffers greatly by not embracing these sacred gifts.

    9. Most people ARE dehydrated and highly stressed in this culture. It's so sad. The more stressed you are, the harder your brain must work to function properly, and that causes its slow degradation.

    These reasons and many other reasons are causing this massive devolution of human intelligence. I fight this everyday. I value my brain, and I have the right to experiment and evolve my own consciousness/ intelligence!

    Good thread!
    "Dancing tables, making deals with devils like a drunk beauty queen"

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    this thread is hilarious
    "There are different kinds of darkness. There is darkness that frightens, the darkness that soothes, the darkness that is restful. There is the darkness of lovers, and the darkness of assassins. It becomes what the bearer wishes it to be, needs it to be. It is not wholly bad or good."
    - The Court of Mist and Fury

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    lol why is it hilarious?

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Is an article from "The Daily Mail": they're like the British "The New York Post" or "Washington Times".

    Nobody cares.





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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by simone87 View Post
    lol why is it hilarious?
    A lot of these posts resemble shit you'd read on www.infowars.com or www.naturalnews.com

    You know, quackery sites with very little empirical and scientific data.





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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Is an article from "The Daily Mail": they're like the British "The New York Post" or "Washington Times".

    Nobody cares.
    I would point out that the first snippet on this page is from the Washington Post ... which is fairly highly regarded. Agreed that this 'theory' is not of any great interest to mainstream media. There is certainly a lot of potential for discussion among SW readers though, if for no other reason than SW readers having a large contingent of 'professional' women.

    As to mentions of MK-ULTRA, cell phone frequencies, flouride, HAARP etc. neither the authors of this 'theory', nor myself, raised such topics. Whether their mention was a genuine opinion by a good faith poster, or a co-ordinated attempt to relegate the authors' 'theory' to the 'tin foil hat' category thus discrediting via association, is obviously unknown.

    In regard to 'nobody cares', I'll try to very carefully point out that somebody cares ... the gov't. The reason they care is that, 18 years from now, those 300,000 of annual babies born to ( legal and illegal ) immigrant parents, and the babies born to medicaid eligible mothers, will be registered voters ... while the children NOT born to 'professional' and middle class working women will not be casting any votes !
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-23-2014 at 02:58 AM.

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by Jay12 View Post
    A lot of these posts resemble shit you'd read on www.infowars.com or www.naturalnews.com

    You know, quackery sites with very little empirical and scientific data.
    Yes, this is what I meant. I swear, I don't know where some of this BS comes from. I feel like I might as well start yelling THE SKY IS GREEN! And I know the sky is green because mercury is in retrograde, and I read it on a blog once, so it's a FACT. But seriously, whatever.
    "There are different kinds of darkness. There is darkness that frightens, the darkness that soothes, the darkness that is restful. There is the darkness of lovers, and the darkness of assassins. It becomes what the bearer wishes it to be, needs it to be. It is not wholly bad or good."
    - The Court of Mist and Fury

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    Default Re: IQ scores are Decreasing in Western Countries

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    I would point out that the first snippet on this page is from the Washington Post ... which is fairly highly regarded. Agreed that this 'theory' is not of any great interest to mainstream media. There is certainly a lot of potential for discussion among SW readers though, if for no other reason than SW readers having a large contingent of 'professional' women.

    As to mentions of MK-ULTRA, cell phone frequencies, flouride, HAARP etc. neither the authors of this 'theory', nor myself, raised such topics. Whether their mention was a genuine opinion by a good faith poster, or a co-ordinated attempt to relegate the authors' 'theory' to the 'tin foil hat' category thus discrediting via association, is obviously unknown.

    In regard to 'nobody cares', I'll try to very carefully point out that somebody cares ... the gov't. The reason they care is that, 18 years from now, those 300,000 of annual babies born to ( legal and illegal ) immigrant parents, and the babies born to medicaid eligible mothers, will be registered voters ... while the children NOT born to 'professional' and middle class working women will not be casting any votes !
    This is why it's important. You think test scores are low now with kids? wait until 20 years or so from now. It's not just voting though, there are all the other factors that will play a part. It's truly scary.

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