http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/26/ohio-s...hristians/

(07-28-2014 09:20 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/26/ohio-s...hristians/

Oh, this will not cause any controversy.

You know what IQ tests measure? How good you are at taking IQ tests.

(07-28-2014 09:20 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/26/ohio-s...hristians/

#1 - As we've seen time and time again, these days it's open season on Christianity and this is an example of a more subtle or passive aggressive attack on the faith.
#2 - It's not just happening at Ohio State but on college campuses all across the country conservative and christian values are increasingly facing intolerance at institutions that are supposed to stand for equality, tolerance and freedom of thought, ideas and opinion.
#3 - If this was actually true I'll take the lower IQ and live on comfortably in my beliefs and values any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Someone's forgetting Obama is a Christian.

This is an incorrect application of statistics. Whatever the difference in average IQ for the large group does not translate to individual members of the group in the manner suggested. Regardless of the average IQ's of the two groups, they group numbers represent averages for a distribution, and there will be plenty of Christians with IQs of 125 and plenty of atheists with IQs of 100. Bottom line, the suggested inference is not justified.

If you're gonna insult an entire group of people then do it right.

I didn't realize there were that many Christians in Africa.

(07-28-2014 09:51 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  If you're gonna insult an entire group of people then do it right.

Be careful with the 'O' word.

IQ tests measures the ability to learn.

Here's an actual study:



http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2...9cSDPldWSo

I think the most interesting thing about this study is that atheists/agnostics aren't even the most "intelligent" group if you break down Christian denominations. I also find it interesting that there isn't a massive gap in IQ between the groups.

When I saw the title, i thought it was some stupid "class study".

It's not even that.. it's a question some teaching assistant put on a test to attack Christians.

(07-28-2014 09:46 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Someone's forgetting Obama is a Christian.

That's so easy to do in all "57 states."

Once again, I question the method that supposed IQ is factored.

With that said, Christianity isn’t exclusive to the super smart…
people of all intellectual groups have access to the faith
and lifestyle. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear
are welcomed, thus requiring wisdom rather than intellect.

ZSU's new president just fired the band director for allowing hazing.

Wonder if he'll have the cojones to get rid of the creator of this test.

Notice there wasn't any mention of Hindus, Buddists and Shintoists(sic).

The average IQ of Indians and Asians living in the US probably tops 120.

(07-29-2014 07:46 AM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  Notice there wasn't any mention of Hindus, Buddists and Shintoists(sic).

The average IQ of Indians and Asians living in the US probably tops 120.

I’ve heard that the Americans living abroad have a higher
intellect than the average American living in the States.

(07-29-2014 09:53 AM)AngryAphid Wrote:  

(07-29-2014 07:46 AM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  Notice there wasn't any mention of Hindus, Buddists and Shintoists(sic).

The average IQ of Indians and Asians living in the US probably tops 120.

I’ve heard that the Americans living abroad have a higher
intellect than the average American living in the States.

There is a certain logic to this.

Take Indians. There are about 1 billion but only the most educated, ie. doctors, engineers, IT, end up migrating to the US, thus raising the US average and giving the false impression that Indians are generally smarter. Even refuges from SE Asia would tend to be smarter than average, since they were bright enough to escape to the US.

Now Americans living abroad usually get there by being selected by their employers for overseas assignments. The dim bulbs aren't going to get picked. Further, people who choose to become expats and move on their own likely have enough confidence and language skills, that they are not intimidated by relocating. Again, these folks would seem to be from the smarter gene poll.

(07-28-2014 09:48 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  This is an incorrect application of statistics. Whatever the difference in average IQ for the large group does not translate to individual members of the group in the manner suggested. Regardless of the average IQ's of the two groups, they group numbers represent averages for a distribution, and there will be plenty of Christians with IQs of 125 and plenty of atheists with IQs of 100. Bottom line, the suggested inference is not justified.

You are mistaken on this point. The question asked which would you expect. If you assume a normal distribution for each group and pluck one observation from each, you would expect the one from the distribution with a higher mean IQ to have the higher IQ. A better argument is that these IQ differences may be statistically significant, but they lack any practical significance in daily life because the differences aren't really that large.

There's a nice meta-analysis published last year (Zuckerman, Silberman, & Hall) that documents a negative relationship between measures of intelligence and religious beliefs. The more interesting part isn't that relationship, since that has been documented in various studies over many decades, but instead why that relationship exists. They offer several plausible explanations. It's an interesting read if you have access.

(07-29-2014 10:33 AM)UM2001GRAD Wrote:  You are mistaken on this point. The question asked which would you expect. If you assume a normal distribution for each group and pluck one observation from each, you would expect the one from the distribution with a higher mean IQ to have the higher IQ. A better argument is that these IQ differences may be statistically significant, but they lack any practical significance in daily life because the differences aren't really that large.
There's a nice meta-analysis published last year (Zuckerman, Silberman, & Hall) that documents a negative relationship between measures of intelligence and religious beliefs. The more interesting part isn't that relationship, since that has been documented in various studies over many decades, but instead why that relationship exists. They offer several plausible explanations. It's an interesting read if you have access.

Umm, no.

You did touch, perhaps inadvertently, upon the key point. What you'd have to know in order to draw any inferences of the type addressed in the question, is not just the mean but also the distribution. Even with a normal distribution, you would need to consider not just the mean, but also the standard deviation, the extent to which the data points are scattered or not. A lower mean with a higher standard deviation might well produce a greater likelihood of BOTH 125 and 100 IQs than a higher mean with a lower standard deviation. Based on some data posted previously, I think in a prior response to this thread, the 125 would be slightly more than one standard deviation away from the mean for atheists, agnostics, and believers in most denominations, while 100 would be slightly less than one standard deviation away from the mean for most of those same groups. At that range, the level of correlation implied by the question would be fairly small, certainly not reasonable to say that you would EXPECT that result. The one thing that might be argued as saving the question is that the other choices are even more unlikely. That's why I originally said that my answer was "e. none of the above."

Also, you ASSUMED a normal distribution. That's not given in the problem. Nor is location given in the problem. I doubt you'd get the same result in Saudi, although it's probably reasonable to conclude that the question assumed Ohio. And in Ohio, whatever the difference in occurrence of both 125 and 100 IQs in both the Christian and atheist populations would probably be hugely outweighed by the Christian/atheist composition of the population as a whole. "Aine is a Christian and Theo is a Christian" is probably a far more likely outcome that "Aine is an atheist and Theo is a Christian."

In any event, the question is structured to suggest or imply that a 25 point gap in IQs in favor of atheists over Christians would be a reasonable expectation, and of course, nothing of the sort is even remotely true.