Are there intellectual differences between people of different races?
94456
The answer is YES. I recommend reading... How Would You Move Mount Fuji
750339
Well, depending on what kind of "mentally challenged" you mean, the answer could be yes or no.\n\nThere are several kinds of neurological disorders that result in a brain that is simply differently wired, with IQs in the normal range or higher. Because the brain is extremely adaptable, it will often compensate for deficits in one area by making other areas work more efficiently. That's why a blind person often has very good hearing: He doesn't have any visual input to process; so his brain specializes on the next most informative sense: Hearing.\n\nSome disorders are like that. ADHD is associated with originality; autism with very good visual-spatial skills; bipolar disorder with creative talent, especially in the arts. So people with these disorders are also more likely to have talents that people without them don't have. People with these disorders look at them as mixed blessings, or even as gifts.\n\nI don't know what it's like to be anyone but myself; so I don't know which disorders other than my own (Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism) fit into the category I just described. And I do consider AS to be a gift, in some ways. I'm socially clumsy, and I can't tolerate some sensory input; but I also have very good logical reasoning skills, I approach problems in original ways, and I have quite a lot of talents in my areas of special interest.\n\nBut all in all, people with psychological, neurological, or biological isorders that affect their mental functioning have one big problem: They are square pegs trying to fit into round holes. They are not the majority; so the world is not designed for them. It could be prejudice or the need for accomodations or some aspect of the disorder itself; but being ill-suited for the world you live in can be a difficult thing. Even your talents may not be the sort of thing the world is looking for.\n\nRegarding people with low IQs and severe disorders with no positive aspects. Individual personalities may indeed make them feel superior to others, just as neurologically average people may feel superior to people in general, whether their IQs are higher or lower than their own; but that seems to be a personality trait unconnected to any disorder.\n\nFrom what I can tell, all but the most profoundly affected are aware that they are different; but in a loving family, with good support and the accomodations they need to live in the world, they need not feel inferior or unwanted. These folks have the same goal that any of us have--the pursuit of happiness, in whatever form that takes for them; and why should a happy life ever be called an inferior one?
740731
They are both intelligent, but in different ways. This is a values question, not an intellegence one. A person can be a genius in science and not have a clue about asthetics, or music or literarture. The same can be true of the arts student, who can be a creative genius, but finds math difficult. These areas of study use different parts of the brain, and most people are stronger in some areas than others. It is a disservice to tell bright children that they can be anything they want to be-it would be better to tell them to find out what they are best at, and give them the resources to run with it. It is a mistake to value science over the arts, or vice versa- we need them both.
628652
No way! I'm glad you posted this question because I have very strong views on the subject. Some people really are good at exams, others may be competent in a given subject but their nerves or lack of exam technique fail them. So what you are left with is some very bright and intelligent people perceived as 'not academic' because they don't hit the high grades. In my view, intelligence can be made of many other factors apart from what grades one achieves, but unfortunately, this is what we are all judged on.
140355
Intelligence is native to the individual.  Generally we consider intelligence as something that remains constant and knowledge as that which we increase.
1084885
I strongly agree with u on every1 being equal. Seriously, thats how I think. I don't think that the color of a person determines how smart they are, or who they are. However, I think some people are racist because they see difference as something bad.
1058000
Well, intelligence is hereditary, so that answers the first part.  Ethnicity comes into play only because certain parts of the world have better education programs than others.  Social Class has a positive and a negative impact because the rich can get by being dumb if they inherit their fathers' or mothers' estate and have an honest person take care of it for them.  Rich kids go to Ivy league schools, but they are not necessarily the best education.  They are more for social status.  I am assuming this is a Sociology class you are in.  But.....Intelligence can occur to poor or upper class, mother and not daughter, all races, and so on.  It is through education that intelligence is put to use, with no education, a person could seem as dumb as a rock.  So, this is really a trick question.  In reality, we are products of society.
12135
The other's answers are partially right, but take the common social constructivist view too far. Race/creed/caste/religion/clan/ethnicity are all slippery terms that are not easily defined. In a similar manner it is very hard to define what a species is (The common idea that a species is defined by when organisms can reproduce is violated for many species and meaningless for asexual organisms). A race or population from a biological perspective is a grouping of organisms that tend to breed more among themselves than with other groups. Subsequently they tend to have distinctive features. Now of course our common definitions of race have a large social influence that defies the logic of a group that tend to breed more with itself than other groups. For example the U.S.'s idea of hypodescent that dictates that someone who is 1/16 of black african descent is African American is kind of silly (on the other hand if these African Americans tend to breed mainly with other African Americans then perhaps it is not so far fetched).\n\nJust because something can not easily be defined and overlaps does not mean it does not exist. Males are on average taller than females, but many females are taller than many males. This doesn't mean that it is a social construction to say menare bigger then women.\n\nTo answer your original question, with these caveats acknowledged, genes are distinctive among different human popularions (populations which follow human conceptions of race pretty well). Many of these genes are neutral and depend upon similar techniques to those used in forensics to get a DNA fingerprint. Interestingly, some of these gens are functional, they change the way our bodies and minds work.\nFor example, the sickle cell gene which helps protect against malaria is at much higher frequency in populations which must deal with malaria.\nA genetic polymorphism, the dopamine receptor D4 gene varies radically among populations. This is a gene that has been associated with behavioral differences among people including ADHD. It is thought by some that different social background may select for different frequencies of the DRD4 gene. The frequency of ADHD associated genese in a population probably also impacts how that culture evolves.
1152716
every group is different, different attitudes and learning capacities
985894
We are too similiar to each other to be considered different subspecies.  Things like skin color are literally skin deep (as genetics have proven so in the last decade).  As for intellect, we don't know if it is genetic or environmental.\n\nTo answer your question, evolution is a very slow process.  Like you yourself said, it will take a few millenia.  In order for humans to evolve into two differene subspecies we have to stay seperate, for example, two different groups and they should not intermate.  If it is a matter of migration, they should NOT migrate and stay in one place.  But the problem is that humans are very dynamic AND very impatient.  We cannot stay in one place for long and evolution based on third world or the developed world would not be possible unless all the developed world countries close their doors and allow NO ONE to immigrate or emigrate for a few thousand years.
25992
In principle, one group of people could evolve to be much more intelligent than others.  That is probably how we (Homo sapiens) wiped out the Neanterthals (Homo neanderthalensis).\n\nAmong us Homo sapiens, the evidence that one race is more or less intelligent than another is not convincing.  Differences in performance on intelligence tests (and who is to say that is relevant) are small.  Any discussion of the relationship of race to intelligence immediate gets shouted down by those who believe they are about to be judged inferior.\n\nIn principle, a small group of very intelligent people, who everyone could agree are more intelligent than the rest of us, could have evolved or could have been created by selective breeding (eugenics), but if there is one, they aren't showing themselves.
361568
I wouldn't think that race would matter as much as culture.  Culture would affect you physcological state more than simply your ethnic origins.
348403
It is a valid question, and one used against women for years (interestingly, nobody at that time seems to have thought elephants were smarter than men!).  The relationship of the anatomy of the brain to intelligence seems to have only two fairly clear correlations: 1) the amount of surface area folding (sulci and gyri) found on the frontal cortex and 2) the brain weight/body weight ratio.  Under these two correlates, men and women are the same.  There is absolutly no correlation between the size of a person and the intelligence..even though bigger humans tend to have bigger brains.  Now, using the folding and brain to body ratio, we can figure which animals "should" be very smart-and they include ravens, dolphins, and primates.  The raven finding is interesting, because every intelligence test ever given these birds (who have small brains, because they are small animals, but very large brain to body ratios) shows them to be smarter than dogs, and nearly as smart as primates.  Another interesting thing: the only animals that has *both* and larger brain to body ratio than humans *and* increased frontal cortex folding, is the dolphin...makes ya think, huh?
861146
different kinds of people, mixed kinds of people with different temperaments, colors, etc
602863
Scientifically, yes.  Negroid, Caucausion, and Asian are the three categories identified by Anthropologists.  Also note "Human populations do vary biologically in many ways, but it is important to realize that few of these ways are correlated with each other."  The three categories were established at the beginning of Anthropology (it's only abou 150 years old as a science)...Presently, many anthropologists point out that the differences between black/caucasian/asian's exist, but when put on a spectrum, you couldn't tell the difference from one to the next because the changes are so slight.  Egypt is a good example, in the south, they're darker, in the north, they're lighter skinned.  What are they?  They exhibit many bone structures of both caucasians and negroid.  They live on the continent of Africa... hhmmm?  \n\nso, first I had to debunk the whole caucasian thing to begin with...it exists only as a marker for science, not in reality...\n\nbut...by using that marker, most people from the country of Mexico exhibit caucasian traits in their skeletal structure.  I didn't know this until my best friends mom told me they were caucasian.  I said "what?  I don't follow"...and she said Latinos are considered cacasoid.  Hard Liberal Arts and Science Educated Latinos will know as much (i.e, if you majored in music in college, you probably didn't get this lecture).  \n\nPolitically:\nPeople of Mexican descent are considered "caucasian of hispanic descent" (go look at any government form).  Hispanic is a term derived by politicians in the late 1940's early 1950's to describe people the spoke Spanish as having descended from Spain; however, the politically correct word for people from this area of the world is Latino --- being of/from Latin America.  \n\nby the way...most mexicans have both indegenous blood and European blood...a mix...Look at people from Spain...they're not all dark, most of them are very "white".\n\nHope this helped some!\n\nGrab a cultural anthro book on race, you'll find plenty more.
707830
I think that most Asian people naturally do better than other groups because they are taught from birth to be better and work harder than others.  It's part of their culture to want to succeed.  As for being naturally smarter, I don't think that's true.  It's just a matter of living up to your god-given potential.
237308
Neither. For the most part, males are more analytical thinkers, females are more intuitive in their thinking. That doesn't mean one is smarter than the other, just that they reason usinging a different portion of their brain. It also doesn't mean that men or never intuitive or that women are never analytical. More men do better at things like math and science, more women do better with language. Each of the sexes has their strengths, and there are exceptions to these norms.