Intelligence linked to Atheism?

[TheSlyMoogle]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence/index.html?hpt=C2

Interesting read.

[Professor S]

As soon as I read the title of this thread I knew the study would use IQ as the measure of intelligence. Keep in mind, IQ is considered to be an outdated and incomplete form of intelligence measurement by most professional educators.

For more, review Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html

[TheSlyMoogle]

As soon as I read the title of this thread I knew the study would use IQ as the measure of intelligence. Keep in mind, IQ is considered to be an outdated and incomplete form of intelligence measurement by most professional educators.

For more, review Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html

Oh I know, err kinda.

However the study was started back in 1994, and back then, IQ tests were the shit. Still makes for an interesting read. Also IQ tests aren't exactly out of the picture. There were some articles back in the past few years that tried to make them out to be all bad, however there is strong correlation for those who do well on IQ tests to do well also in scholastic endeavors.

In fact the APA did a nice big study on it.

Also a lot of folks disagree very much with Gardner.

[Professor S]

Oh I know, err kinda.

However the study was started back in 1994, and back then, IQ tests were the shit. Still makes for an interesting read. Also IQ tests aren't exactly out of the picture. There were some articles back in the past few years that tried to make them out to be all bad, however there is strong correlation for those who do well on IQ tests to do well also in scholastic endeavors.

True, but keep in mind scholastic endeavors have been greatly impacted in a formative sense by the idea of IQ being the ideal measurement of intelligence. i.e. If your ideal of intelligence is spatial and verbal your scholastic endeavors will concentrate on spatial and verbal. Our scholastic teaching and acceptance exams basically measure IQ alone, a nature of traditional testing, especially the SATs. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In fact the APA did a nice big study on it.

Also a lot of folks disagree very much with Gardner.

Yes, but I tend to think the problems inherent in Gardner aren't an argument for the woefully inadequate measurement system of IQ. If anything, Gardner may not be perfect, but it's far closer than IQ.

And for the record, I have a relatively high IQ and I think its very inadequate.

[Teuthida]

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/02/stop_patting_yourselves_on_the.php

I found this comment from Digg to be interesting:
There was a study done years ago looking at IQ in Japan, and it found Catholics were the most intelligent. This would seem to apply the reverse trend applies with the Japanese... but in fact it doesn't. Japan is a culture that is mostly agnostic/atheist; those who are religious had to seek out and study it themselves. Likewise, the USA is a conservative/religious western nation. Thus those who embrace atheist/liberal ideas most likely weren't brought up in that environment but had to seek out those ideas and embrace them themselves.

Put in another way... those who are less intelligent will simply adhere to the cultural ideas/traditions without questioning them. Those who are more intelligent will question them, and may or may not agree with the cultural ideals/traditions. Thus, in the USA, those who are conservative/religion include the less intelligent and the more intelligent who came to the same conclusion. Those who are liberal/atheist include mostly those more intelligent who didn't come to the same conclusion.

This is the study:
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/02/christians_in_east_asia_are_sm.php

[Bond]

There may be correlation, but certainly not causation. And that correlation could be due to a number of different reasons that have nothing to do with belief vs. non-belief (as your recent post alluded to, Teuthida).

I had to take an IQ test when I lived in WV to be admitted into the "gifted program," which is a completely different story, but with regard to IQ I thought it was an okay measure of intelligence, but certainly not the whole picture.

[Typhoid]

This is how I see it, and I know I'll probably get torn apart for looking at it this way - but I think it makes perfect sense.
Now I'm not saying IQ is the be all and end all, IQ is a stupid way to tell someones mental capacity.

However, the reason I think this makes sense is Atheists/Agnostics will tend to study, or at least learn Sciences, and history. Where as someone in a Catholic school, or an Evangelical/Mormon (for example) don't learn those things in school because they just flat out don't believe in them.

So it's not that atheists are smarter, it's that atheists just learn broader subjects and tend to know more scientifically, which in the eyes of society tends to mean "ur smrt."

[TheSlyMoogle]

I had to take an IQ test when I lived in WV to be admitted into the "gifted program," which is a completely different story, but with regard to IQ I thought it was an okay measure of intelligence, but certainly not the whole picture.

Oh... I thought that was something only KY did.

We had the "Gifted and Talented" program. I'm still not sure what it actually did, because mostly we just got pulled from class every few weeks to work in the library for the day on like puzzles and brainteaser activities. Not complaining, and I guess I still enjoy that kind of stuff (Thank you Prof. Layton), but not sure I understand why we had it. Haha. Just found out later it was only high IQ children. I r smart now?

[incredibledave]

God dammit gametavern!

I came in here expecting a atheist vs. christian shitstorm and instead a find intelligent discussion

What the hell is this bullshit!?