There are many research topics that an academic, state or governmental employed scientist, better doesn’t touch. Most of these topics lay in the field of social science, but there are a few biological issues too. Sex difference of intelligence is among them.
The table below shows the The trials to publish such data and the prompt and vigorous comments.
| Year | Authors | Comments | Replies |
| 1972 | Lehrke 1 | Anastasi2,Nance3 | Lehrke4 |
| 1991 | Turner5 | Morton6 | |
| 1992 | Feingold7 | Katzman8,Shaffer9 | Feingold10 |
| 1993 | Feingold11 | Hedges12,Hedges13 | Weinberg14 |
| 1996 | Turner15 | Hook16 | Turner17 |
| 2008 | Johnson18,Johnson19 | Craig20,Turkheimer21 | Johnson22 |
The next publication-comment-reply chain stands out a little bit as the first publication is not supporting sex differences. It rather states the opposite.
| 2005 | Blinkhorn23 | Irwing24 | Blinkhorn25 |
The question is why someone bothers with commenting such a publication at all. The answer can be found in the text, which is actually a comment printed in a prestigious journal on a 2004 published metaanalysis26. The Blinkhorn article somehow reminds me of Pravda articles in Soviet times, the official voice of the communist party, that law-like determined how things have to be interpreted to comply political correctness.
References
1. Lehrke R. Theory of X-Linkage of Major Intellectual Traits. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 1972;76(6):611–419.
2. Anastasi A. 4 Hypotheses with a Dearth of Data – Response to Lehrkes a Theory of X-Linage of Major Intellectual Traits. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 1972;76(6):620–622.
3. Nance W, Engel E. One X and 4 Hypotheses – Response to Lehrkes a Theory of X-Linkage of Major Intellectual Traits. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 1972;76(6):623–625.
4. Lehrke R. Response to Dr Anastasi and to Dr Nance and Dr Engel. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 1972;76(6):626–631.
5. Turner G, Partington MW. Genes for intelligence on the X chromosome. J Med Genet. 1991;28(6):429.
6. Morton NE. Genes for intelligence on the X chromosome. J Med Genet. 1992;29(1):71.
7. Feingold A. Sex Differences in Variability in Intellectual Abilities: A New Look at an Old Controversy. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1992;62(1):61–84.
8. Katzman S, Alliger GM. Averaging Untransformed Variance Ratios Can Be Misleading: A Comment on Feingold. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1992;62(4):427–428.
9. Shaffer JP. Caution on the Use of Variance Ratios: A Comment. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1992;62(4):429–432.
10. Feingold A. Cumulation of Variance Ratios. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1992;62(4):433–434.
11. Feingold A. Joint Effects of Gender Differences in Central Tendency and Gender Differences in Variability. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1993;63(1):106–109.
12. Hedges LV, Friedman L. Computing Gender Difference Effects in Tails of Distributions: The Consequences of Differences in Tail Size, Effect Size, and Variance Ratio. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1993;63(1):110–112.
13. Hedges LV, Friedman L. Gender Differences in Variability in Intellectual Abilities: A Reanalysis of Feingold’s Results. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1993;63(1):94–105.
14. Weinberg SL. The Hedges and Friedman Index: Two-Tailed Significance. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. 1993;63(4):527–529.
15. Turner G. Intelligence and the X chromosome. The Lancet. 1996;347(9018):1814–1815.
16. Hook EB. Intelligence and the X chromosome. The Lancet. 1996;348(9030):826.
17. Turner G. Intelligence and the X chromosome. The Lancet. 1996;348(9030):826.
18. Johnson W, Carothers A, Deary IJ. Sex Differences in Variability in General Intelligence: A New Look at the Old Question. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2008;3(6):518–531.
19. Johnson W, Carothers A, Deary IJ. A Role for the X Chromosome in Sex Differences in Variability in General Intelligence? Perspectives on Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell). 2009;4(6):598–611.
20. Craig IW, Haworth CMA, Plomin R. Commentary on “A Role for the X Chromosome in Sex Differences in Variability in General Intelligence?” (Johnson et al., 2009). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2009;4(6):615–621.
21. Turkheimer E, Halpern DF. Sex Differences in Variability for Cognitive Measures Do the Ends Justify the Genes? (Commentary on Johnson et al., 2009). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2009;4(6):612–614.
22. Johnson W, Carothers A, Deary IJ. Speculation to Inform and Speculation to Explore Response to Craig et al. (2009) and Turkheimer & Halpern (2009). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2009;4(6):622–623.
23. Blinkhorn S. Intelligence: A gender bender. Nature. 2005;438(7064):31–32.
24. Irwing P, Lynn R. Intelligence: Is there a sex difference in IQ scores? Nature. 2006;442(7098):E1–E1.
25. Blinkhorn S. Intelligence: Is there a sex difference in IQ scores? (Reply). Nature. 2006;442(7098):E1–E2.
26. Lynn R, Irwing P. Sex differences on the progressive matrices: A meta-analysis. Intelligence. 2004;32(5):481–498.
This work by Paul Netman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Fauceir theory is developed and © by Mato Nagel and available at www.fauceir.org.
Fauceir Blog 