Introduction
The question of the intelligence gap between races cannot be regarded as ethical to be examined by scientists and researchers. This issue is actively discussed by academicians, and in Race and Intelligence, Rageh Omaar focused on opposite views regarding the possibility that African Americans’ IQ test scores can be lower than those of Whites (Kenya Digital Archives, 2019). This documentary can provoke the following reaction: IQ tests are not an ideal tool for measuring intelligence. Moreover, the idea of comparing the intelligence of representatives of different races is rather racist.
Main body
The opinions of those scientists presented in the documentary who referred to the possibility of using IQ tests for measuring the intelligence in representatives of different racial and ethnic groups are weak. The reason is that the reference to IQ tests for making conclusions regarding the intellect is not appropriate (Kenya Digital Archives, 2019). The reliability and validity of IQ tests are questioned by scientists because they can demonstrate controversial results in individuals with different or similar intellectual abilities proved by other tests (Haier, 2014). The wide reference to the results of IQ tests mentioned in the documentary cannot serve as evidence that people of some ethnic origins are clever or not than other people.
Furthermore, a person’s intelligence should be discussed as a complex phenomenon that cannot be easily measured with the help of one test or with reference to reputable academicians’ conclusions regarding individuals’ capacities. On the one hand, intelligence testing is an important achievement in the spheres of psychology, education, and social studies (Haier, 2014). On the other hand, the prejudiced and inappropriate use of tools for intelligence testing can negatively affect individuals because of the high probability of receiving inaccurate results.
Conclusion
From this perspective, the link between IQ test results and people’s race or gender, or age, or other similar factors can exist, but this area is under-researched yet. It is also possible to note that IQ tests can be proved to be ineffective tools in the future when focusing on identifying scores for representatives of different races. Thus, the discussed documentary provokes much thinking on the problem, but it is rather difficult to agree with the idea that there is an intelligence gap to be determined with the help of IQ tests.
References
Haier, R. E. (2014). Increased intelligence is a myth (so far). Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8, 34-40.
Kenya Digital Archives. (2019). Race and intelligence: Science’s last taboo. Web.