Richard Lynn is a well-known British psychologist who is the founder of the theory of the relationship between the level of intelligence and human race. This theory has found recognition in its circles, however, Lynn's frankly racist statements are still the subject of controversy, and his works are considered by many to be controversial. However, regardless of public opinion, the work of this psychologist is recognized. Richard Lynn has written many works on these and other topics, and one of the most famous is the book Evolution, Race, and Intellect.
early years
Richard Lynn was born in 1930 in Bristol, in the family of the scientist Cindy Harland. This botanist and geneticist was known for his work on the study of cotton genetics. However, he was separated from his father at an early age when his parents divorced. Richard first met his father when he was nineteen years old. Then Harland returned to the UK from South America to teach at the university. Lynn himself received an impressive education, including graduating from the prestigious Cambridge University. He worked as a teacher of psychology, but gained his fame only in 1973. It was then that he wrote a highly resonant review of one of the books. In it, he expressed the idea that assistance to third world countries is meaningless, since the population of these states is much worse than ordinary white people, it is not adapted to this world, so there is no reason to spend money on helping them. It was then that Richard Lynn was first seen by the public.
Secular IQ Increases
One of the first phenomena that Lynn worked on was a sharp jump in intelligence in social circles. As you can already see, the main topic that Richard Lynn studied in his life is intelligence. He was not the only one who worked on this theory, which is why the effect of increasing intelligence among secular people was called the "Flynn effect" in honor of another scientist. Now it is standard and generally accepted in psychology, but some call it the Lynn-Flynn effect, since Richard also made a serious contribution to his study. However, it is unlikely that this scientist would become so popular just because of these studies. The most important theme, thanks to which Richard Flynn became known throughout the world, is races.
Races and differences in intelligence
In the late seventies, Lynn conducted a study in which he found that people living in Northeast Asia, on average, have six points more IQ than Europeans, who, in turn, are thirty points smarter on average than Africans. During his career, he published many works on this subject, up to the point that he studied African Americans and came to the conclusion that those African Americans whose skin color is lighter have higher IQ values than those whose skin is darker. The reason he called the fact that more light-skinned African-Americans have more European blood, so they are smarter.
Naturally, his work was criticized everywhere, many scientists pointed out that they are extremely one-sided and do not take into account many other factors. However, of course, Lynn also had followers who agreed with everything that Richard Lynn wrote. Racial differences in intelligence have become a very relevant topic. Leading scientific journals refused to publish his works, and the famous scientist James Watson was forced to resign from his place of work when he inadvertently quoted Lynn's works.
The relationship of IQ and the wealth of peoples
Richard Lynn, in one of his books, argued that the difference in intelligence significantly affects the economies of countries. And in those countries where low GDP is observed, he was able to detect a lower level of intelligence of residents. Again, many people began to adhere to the same opinion as Richard Lynn: racial differences in intelligence exist and directly affect many areas of life.
However, at the same time, a huge number of scientists spoke out that it is simply impossible to take information from Lynn’s book seriously: the statistics presented in it are unreliable, there are gaps on almost every page that, if completed, would completely destroy Lynn’s theory. So the scientist’s work was not recommended for reading and was considered frivolous and insufficiently substantiated to consider it as something worthwhile in the world of serious science.
However, this did not prevent the scientist from working further in the same direction. Richard Lynn has written more than one book in his career. Races, nations, intellect - these were his main topics, and the principle always remained the same. He tried in every way to prove that the intellect of a person depends on his race and that the African race is the least intellectually developed.
Evolutionary analysis
However, the most striking and best-known book that Richard Lynn wrote is Evolution, Race, Intellect. It was his most global work. It analyzes a huge amount of data collected from around the world. In general, the book describes data taken from more than 800 thousand people. During the meta-analysis, Lynn succeeds in showing that the average IQ is highest for people from East Asia, followed by Europeans. As for the Africans, Lynn's main research object, they are behind the Europeans by an average of 32 points. In some cases, statistics show that Africans are more stupid than Europeans by more than 45 points. It was through this book, published in 2006, that Richard Lynn became famous throughout the world. “Evolution, race, intellect” is a work that has attracted a lot of attention, but which still does not want to be taken seriously.
The difference in intelligence between men and women
As you already understood, Richard Lynn is an extremely controversial scientist. “Evolution, Race, Intellect” is a book that has caused great resonance in society. However, the connection between race and intellect was not the only (albeit favorite) topic of the scientist. For example, at a certain stage of his career, he tried to prove that men have higher intelligence than women, since it became known that their brain size ratio is also unequal. However, his theory has been refuted by a large number of scientists.
Eugenics
Lynn also drew attention to eugenics, trying to highlight some of its main problems. He believed that humanity has a deterioration in health, intelligence and integrity. He highlighted the progress of society as the reason for this. Lynn believed that in pre-industrial society, natural selection acted in full force, but with the development of society, the progress of medicine, natural selection began to weaken, which explains the general decline in intelligence in society. He also reported that children with the highest level of intelligence are the only ones in the family, while children from large families have lower IQs.
Present
Currently, Richard Lynn is a member of the large scientific foundation Pioneer Fund, which is largely due to the participation in it, Lynn was recognized as racist. However, at the same time, on the other hand, the fund sponsored many scientific studies that could otherwise have not taken place. Lynn's latest book was published most recently - in 2015. The scientist again returned to his favorite topic, but this time he concentrated on the sport. The book is called Race and Sport: Evolution and Racial Differences in Sporting Achievements.
Heritage
No matter how ambiguous and racist Lynn's studies may seem, his contribution to science and the study of human intelligence is recognized and significant. Many scholars believe that the data that Lynn collected in his book Evolution, Race, Intellect is more than impressive, and the book itself had a major impact on the study of differences in human intelligence. But at the same time, many scientists are still criticizing him and constantly refuting one or another of his arguments. He is blamed for concealing the research data that is objectionable to the scientist in order to provide the public with only information that is consistent with his beliefs. And these are not just thoughtless opponents, they are leading scientists who have their own evidence of facts. For example, it was repeatedly confirmed that Lynn used data from an orphanage for mentally retarded children to derive the average level of intelligence of African countries. And this is not the only case, therefore it is rather difficult to take on faith the works that this scientist publishes.