SUB-SAHARAN AFRICANS

The sub-Saharan Africans in Africa have an average IQ of about 70 and, in the Caribbean, an average IQ of about 72, while Afro-Americans (blacks) in the United States have an average IQ of 85. There are two reasons why the IQ of Afro-Americans is higher than that of Africans in sub-Saharan Africa. The first is that Afro-Americans have an admixture of about 25 percent of European genes, which increases their IQs. Afro-Americans with more European ancestry and lighter skins have higher IQs than those with darker skins. The second reason that the IQ of Afro-Americans is higher than that of sub-Saharan Africans is that they live in an affluent society run by Europeans that provides them with good nutrition, education, standard of living, and other environmental advantages.
The low IQ of sub-Saharan Africans is consistent with their failure to make any of the advances of civilization. When Europeans began to explore sub-Saharan Africa from the late eighteenth century onwards, they found that the peoples were in a transitional stage between hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies. None of these peoples had devised a written language or numbers. African languages are simple and lack complex abstract nouns. Typically there are words for only a few colors such as red, white, and black, but no words for subtle shades of color. The arithmetical systems typically have words for one and two, while larger numbers are expressed as "many." No sub-Saharan Africans have made any significant discoveries in science, mathematics, or technology.
When first described by European explorers like Mungo Park and John Speke in the early nineteenth century, many Africans in West Africa were living in villages, and there were some towns with a few thousand inhabitants. There was farming of rice, sorghum, and pearl millet, and the guinea fowl had been domesticated. Iron was smelted in equatorial Africa about 500 B.C. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some good quality bronzes were made in Benin. It is generally considered that this technology came originally from the Arabs, who introduced it into the Sudan, from which it was transported to West Africa. The problem of whether the low IQ of sub-Saharan Africans has a genetic basis has been discussed since the 1920s. The definitive study to resolve this issue was carried out in the United States by Sandra Scarr at Yale in the 1970s and 1980s. She examined the IQs of black infants in Minnesota and other northern states adopted by white middle-class couples. Her expectation was that they would have much higher IQs, but she found that at the age of seventeen and eighteen their IQs were just the same as those of other blacks in the northern states (which are a little higher than those of blacks in the south, because it was the more intelligent blacks who migrated north after the abolition of slavery). This was a disappointing result for Scarr, who had said that if she ever came to the conclusion that there was a genetic basis for the low black IQ, she would emigrate from the United States. Her result convinced her that the low black IQ must have a genetic basis. She has yet to buy her one-way ticket, but she has done the next best thing by retiring from academic life and moving to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.


RACE DIFFERENCES IN PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR
Over the centuries a recurring theme in the European and Arabian descriptions of the personality and behavioral characteristics of black Africans has been that they are impulsive, intolerant of sustained work effort, live for the present, and have poor self-control. Lewis has summarized the views of a number of classical Arab writers such as the eleventh-century historians and geographers Said al-Andalusi of Toledo, who wrote that blacks lacked "self-control and steadiness of mind,” and Maqdisi, who described black Africans as having the nature of "wild animals.” Europeans who explored Africa in the nineteenth century reached similar conclusions. John Speke, who traveled extensively in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda between 1857 and 1862, wrote of Africans that "laziness is inherent in these men...they are a loose, roving, reckless set of beings...economy, care or foresight never enters his head...he is a creature of impulse—a grown child.” Francis Galton, who made an expedition to Angola in 1850, wrote of "the lazy Negro.” Similar observations were made about blacks in the Caribbean.
Anthony Trollope visited a number of islands in 1858 and subsequently wrote up his impressions in his book The West Indies and the Spanish Main . He described Jamaica in the most detail and wrote of the typical black that "he is idle, unambitious as to worldly position, sensual, and content with little.”

PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY
These characteristics of blacks as they have been perceived histori-cally can now be understood as arising from a high level of psychopathic personality. The concept of psychopathic personality was identified in the early nineteenth century by the British physician John Pritchard, who proposed the term "moral imbecility" for those deficient in moral sense but whose intellectual ability was unimpaired. The term psychopathic personality was proposed in 1915 by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin. Harvey Cleckley described psychopathic personality in what has become a classic work, The Mask of Sanity (1941). He listed the principal expressions of the condition as being shallow emotions, defective insight, absence of nervousness, lack of remorse or shame, superficial charm, pathological lying, egocentricity and inability to love, failure to establish close or intimate relationships, irresponsibility, impulsive antisocial acts, failure to learn from experience, reckless behavior under the influence of alcohol, and a lack of long-term goals. In 1984 the American Psychiatric Association dropped the term psycho-pathic personality and replaced it with "antisocial personality disorder"; this is simply a synonym for psychopathic personality.
The features of antisocial personality disorder set out by the American Psychiatric Association are (1) inability to sustain consistent work behavior; (2) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior (i.e. crime); (3) irritability and aggression, as indicated by frequent physical fights and assaults; (4) repeated failure to honor financial obligations; (5) failure to plan ahead or impulsivity; (6) no regard for truth, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or "conning" others; (7) recklessness regarding one's own or others' personal safety, as indicated by driving while intoxicated or recurrent speeding; ( inability to function as a responsible parent; (9) failure to sustain a monogamous relationship for more than one year; (10) lack of remorse; and (11) the presence of conduct disorder in childhood.
Psychopathic personality is an extreme manifestation of a continuously distributed personality trait. There are race differences in the distribution of the trait such that psychopathic personality is high among blacks and American Indians, somewhat lower in Hispanics, lower still in Europeans and South Asians, and lowest in Orientals. Psychopathic personality appears to be high in Australian Aborigines, among whom it is expressed in high rates of unemployment, crime, truancy from school, and drug addiction. Little is known about the level of psychopathic personality in Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders.

INABILITY TO SUSTAIN CONSISTENT WORK BEHAVIOR
Race differences in "inability to sustain consistent work behavior” are manifested in differences in rates of unemployment. In the United States, unemployment is highest among blacks and American Indians, lower among Hispanics, lower still among Europeans, and lowest among Orientals. These differences are often attributed to "white racism,” but several American sociologists have concluded that a major reason for the high rate of unemployment among blacks in inner cities is an unwillingness to work. Thus, E. Anderson has written that "there are many unemployed black youth who are unmotivated and uninterested in working for a living, particularly in the dead-end jobs they are likely to get.” Similarly, S.M. Petterson has written that "it is commonly contended that young black men experience more joblessness than their white counterparts because they are less willing to seek out low paying jobs.” These race differences are also present in Britain, Canada, and France. In Britain, 26 percent of black men were found to be unemployed in the 1991 census, compared with 11 percent of whites and Chinese. In Canada, 13 percent of black men were found to be unemployed in the 1991 census, compared with 7 percent of whites. In France in 1994, 11 percent of black men were found to be unemployed, compared with 8 percent of whites. Race differences in work motivation also appear in the amount of homework done by school students. Several studies in the United States have found that Orientals do the most homework, blacks and American Indians the least, with whites and Hispanics intermediate.

CRIME
Rates for nonviolent crime such as burglary and car theft in the United States are about four times higher for blacks than whites. The rate for Hispanics and American Indians is about three times greater, while the rate for Orientals is lower, at about 80 percent of the white rate. In England the imprisonment rate for blacks is about six times greater than that for whites, while the rate for South Asians is about the same as that of whites. In Canada the imprisonment rate for blacks is about five times greater than that for whites, and, for American Indians, about two and a half times that of whites, while the rate for Orientals is about half that for whites, and for South Asians about two-thirds that of whites. In France the imprisonment rate for blacks is about eight times greater than that for whites, while in Sweden imprisonment for blacks is about two and a half times greater than that for whites and Orientals.

IRRITABILITY AND AGGRESSION
Race differences are present in a number of kinds of aggressive behavior. Homicide rates in the United States for black men are about six times greater than for whites, and for American Indian men about three times greater than for whites. Homicide rates for black and American Indian females are about four times greater than for whites. But the American ethnic Oriental homicide rate is only 60 percent the rate of whites. The same black-white differences are present in South Africa, but Indians in South Africa, originally from the Indian subcontinent, have approximately the same rate as whites.
Similar differences appear in convictions for assault and robbery, which in the United States are about twelve times greater for blacks, about three times greater for Hispanics, and twice as great for American Indians than for whites. The rates for Orientals are about 80 percent those of whites. Convictions for rape show the same differences. These are about five and a half times greater for blacks than for whites and about two to three times greater for Hispanics and American Indians, as compared with whites, while among Orientals rape is about half the rate for whites.
Domestic violence shows the same differences. The rate of severe violence by husbands toward their wives is about four times as frequent among blacks and American Indians as compared with whites, while assaults by wives on husbands are about twice as common for blacks and American Indians as for whites.

HONORING FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS
The APA lists "persistent failure to honor financial obligations" among the characteristics of psychopathic personality. An index of this characteristic is available in the default rates on student loans. About half of American students at colleges and universities take out loans that they are required to repay after graduation. Not all graduates repay these loans. Racial differences in loan default rates have been calculated from the data of the 1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study of 6,338 graduates. The percentages of loan defaulters for the four major American racial and ethnic groups were as follows: blacks: 55 percent; American Indians: 45 percent; Hispanics: 20 percent; and whites: 5 percent. The same differences are present for credit ratings made on the basis of records of the nonpayment of debts, unacceptably late payments, and bankruptcy. A report by the American agency, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), on 12,000 households in 1999 found the highest percentage of poor credit ratings among blacks (48 percent) and the next highest among Hispanics (34 percent), while whites had the lowest percentage of poor credit ratings (27 percent).

FAILURE TO PLAN AHEAD
The "failure to plan ahead" component of psychopathic personality includes an inability or unwillingness to delay immediate gratification for along-term advantage. The first study to demonstrate differences between blacks and whites in the delay of gratification was carried out in the late 1950s in Trinidad by the American psychologist Mischel. He offered black and white children the choice between being given a small candy bar now or a larger one in a week's time. He found that black children were much more likely to ask for the small candy now. This difference has been confirmed in three subsequent studies. This race difference has been noted but given different descriptions by several writers. For instance, Banfi eld writes of the "extreme present-orientation" of blacks, and Levin of their "high time preference," an economists' term for preferring cash now to a greater sum, including accrued interest in the future.

RECKLESSNESS
Race differences in recklessness find expression in various forms of behavior. In automobiles, for instance, fewer blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians wear seat belts than whites, but more Orientals wear seat belts. Blacks and American Indians have about twice as many automobile accidents as whites. The main factors responsible for accidents are heavy drinking and speeding.
Recklessness is also expressed in the failure of those who do not wish to have children to use contraception. Studies in the United States have shown that blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians are less likely than whites to use contraception. In Britain blacks use contraception less than whites and South Asians. The result of a lower use of contraception is that blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians have greater rates of teenage and unplanned pregnancies than whites and (in Britain) South Asians.

IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTING
Race differences in irresponsible parenting are expressed in the prevalence of child abuse, maltreatment, and neglect. In the United States the rates of these forms of irresponsible parenting are about twice as high for blacks as among whites, while the rate for Hispanics is about 50 percent higher than for whites. The most extreme expression of the inability to function as a responsible parent consists of killing a child. Blacks and American Indians are convicted of homicide of their infants at about four times the rate of whites, Hispanics at about the same rate, while Orientals kill their infants at about two-thirds the rate of whites.

MONOGAMY
The psychopathic personality's incapacity for long-term monogamous relationships is expressed in its marital infidelity and its low rates of marriage and cohabitation. Two sociologists, Staples and Johnson, write that "Blacks do not rank marriage as highly as whites” and that "Black Americans' acceptance of this form of relationship is inconsistent with their African heritage.” In the United States in the early 1990s, 66 percent of adult Orientals were married, 61 percent of whites, 55 percent of Hispanics, 48 percent of American Indians, and 35 percent of blacks. In Britain and in France as well, Orientals are the most likely to be married, followed by South Asians and whites, while blacks have the lowest rate of marriage. The same differences have been found in the Caribbean, of which the sociologists Ram and Ebanks write, "In the Caribbean in general...there is a substantial amount of movement from one sex partner to another and also a very high percentage of reproduction outside marriage.” Rates of marriage in the Caribbean are much lower among blacks than among South Asians and Chinese. When they do marry, surveys in the United States and Britain have found that blacks are less faithful to their spouses and have more sexual partners both inside and outside marriage than whites.

CONDUCT DISORDER
Conduct disorder in children and early adolescence is a frequent precursor of psychopathic behavior in adulthood. Conduct disorder consists of persistent disobedience, lying, stealing, burglary, truancy, vandalism, cruelty, and sexual precocity. In the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands, conduct disorder is about twice as frequent among black children as among whites, but is less common among Orientals than among whites. Among young adolescents, conduct disorder is expressed as delinquency. In the United States delinquency (serious juvenile crime) is about ten times greater among black boys and about fourteen times greater among black girls, as compared with whites. Conduct disorders and delinquency are also expressed in suspensions and exclusions from schools because of constant misbehavior. In Britain, blacks are excluded from schools at about four times the rate of whites. In the United States blacks and American Indians are excluded from schools at about three times the rate of whites, and Hispanics at about the same rate, while Orientals are excluded at about half the rate of whites. There are also race differences in sexual precocity in early adolescence. For instance, in the United States a survey carried out in 1992 found that 33 percent of black thirteen-year-olds had had sexual intercourse as compared with 15 percent of Hispanics, 14 percent of whites, and 4 percent of Orientals. Similar differences have been found in Britain, where more blacks but fewer South Asian teenagers had had sex, as compared with whites.


Source: http://www.npiamerica.org/research/category/racial-differences-in-intelligence-personality-and-behavior