Fertility and intelligence research investigates the relationship between fertility and intelligence. Demographic studies have indicated that in humans, fertility rate and intelligence tend to be inversely correlated, that is to say, the more intelligent, as measured by IQ tests, exhibit a lower total fertility rate than the less intelligent. Survival rates are also correlated with IQ, so the net effect on population intelligence is unclear. It is theorized that if the inverse correlation of IQ with fertility rate is stronger than the correlation of survival rate, and if heritable factors involved in IQ are consistently expressed in populations with different fertility rates, and if this continued over a significant number of generations, it could lead to a decrease in population IQ scores. Other correlates of IQ include income and educational attainment, which are also inversely correlated with fertility rate, and are to some degree heritable.
Read more about Fertility And Intelligence: Early Views and Research, Later Research, International Research, Dysgenics, Brain Drain and Gain, Other Traits
Famous quotes containing the words fertility and/or intelligence:
“Dancing with abandon, turning a tango into a fertility rite.”
—Marshall Pugh (b. 1925)
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about bombs or the intelligence quotients of one race as against another ... if a man is a scientist, like me, he’ll always say “Publish and be damned.””
—Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974)