Ending Prejudice: Is Closing the Intelligence Gap the Answer

In today’s world, prejudice is just as profound as it was in years past if not more so. It can be found in nearly all aspects of life and sometimes is not even known to exist. One thing that has changed regarding prejudice is its appearance. Before the Civil War and through the 1960s, prejudice could be most commonly defined as a physical degrading of African-Americans. They were looked down upon and treated poorly, often being physically harmed as slaves and forced to use separate restrooms, drinking fountains, and sit in different locations on a city bus during the civil rights movement. Today, prejudice is ironic in the fact that it knows no specific race and affects everyone.

According to Myers (2011), intelligence varies immensely among groups. For example, there are differences between men and women and among racial groups, and these differences can be attributed to many factors such as genetics and location. To note some of the different influences on intelligence, Myers discusses genetic influences. Identical twins that have been reared together have such similar scores on an intelligence test that it is almost as if one person took the test twice. Conversely, fraternal twins produced scores that were not as similar, demonstrating that the more similar genetic makeup of the identical twins played a role in their similar scoring on the test. Myers then discusses the influence differences in environment will have on intelligence, citing that adopted children will have an intelligence level more similar to their biological parents than their adoptive parents as they grow into adulthood. Children in destitute human environments such as third-world orphanages suffered delayed development as opposed to children in nur...

... middle of paper ...

...threat. By acknowledging the existence of prejudice and stereotypes, the first steps can be taken to remove them from our society. Experimenters like Steele and Aronson, Cohen, and Schmader are not only helping to acknowledge that there are still ongoing problems with stereotypes and prejudice, but by acknowledging their existence, they are helping to shrink the intelligence gaps among people of different genders and races. Many of the racial problems in our nation today could be diminished if not eliminated by extinguishing the stereotype threat; the playing field would be more level among young people of all races, and this would eventually to a more harmonized nation.

Works Cited

Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring psychology: Eighth edition in modules. New York, NY: Worth Publisher.

Yong, E. (2013). Armor against prejudice. Scientific American, 308(6), 76-80.