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Climate and Intelligence
Author(s) -
McEWAN PETER J. M.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1965.tb00434.x
Subject(s) - sophistication , psychology , association (psychology) , test (biology) , relevance (law) , significant difference , demography , developmental psychology , geography , political science , social science , sociology , statistics , ecology , mathematics , law , psychotherapist , biology
A study of the pattern and causes of I.Q. distribution among European children in Southern Rhodesia, born in 1949, lent support to the hypothesis that a relationship exists between a climatic factor and intelligence. When language, age, socio‐economic status, type and location of school were all held constant, a significant difference in I.Q. score remained between children according to country of origin, and also to length of ancestral span in Africa: the colder the country of origin the higher the I.Q. Evidence was produced to discountenance the relevance of either selective migration or greater test‐sophistication, in the case of children from Britain, in producing these results. These findings are discussed, with particular reference to two possible critical alternatives, optimum climatic conditions and adjustment to climatic difference. An attempt has been made to relate these findings to other work that, starting from a different position, also purported to demonstrate an association between climate and intelligence. Suggestions are made for further research.