Intelligence and childlessness.
TL;DR: Analyses of the National Child Development Study show that more intelligent men and women express preference to remain childless early in their reproductive careers, but only more intelligent women are more likely to remainChildless by the end of their reproductive career.
About: This article is published in Social Science Research.The article was published on 2014-11-01. It has received 46 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Childlessness & Population.
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: A Treatise on the Family by G. S. Becker as discussed by the authors is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics.
Abstract: A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …
4,817 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This is a monumental study of the relatives of 289 persons who lived at Faribault Minnesota State Colony for the Retarded during the years 1911 to 1918—each retardate averaged 25 years of residential care within the institution.
Abstract: This is a monumental study of the relatives of 289 persons who lived at Faribault Minnesota State Colony for the Retarded during the years 1911 to 1918. Information about 82,217 persons is analyzed in this volume—each retardate averaged 25 years of residential care within the institution. The original study was developed in 1910 and was reopened in 1949 by the present investigators. I find it difficult to assess the value of this book for pediatricians. It is undoubtedly a very meaningful report for geneticists, but I would not recommend its purchase by the practicing pediatrician.
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the association between personality and childbearing motivation, with a focus on voluntary childlessness, and found that personality plays a considerable role in influencing individuals towards, or away from, parenthood.
Abstract: This study examined the association between personality and childbearing motivation, with a focus on voluntary childlessness. 780 adults completed an online survey assessing the Big Five personality traits, the trait of Independence, desire for parenthood, motivations for choosing childlessness and various other socio-demographic characteristics. Compared to parents or those desiring children, childfree respondents scored significantly higher in Independence and significantly lower in Agreeableness and Extraversion. They were also less religious and more politically liberal. For non-parents, level of desire for parenthood was negatively correlated with Independence and positively correlated with Agreeableness and religiosity. The ideal number of children desired was positively correlated with Agreeableness and religiosity. Childfree respondents who decided early in life not to have children (‘early articulators’) were significantly higher in Independence and Openness to Experience than those who decided later in life. Motivations for childlessness loaded onto five factors, four of which correlated significantly with personality traits. The results suggest that personality plays a considerable role in influencing individuals towards, or away from, parenthood.
32 citations
TL;DR: It has been theorized that declines in general intelligence (g) due to genetic selection stemming from the inverse association between completed fertility and IQ and the Flynn effect co-occur, with the effects of the latter being concentrated on less heritable non-g sources of intelligence variance.
Abstract: It has been theorized that declines in g due to negative selection stemming from the inverse association between completed fertility and IQ, and the Flynn effect co-occur, with the effects of the latter being concentrated on less-heritable non-g sources of intelligence variance. Evidence for this comes from the observation that 19th Century populations were more intellectually productive, and also exhibited faster simple reaction times than modern ones, suggesting higher g. This co-occurrence model is tested via examination of historical changes in the utilization frequencies of words from the highly g-loaded WORDSUM test across 5.9 million texts spanning 1850 to 2005. Consistent with predictions, words with higher difficulties (δ parameters from Item Response Theory) and stronger negative correlations between pass-rates and completed fertility presented a steeper decline in use over time, than less difficult and less negatively selected words, which increased in use over time, suggestive of a Flynn effect. These findings persisted when explicitly controlled for word age, literacy rates and temporal autocorrelation. These trends constitute compelling evidence that both producers and consumers of text have experienced declines in g since the mid-19th Century.
30 citations
Cites background from "Intelligence and childlessness."
...ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 21 April 2015 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00361 Edited by: J. Michael Williams, Drexel University, USA Reviewed by: Lei Chang, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China David Geary, University of Missouri, USA *Correspondence: Michael A. Woodley of Menie, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Chemnitz, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany; Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium michael.woodley@vub.ac.be Specialty section: This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 21 January 2015 Accepted: 14 March 2015 Published: 21 April 2015 Citation: Woodley of Menie MA, Fernandes HBF, Figueredo AJ and Meisenberg G (2015) By their words ye shall know them: Evidence of genetic selection against general intelligence and concurrent environmental enrichment in vocabulary usage since the mid 19th century....
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...…Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium michael.woodley@vub.ac.be Specialty section: This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 21…...
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...…Galton’s (1869) predictions, asmost studies found that IQ was inversely related to fertility, suggesting directional genetic selection for lower intelligence (Lynn, 2011) – a trend that persists into the present (Lynn and van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014)....
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TL;DR: The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores, and finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment.
Abstract: Cross-regional correlations between average IQ and socioeconomic development have been documented in many different countries. This paper presents new IQ estimates for the twelve regions of the UK. These are weakly correlated (r=0.24) with the regional IQs assembled by Lynn (1979). Assuming the two sets of estimates are accurate and comparable, this finding suggests that the relative IQs of different UK regions have changed since the 1950s, most likely due to differentials in the magnitude of the Flynn effect, the selectivity of external migration, the selectivity of internal migration or the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility. The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores (r=0.99). It finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment. A general factor of socioeconomic development is correlated with regional IQ at r=0.72.
29 citations
Cites background from "Intelligence and childlessness."
...Fourth, cross-regional differentials in the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility (see Lynn & Van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Lynn, 2011; Chen et al., 2013; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014; Hopcraft, 2014; Woodley, 2015): fertility might have had a more positive genetic effect in some regions than in others....
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...…in the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility (see Lynn & Van Court, 2004; Meisenberg, 2010; Lynn, 2011; Chen et al., 2013; Reeve et al., 2013; Kanazawa, 2014; Hopcraft, 2014; Woodley, 2015): fertility might have had a more positive genetic effect in some regions than in others....
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References
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TL;DR: This article found that the education gradient on fertility comes largely from unintended childbearing, and it is not explained by childbearing desires or opportunity costs, the two most common explanations in previous research.
Abstract: Using a hazards framework and panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2004), we analyze the fertility patterns of a recent cohort of white and black women in the United States. We examine how completed fertility varies by women's education, differentiating between intended and unintended births. We find that the education gradient on fertility comes largely from unintended childbearing, and it is not explained by child-bearing desires or opportunity costs, the two most common explanations in previous research. Less-educated women want no more children than the more educated, so this factor explains none of their higher completed fertility. Less-educated women have lower wages, but wages have little of the negative effect on fertility predicted by economic theories of opportunity cost. We propose three other potential mechanisms linking low education and unintended childbearing, focusing on access to contraception and abortion, relational and economic uncertainty, and consistency in the behaviors necessary to avoid unintended pregnancies. Our work highlights the need to incorporate these mechanisms into future research.
157 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the results of a normative and reliability study on the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) are reported for a sample of 618 children from Victoria Australia ranging in age from 6.00 to 11.92 years.
147 citations
"Intelligence and childlessness." refers background in this paper
...There is in fact strong evidence that the Lynn-Flynn Effect has ended at the end of the 20th century, and the average level of intelligence has begun to decline at the beginning of the 21st century in such advanced industrial nations as Australia (Cotton et al., 2005), Denmark (Teasdale and Owen 2005), Norway (Sundet et al., 2004), and the United Kingdom (Shayer et al., 2007; Shayer and Ginsburg 2009)....
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...…and the average level of intelligence has begun to decline at the beginning of the 21st century in such advanced industrial nations as Australia (Cotton et al., 2005), Denmark (Teasdale and Owen 2005), Norway (Sundet et al., 2004), and the United Kingdom (Shayer et al., 2007; Shayer and…...
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TL;DR: Wirls et al. as discussed by the authors argue that the gender gap is the result of unequal rates of defection by men and women away from liberal values and the Democratic party. But they do not consider the role of women in the political process.
Abstract: This study offers an analysis of the recent political differences between women and men that contradicts the conventional description of the "gender gap" in American politics. Beginning with the 1980 elections, the differences between women and men in their opinions on political issues, in voting behavior, and in partisan identification frequently have been portrayed as a result of women's rejection of Reagan and of Republicans and conservative values and their attraction to more liberal political positions and to the Democratic party. This description is misleading and cannot explain the full spectrum of political behavior by the sexes in the 1980s. This analysis argues that the gender gap has been the result of unequal rates of defection by men and women away from liberal values and the Democratic party. Greater movement by men toward conservative positions and the Republican party produced the gender gap. Consequently, the Republicans were never the potential victims but have always been the potential and actual beneficiaries of the gender gap. Daniel Wirls is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government, Cornell University. The author wishes to thank Benjamin Ginsberg, whose insight and encouragement initiated this study and improved it throughout the project's duration. Kathleen Frankovic graciously provided CBS News polling data. Martin Shefter, Alice Talbot, and the anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments and criticisms that improved the substance and presentation of the argument. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 50:316-330 ? 1986 by the Amencan Association for Public Opinion Research Published by The University of Chicago Press 0033-362X/86/0050-316/$2.50 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.127 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 05:56:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms REINTERPRETING THE GENDER GAP 317 ing negatively to Reagan, Republicans, and revitalized conservatism.' According to this predominant view, the gender gap spelled trouble for Ronald Reagan in 1984 and signaled the potential coalescence of a women's voting bloc as a key constituent of a new Democratic coalition for the 1980s. This interpretation was the decisive factor behind the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro as the Democratic vicepresidential nominee. In 1984, however, the gender gap did not live up to its putative potential. The difference between the electoral choices of women and men narrowed; had only women voted, Reagan still would have won a landslide victory. Despite the unexpected results in 1984, the conventional interpretation has gone largely unquestioned, though references to the gender gap have become fewer and muted. What explains this contrast between the expectations generated by the popular interpretation of the gender gap in the early 1980s and the reality of 1984? Proponents of the conventional argument often drew conclusions about the dynamics and future of sex-linked political differences from static measurements of opinion and voting, which showed women to be more liberal or Democratic than men at discrete points in time over the last several years. The history of the gender gap demonstrates the danger of projections based on static data and a conceptual focus on women as the relevant political actors. Longitudinal analysis of the direction of political motion by both women and men produces a much different portrait of the meaning and significance of the gender gap. This study argues that the gender gap resulted from a general movement by the electorate toward Reagan, the Republicans, and more conservative values. While both men and women have been defecting from the Democratic party and moving away from liberal values, rates of defection among men have been greater than rates among women. Hence the gender gap. Rather than reflecting an increase in Democratic and liberal sentiments among women, the gender gap resulted from more rapid and widespread movement among men than women to conservative values and the Republican party. Consequently, Reagan and the Republicans were never the potential victims, but the potential and actual beneficiaries of the gender gap in 1984. 1 For example, Lou Harris said that "consistently, women are voting more Democratic than Republican, but most particularly, are inclined to vote against Ronald Reagan in his bid for reelection" (Ms., July 1984:53). Reagan's chief political advisor during the campaign of 1984, Ed Rollins, warned that the gender gap could "lock" the Republicans "into the status of a minority party," and that it threatened the chances for Reagan's reelection (Washington Post, June 6, 1983). For the perspective of the women's movement see Abzug (1984) and Smeal (1984). This content downloaded from 157.55.39.127 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 05:56:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
145 citations
"Intelligence and childlessness." refers result in this paper
...Even though past studies show that women are more liberal than men (Lake and Breglio, 1992; Shapiro and Mahajan, 1986; Wirls, 1986), and blacks are more liberal than whites (Kluegel and Smith, 1986; Sundquist, 1983), the effect of childhood intelligence on adult liberalism is twice as large as the…...
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: It is argued that during human evolution, mate choice by both sexes focused increasingly on intelligence as a major heritable component of biological fitness, and humans evolved an unusually high degree of interest in assessing each other's intelligence during courtship and other social interactions.
Abstract: Many traits in many species have evolved through sexual selection specifically to function as 'fitness indicators' that reveal good genes and good health. Sexually selected fitness indicators typically show (1) higher coefficients of phenotypic and genetic variation than survival traits, (2) at least moderate genetic heritabilities and (3) positive correlations with many aspects of an animal's general condition, including body size, body symmetry, parasite resistance, longevity and freedom from deleterious mutations. These diagnostic criteria also appear to describe human intelligence (the g factor). This paper argues that during human evolution, mate choice by both sexes focused increasingly on intelligence as a major heritable component of biological fitness. Many human-specific behaviours (such as conversation, music production, artistic ability and humour) may have evolved principally to advertise intelligence during courtship. Though these mental adaptations may be modular at the level of psychological functioning, their efficiencies may be tightly intercorrelated because they still tap into common genetic and neurophysiological variables associated with fitness itself. Although the g factor (like the superordinate factor of fitness itself) probably exists in all animal species, humans evolved an unusually high degree of interest in assessing each other's intelligence during courtship and other social interactions--and, consequently, a unique suite of highly g-loaded mental adaptations for advertising their intelligence to one another through linguistic and cultural interaction. This paper includes nine novel, testable predictions about human intelligence derived from sexual selection theory.
140 citations
"Intelligence and childlessness." refers background in this paper
...Miller (2000a, 2000b) has consistently argued that women preferentially select men with higher levels of intelligence to mate with....
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