Visualizations : Estimated white IQ by state (US) : This map is ludicrous and obviously...

So Whites in California are only marginally smarter than whites in louisiana and arkansas? Dream on, dipshit.

Interesting, but why only white students? That bugs me.

Also, IQ is calculated like Z scores, the base score is 100 +- 15 points per STD deviation from the mean. It is essentially the distance from the mean score of the test population i.e. how you compare to everyone else. I wonder what the test population was in this case. Unless it is compared to American white students as the population this data is misrepresentative.

Often, in schools the lowest ranking are white students. Also, a 99 and 103 is not too great of a difference. There’s a lot of reasons why scores get pulled down and they don’t all depend on one reason. For instance, Arkansas is like two states with their fast growing area around Fayetteville and Bentonville; however good portions of the state do not have the same resources when it comes to school. What’s interesting about this map is the northern states that lost color.

Anon,

It follows a trend that is observable throughout the entire country—as you move north, intelligence (or at least performance on NAEP tests) improves. It is the case for both blacks and whites (r-values of .51 and .52, respectively), as well as all groups (.70 for all states, .81 for the continguous 48). Whites in San Francisco and Palo Alto are not representative of the entire state’s population.

Gideon,

Here’s a map for all students, not just whites:

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/view/SGXXRFsOtha6cGEMGuwWF2-

I normed the figures that comprise that map around an average IQ of 98. The average IQ for whites is set at 100, but Richard and Lynn predictably found the US to be slightly lower than that (one-quarter of the population is black or Hispanic, and these groups’ average scores consistently fall below the white mean).

Anon,

Right, NAEP data are only available at the state level, so we’re just getting an overall average for each state.

Massachusetts hater: Are you from West Virginia?

9/5 Anon. You seem fascinated by bodily functions. Have you given any thought to self control? Ever?

If the people in the middle were really that smart, they’d be living on the coasts ;>