Academic experts criticise Boris Johnson IQ claims (2024)

A world expert on behavioural genetics, recently championed by Conservative education advisers, has said it is wrong to abandon those with the lowest IQs , as Boris Johnson suggested in a highly provocative speech on Wednesday.

The London mayor said those with IQs below 85 were less wealthy and implied that society should be ploughing more resources into helping those with higher IQs.

But Rober Plomin, professor of behavioural genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, said while those with high IQs stood a better chance of being wealthy, this was in no way "fixed" and that Johnson's assertions about resources, "didn't flow from the facts".

Michael Gove's special adviser, Dominic Cummings, recently asked Plomin to give a talk at the Department for Education.

Plomin said there was a "correlation between IQ and educational attainment ... income, occupational status". But he said this was "moderate" . He said: "If Boris actually said, 'We are to therefore put more of our resources into the higher IQ [bracket]', that's wrong ... it's applying values."

Plomin said it was more likely that people with high IQs would be richer than those with low ones, but the correlation was "not all that high".

"It's all probabilistic. The average IQ of people who graduate from university is say 120, the average IQ of those who get PhD' is 130, and it's just the average … [But] there is still a lot of variation around that," he said.

However, Plomin said policies of distributing resources depended on a society's values, and that as a late bloomer himself and was grateful not to have been put through the highly selective old 11+ system as he may not have survived:

"I was very much a late bloomer, developmentally in terms of schools," Plomin said. "I was very lucky we had a public education system in the United States which allowed me to go on. If there had been an 11+ [exam] I might not have been selected for it."

"I don't think my political values mean more than anyone elses but from a scientific point of view I would emphasise really strongly that the fact that there are these differences in cognitive ability... is an incontrovertible fact but the social implications of that depend on your values."

Other academics also stepped into the controversy stoked by Johnson's comments. Dr James Thompson, senior lecturer in psychology at University College London, said Boris had been "inelegant" in his choice of words.

Thompson, co-author of Cognitive Capitalism, said: "What Boris Johnson has done is inelegantly describe things which in fact do seem to be true: intelligence, however you assess it, is predictive. It's predicative of income, life span and of occupational status."

"People are different and have different futures and intelligence seems to be an important part of that."

He said studies showed there seemed to be a correlation between "being bright in youth and doing well in life later".

Asked if inequality was inevitable, he said: "In one way that is true. There's two things, one is that some people are brighter than others and can do more complicated work and that more complicated work is generally more valued." However, he added that how much people should be paid was a decision for society.

Professor Richard Lynn, co-author of IQ and the Wealth of Nations, said that the association between IQ and income was "only modest". "That is because some high IQ people go into jobs that don't have particularly high earnings like university professors, schoolteachers or social workers. Some professions attract very high IQ people but they don't have very high earnings," he said.

"You could say that the IQ is only one determinant of high earnings, the others are ambition and motivation and the third one is luck."

Academic experts criticise Boris Johnson IQ claims (2024)

FAQs

What is the average IQ of someone with a PhD? ›

While the average IQ score of PhD students and academics, according to some studies, falls in the 'superior' range of around 125, this doesn't exclude those with an average IQ from undertaking a PhD.

What is the average academic IQ? ›

A recent meta-analysis found that undergraduates' IQs have steadily fallen from roughly 119 in 1939 to a mean of 102 in 2022, just slightly above the population average of 100.

What percentage of the population has an IQ over 130? ›

Most people have an average IQ between 85 and 115. Overall, about 98% of people have a score below 130. Only 2% of the population score above that and are considered above average.

How many people have an IQ of less than 85? ›

A score of 100 indicates that a person's intelligence is average. About half the people tested score above 100, while half score below 100. 1. The one-standard-deviation rule implies that about 32 percent of the population have IQ scores more than 15 points away from 100: 16 percent above 115 and 16 percent below 85.

What is Elon Musk's IQ? ›

Let's first answer the critical question — Elon Musk's IQ is around 155. For context, it is believed that Albert Einstein had an IQ between 160 to 165. As such, Elon is way more brilliant than the average person.

What is the average IQ at Harvard? ›

That's a natural consequence of knowing that nothing truly bad can ever happen to you, no matter what you do. While true, the estimated average IQ at Harvard is 142. IQ is highly associated with self-control and discipline. > IQ is highly associated with self-control and discipline.

What IQ is a 4.0 GPA? ›

A G.P.A of 4.0 is (4 – 3.2)/. 5 = 1.6 SD's above average. We would expect that these students would have IQ's that are 0.4 * 1.6 = 0.64 SD's above average. So the expected mean IQ for this group should be 115 + .

What is the average IQ of Ivy League students? ›

you can see that the average IQ of all college graduates was 111. The average IQ of Ivy League colleges was 120.

What was Albert Einstein's IQ? ›

What was the IQ of Albert Einstein? Sources usually put his IQ at 160.

What is the minimum IQ to get into Mensa? ›

The minimum accepted score on the Stanford–Binet is 132, while for the Cattell it is 148, and 130 in the Wechsler tests (WAIS, WISC). Most IQ tests are designed to yield a mean score of 100 with a standard deviation of 15; the 98th-percentile score under these conditions is 130.8, assuming a normal distribution.

What is the minimum IQ for the military? ›

Applicants are required by military regulation to have a percentile score on a standardized test called the ASVAB that is 31 or more, which is roughly comparable to an IQ score on the Stanford-Binet scale of a little bit less than 92, for high school graduates seeking to enter the Army or Navy (other services have more ...

What is the dark history of IQ? ›

In Nazi Germany, the government authorized the murder of children based on low IQ. Following the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement, the discriminatory uses of IQ tests were challenged on both moral and scientific grounds. Scientists began to gather evidence of environmental impacts on IQ.

What state has the lowest IQ? ›

Massachusetts has the highest average IQ by state in the U.S., with an average IQ of 104.3. Mississippi has the lowest average IQ by state in the U.S., with an average IQ of 94.2.

What is the average IQ in China? ›

With an average IQ of 104.1, the People's Republic of China underscores its dedication to education and intellectual growth, contributing to its economic and technological advancements.

What is the average IQ in Russia? ›

National IQ Score: 96.29

Russia is the world's largest country by area. With a national IQ score of 96.29, Russia ranks among the top 35 smartest countries with the highest IQ in the world.

What is the average IQ of a professor? ›

Students with an average IQ of 125 become professors with an average IQ of 125, so the average professor is quite a bit away from the lower border of the Window around 150 (131.. 139, depending on how optimistic you are). Interestingly, 125 is also 13 points away from 138, giving a Window of 14.

Which degree has the highest average IQ? ›

In 2017, Education Testing Service "experts" estimated that physics (133), math (130), philosophy (129) and materials science (129) majors have the highest IQs. (I assume they're extrapolating from SAT scores.) I was an English major (120). Education majors average 110.

Is 120 IQ enough to be a doctor? ›

The average IQ of medical doctors is around 125. The average intelligence quotient (IQ) of medical students is 120. A study found average IQ for medical school applicants is 110 to 120.

What is the average IQ of a person with a master's degree? ›

The average IQ for those with a graduate degree is 125, while the average IQ for those with a high school diploma or less is 95. The average IQ for those who identify as liberal is 106, while the average IQ for those who identify as conservative is 94.

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