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{{Short description|Decrease in genetic traits deemed desirable}}
In ], '''dysgenics''' is a term describing the progressive ] "weakening" or '''genetic deterioration''' of a ] of ] relative to their ], often due to relaxation of ] or the occurrence of ]. The ] of ''dysgenic'' is ''eugenic'' (see also ]).
{{Distinguish|Dysgenesis (embryology)}}
'''Dysgenics''' refers to any decrease in the prevalence of traits deemed to be either socially desirable or generally adaptive to their environment due to ] disfavouring their reproduction.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rédei|first=George P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9e9pqQCqrEC|title=Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics, and Informatics, Volume 1|publisher=Springer|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4020-6755-6|pages=572}}</ref>


In 1915 the term was used by ] to describe the supposed deleterious effects of modern warfare on group-level genetic fitness because of its tendency to kill physically healthy men while preserving the disabled at home.<ref name="Jordan">{{cite book| last = Jordan| first = David Starr| title = War and the Breed: The Relation of War to the Downfall of Nations| publisher = University Press of the Pacific| year= 2003|edition=Reprint| isbn = 978-1-4102-0900-9|location = Honolulu}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Carlson|first=Elof Axel|title=The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea|publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press|year=2001|isbn=9780879695873|pages=189–193}}</ref> Similar concerns had been raised by early eugenicists and ] during the 19th century, and continued to play a role in scientific and public policy debates throughout the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carlson|first=Elof Axel|title=The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea|publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press|year=2001|isbn=9780879695873}}</ref>
On the basis of numerous studies carried out over the past few decades, ] IQ is estimated to be declining at a rate between 0.57 and 1.6 points per generation throughout the United States (and possibly faster throughout the African-American subpopulation). Note that during this time, ] IQ has been rising due to the ].


More recent concerns about supposed dysgenic effects in human populations were advanced by the controversial psychologist and self-described "]"<ref>
==Scientific Investigation==
*{{Cite news |last=Min |first=Alex |date=18 November 2020 |title=Racist Pseudoscience Has No Place At Harvard |work=Harvard Political Review |url=https://harvardpolitics.com/racist-pseudo-harvard/ |quote=Lynn is a self-described 'scientific racist'...}}
:''See also: ]''
*{{Cite news |last=Sehgal |first=Parul |date=12 February 2020 |title=Charles Murray Returns, Nodding to Caution but Still Courting Controversy |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/books/review-human-diversity-charles-murray.html |quote=Richard Lynn, for example, a self-described 'scientific racist,' ...}}
*{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Gavin |date=2 March 2018 |title=The unwelcome revival of 'race science' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/02/the-unwelcome-revival-of-race-science |quote=...Richard Lynn, who has described himself as a 'scientific racist'.}}</ref> ], notably in his 1996 book '']'', which argued that changes in ] and decreased ] since the ] have resulted in an increased propagation of deleterious traits and ]s.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Dysgenics 1996">{{cite book|last=Lynn|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Lynn|title=Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations | publisher = ] | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780275949174 |url=https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/Dysgenics-Richard-Lynn/Dysgenics-Richard-Lynn.pdf}}</ref>


Despite these concerns, genetic studies have shown no evidence for dysgenic effects in human populations.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Fischbach |first1=Karl-Friedrich |title=Heritability of Intelligence |last2=Niggeschmidt |first2=Martin |publisher=Springer |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-658-35321-6 |pages=37–39 |chapter=Do the Dumb Get Dumber and the Smart Get Smarter? |doi=10.1007/978-3-658-35321-6_9 |quote=Since the nineteenth century, a 'race deterioration' has been repeatedly predicted as a result of the excessive multiplication of less gifted people. Nevertheless, the educational and qualification level of people in the industrialized countries has risen strongly. The fact that the 'test intelligence' has also significantly increased, is difficult to explain for supporters of the dysgenic thesis: they suspect that the 'phenotypic intelligence' has increased for environmental reasons, while the 'genotypic quality' secretly decreases. There is neither evidence nor proof for this theory. |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-35321-6_9 |s2cid=244640696}} Citations in original omitted.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Conley|first1=Dalton|last2=Laidley|first2=Thomas|last3=Belsky|first3=Daniel W.|last4=Fletcher|first4=Jason M.|last5=Boardman|first5=Jason D.|last6=Domingue|first6=Benjamin W.|date=14 June 2016|title=Assortative mating and differential fertility by phenotype and genotype across the 20th century|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=113|issue=24|pages=6647–6652|doi=10.1073/pnas.1523592113|pmid=27247411|pmc=4914190|doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.6647C }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bratsberg |first1=Bernt |last2=Rogeberg |first2=Ole |date=26 June 2018 |title=Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused |journal=] |volume=115 |issue=26 |pages=6674–6678 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.6674B |doi=10.1073/pnas.1718793115 |pmc=6042097 |pmid=29891660 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Neisser |first=Ulric |title=The Rising Curve: Long-Term Gains in IQ and Related Measures |publisher=American Psychological Association |year=1998 |isbn=978-1557985033 |pages=xiii–xiv |quote=There is no convincing evidence that any dysgenic trend exists. . . . It turns out, counterintuitively, that differential birth rates (for groups scoring high and low on a trait) do ''not'' necessarily produce changes in the population mean.}}</ref> Reviewing Lynn's book, the scholar John R. Wilmoth notes: "Overall, the most puzzling aspect of Lynn's alarmist position is that the deterioration of average intelligence predicted by the eugenicists has not occurred."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilmoth |first=John R. |date=1997 |title=Review of Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2137584 |journal=] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=664–666 |doi=10.2307/2137584 |jstor=2137584 |issn=0098-7921}}</ref>
The scientific community has focused most on declining intelligence throughout the first world; demographic studies indicate that, in affluent nations, women with higher IQs and better education have much lower reproductive rates than women with lower IQs and less education. Because IQ and education are both known to have high additive ],<ref>
{{cite journal
| last = Rowe
| first = David C.
| coauthor = Vesterdal, Wendy J. & Rodgers, Joseph L.
| date = 1999
| title = Herrnstein's Syllogism: Genetic and Shared Environmental Influences on IQ, Education, and Income
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 26(4)
| pages = 405-423
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|last = Neisser et al.
|first = Ulric
|coauthors = Boodoo, Gwyneth; Bouchard, Thomas J. Jr.; Boykin, A. Wayde, Brody, Nathan; Ceci, Stephen J.; Halpern, Diane F.; Loehlin, John C.; Perloff, Robert; Sternberg, Robert J.; Urbina, Suzanna
|journal = American Psychologist
|year = 1996
|volume = 51(2)
|pages = 77-101
|title = Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns
}}</ref> these reproductive trends have led to concern regarding the future of intelligence in these nations.


===Early Research=== == See also ==
*{{annotated link|Social degeneration|Degeneration theory}}
Some of the first studies into the subject were carried out on individuals living before the advent of IQ testing, in the late 19th century; researchers checked for dysgenic trends by looking at the fertility of men listed in WHO's WHO, these individuals being presumably of high intelligence. These men, taken as a whole, had few children, implying the existence of a dysgenic trend.<ref>Huntington, E., & Whitney, L. ''The Builders of America.'' New York: Morrow, 1927.</ref><ref>Kirk, Dudley. "The fertility of a gifted group: A study of the number of children of men in WHO'S WHO." In ''The Nature and Transmission of the Genetic and Cultural Characteristics of Human Populations.'' New York: Milbank Memorial Fund, 1957, pp.78-98.</ref>
*{{annotated link|Devolution (biology)}}
*{{annotated link|Flynn effect}}
*{{annotated link|Heritability of IQ}}
*{{annotated link|List of congenital disorders}}
*{{annotated link|List of biological development disorders}}
*{{annotated link|Recent human evolution}}


== References ==
But more rigorous studies carried out on those alive during the Second World War returned more optimistic results suggesting a slight eugenic trend, or at least the absence of dysgenesis with respect to intelligence. The findings from these investigations were consistent enough for Osborn and Bajema, writing as late as 1972, to conclude that fertility patterns were eugenic, and that "the reproductive trend toward an increase in the frequency of genes associated with higher IQ... will probably continue in the foreseeable future in the United States and will be found also in other industrial welfare-state democracies."<ref>{{cite journal
{{Reflist|30em}}
| last = Osborn
| first = F.
| coauthor = Bajema, C.
| date = 1972
| title = The eugenic hypothesis
| journal = Social Biology
| volume = 19
| pages = 337-345
}}</ref> But reviewers considered the findings premature,<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Osborne
| first = R.
| date = 1975
| title = Fertility, IQ and school achievement
| journal = Psychological Reports
| volume = 37
| pages = 1067-1073
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| last = Cattell
| first = R. B.
| date = 1974
| title = Differential fertility and normal selection for IQ: Some required conditions in their investigation
| journal = Social Biology
| volume = 21
| pages = 168-177
}}</ref> claiming that the samples were nationally unrepresentative, generally being confined to whites born between 1910 and 1940 in the Great Lakes States. Other researchers also began to report a dysgenic decline in the 1960s after two decades of neutral or eugenic fertility. <ref>{{cite journal
| last = Kirk
| first = Dudley
| date = 1969
| title = The genetic implications of family planning
| journal = Journal of Medical Education
| volume = 44 (supplement 2)
| pages = 80-83
}}</ref>


{{Charles Darwin}}
In 1982, Daniel Vining sought to address these issues in a large study on the fertility of over 10,000 individuals throughout the United States, who were then aged 25 to 34. The average fertility in his study was correlated at -0.86 with ] for white women and -0.96 for black women, which Vining claimed to indicate a drop in the ] average IQ of 1.6 points per generation for the white population, and 2.4 points per generation for the black population.<ref>{{cite journal
{{Global catastrophic risks}}
| last = Vining
{{Population}}
| first = Daniel
| date = 1982
| title = On the possibility of the reemergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 6
| issue = 3
| pages = 241-264
}}</ref> in considering these results along with those from earlier researchers, Vining wrote that "in periods of rising birth rates, persons with higher intelligence tend to have fertility equal to, if not exceeding, that of the population as a whole," but, "The recent decline in fertility thus seems to have restored the dysgenic trend observed for a comparable period of falling fertility between 1850 and 1940."


To address the concern that the fertility of this sample could not be considered complete, Vining carried out a follow-up study for the same sample 18 years later, reporting "the same negative relationship is found between IQ and fertility," although "the overall decline in mean IQ implied by these data is less".<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Vining
| first = Daniel
| date = 1995
| title = On the possibility of the reemergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials: an update
| journal = Personality and Individual Differences
| volume = 19
| issue = 2
| pages = 259-263
| url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9F-3YB56P1-2S&_user=521814&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000059575&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=521814&md5=75ad52e9a7cac14dd14a9acdd31b732d
}}</ref>

===Later research===
Regardless of the methodology employed, later research has generally supported that of Vining.

In 1988 study, Retherford and Sewell found the now well known inverse relationship between IQ and fertility, noting that if children had, on average, the same IQ as their parents, IQ would decline by .81 points per generation. Taking .71 for the additive heritability of IQ as given by Jinks & Fulker,<ref>Jinks, J. L., & Fulker, D. W. (1970). Comparison of the biometrical, genetical, MAVA and classical approaches to the analysis of human behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 73, 311−349.</ref> they calculated a dysgenic decline of .57 IQ points per generation.<ref>Retherford, R. D., & Sewell, W. H. (1988). "Intelligence and family size reconsidered." ''Social Biology, 35'', 1−40.</ref>

In 2004 ] and ] attempted a straightforward replication of Vining's work. Their study returned similar results, with the genotypic decline measuring at 0.9 IQ points per generation for the total sample and 0.75 IQ points for whites only.<ref>{{cite journal | last =Lynn | first =Richard | coauthors =Van Court, Marilyn | title =New evidence of dysgenic fertility for intelligence in the United States | journal =Intelligence | volume =32 | issue =2 | pages =p. 193 | publisher =Ablex Pub. | date= 2004 | issn=0160-2896}}</ref> It should be noted that Richard Lynn and Van Court are controversial figures; Van Court has written for '']'', "a magazine that espouses white nationalism"<ref>Andrew Murr. . ''Newsweek'', August 9, 2004.</ref> and Lynn has been criticized by other scholars for distorting and misrepresenting data on previous occasions<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://mysite.du.edu/~psherry/bellcrv.html
|first=Leon
|last=Kamin
|journal=]
|year=1995
|month=February
|volume=272
|title=The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
|quote=Lynn's distortions and misrepresentations of the data constitute a truly venomous racism, combined with scandalous disregard for scientific objectivity.
}}</ref><ref> Steve Rosenthal, Department of Sociology, Hampton University, Hampton VA</ref><ref> by Girma Berhanu, Gotberg University, Sweden</ref> although other scholars have favorably reviewed Lynn's work on dysgenics.<ref>''Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations'', reviewed by John C. Loehlin. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1999. ]</ref><ref>''Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations'', reviewed by Daniel R. Vining, Jr. Population Studies, 1998. ]</ref>

Another way of checking the negative relationship between IQ and fertility is to consider the relationship which educational attainment has to fertility, since ] is known to be a reasonable proxy for IQ, correlating with IQ at .55;<ref>{{cite journal
|last = Neisser et al.
|first = Ulric
|coauthors = Boodoo, Gwyneth; Bouchard, Thomas J. Jr.; Boykin, A. Wayde, Brody, Nathan; Ceci, Stephen J.; Halpern, Diane F.; Loehlin, John C.; Perloff, Robert; Sternberg, Robert J.; Urbina, Suzanna
|journal = American Psychologist
|year = 1996
|volume = 51(2)
|pages = 77-101
|title = Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns
}}</ref> in a 1999 study examining the relationship between IQ and education in a large national sample, David Rowe and others found not only that achieved education had a high heritability (.68) and that half of the variance in education was explained by an underlying genetic component shared by IQ, education, and ].<ref>
{{cite journal
| last = Rowe
| first = David C.
| coauthor = Vesterdal, Wendy J. & Rodgers, Joseph L.
| date = 1999
| title = Herrnstein's Syllogism: Genetic and Shared Environmental Influences on IQ, Education, and Income
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 26(4)
| pages = 405-423
}}</ref>
One study investigating fertility and education carried out in 1991 found that high school dropouts in America had the most children (2.5 on average), with high school graduates having fewer children, and college graduates having the fewest children (1.56 on average).<ref>Bachu, Amara. 1991. ''Fertility of American Women: June 1990.'' U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current Population Report Series P-20, No. 454. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.</ref>

Among a sample of women using a reliable form of birth control, success rates were related to IQ, with the percentages of high, medium and low IQ women having unwanted births during a three-year interval being 3%, 8% and 11%, respectively.<ref>{{cite journal
|first = Richard
|last = Urdry
|journal = Social Biology
|year = 1978
|volume = 25
|pages = 10-14
|title = Differential fertility by intelligence: the role of birth planning
}}</ref> Another study found that after an unwanted pregnancy has occurred, higher IQ couples are more likely to obtain abortions <ref>{{cite journal
|first = Joel
|last = Cohen
|year = 1971
|title = Legal abortions, socioeconomic status and measured intelligence in the United States
|journal = Social Biology
|volume = 18(1)
|pages = 55-63
}}</ref>; and unmarried teenage girls who become pregnant are found to be more likely to carry their babies to term if they are doing poorly in school.<ref>{{cite journal
|first = Lucy
|last = Olson
|year = 1980
|title = Social and psychological correlates of pregnancy resolution among adolescent women: a review
|journal = American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
|volume = 50(3)
|pages = 432-445
}}</ref> Conversely, while desired family size is apparently the same for women of all IQ levels,<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Vining
| first = Daniel
| date = 1982
| title = On the possibility of the reemergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 6
| issue = 3
| pages = 241-264
}}</ref> highly educated women are found to be more likely to say that they desire more children than they have, indicating a "deficit fertility" in the highly intelligent.<ref>{{cite journal
|first = Robert H.
|last = Weller
|year = 1974
|title = Excess and deficit fertility in the United States
|journal = Social Biology
|volume = 21 (l)
|pages = 77-87
}}</ref> In her review of reproductive trends in the United States, Van Court argues that "each factor - from initially employing some form of contraception, to successful implementation of the method, to termination of an accidental pregnancy when it occurs - involves selection against intelligence." <ref>{{cite journal
|first = Marian
|last = Van Court
|journal = Eugenics Bulletin
|year = 1983
|title = Unwanted Births And Dysgenic Reproduction In The United States
}}</ref>

Although much of the research into intelligence and fertility has been sadly restricted to individuals within a single nation (most of them living within the United States), Steven Shatz has recently extended the research into dysgenics internationally; he finds that "There is a strong tendency for countries with lower national IQ scores to have higher fertility rates and for countries with higher national IQ scores to have lower fertility rates."<ref>{{cite journal
|first = Steven
|last = Shatz
|journal = Intelligence
|year = 2008
|volume = 36
|issue = 2
|pages = 109-111}}</ref>

===The Flynn Effect===
The most important contraindication to dysgenic declines in IQ has been that IQ scores themselves have not been falling, but rising, in a secular trend which is known as the ]. If it is true that the genes underlying IQ have been shifting, it is reasonable to expect that IQ throughout the population should also shift in the same direction, yet the reverse has clearly occurred. However, as pointed out by Retherford & Sewell, genotypic intelligence may fall even while phenotypic intelligence rises because of environmental effects (e.g. better schooling, nutrition, television, and so on).<ref>Retherford, R. D., & Sewell, W. H. (1988). "Intelligence and family size reconsidered." ''Social Biology, 35'', 1−40.</ref> The ] has increased IQ scores as much as 15 points throughout the first world, but some researchers claim that this trend now shows signs of reversal, which, if true, would be consistent with the reported dysgenic declines to IQ becoming visible when the environmental mask of the Flynn Effect is removed.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Teasdale
| first = Thomas
| coauthors = Owen, David R.
| date = 2008
| title = Secular declines in cognitive test scores: A reversal of the Flynn Effect
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 36
| issue = 2
| url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4M-4N5KY0G-1&_user=10&_origUdi=B6W4M-4NHD97J-1&_fmt=high&_coverDate=03%2F02%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_orig=article&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c9722daa72247c894c02035be70c1b02 }}</ref>
<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Lynn
| first = Richard
| coauthor = Harvey, John
| date = 2008
| title = The decline of the world's IQ
| journal = Intelligence
| volume = 36
| issue = 2
}}</ref> See the section on ] for further information.

==History of the term==
The term first came into use as an opposite of ], a social philosophy advocating improvement of human ] qualities, often by social programs or government intervention.

According to the '']'', the term "dysgenic" was first used as an adjective as early as 1915 by ] to describe the "dysgenic effect" of ]. He believed that fit men were as likely to die from modern warfare as anyone else, and war was seen as killing off only the physically fit male members of the population while the disabled stayed safely at home.<ref name="Jordan">{{cite book| last = Jordan| first = David Starr| title = War and the Breed: The Relation of War to the Downfall of Nations| publisher = University Press of the Pacific| date= 2003 (Reprint)| location = Honolulu, Hawaii| id = ISBN 1-4102-0900-8}}</ref><ref>McNish, Ian "David Starr Jordan on the Dysgenic effects of dysfunctional culture," Mankind Quarterly. Washington: Fall 2002.Vol.43, Iss. 1; pg. 81 </ref>

In the 1930s, ], who later became the first director of ], was concerned by dysgenics<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Huxley
| first = Julian
| authorlink = Julian Huxley
| date= 1936
| title = Eugenics and Society
| journal = Eugenics Review
| volume = 28
| issue = 1
| pages = 24
| url = http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/image_header.pl?id=1823&printable=1&detailed=0
| accessdate = 2007-09-25
}}</ref> and described ] as "of all outlets for altruism, that which is most comprehensive, and of longest range".<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Huxley
| first = Julian
| authorlink = Julian Huxley
| date= 1936
| title = Eugenics and Society
| journal = Eugenics Review
| volume = 28
| issue = 1
| pages = 11
| url = http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/image_header.pl?id=1823&printable=1&detailed=0
| accessdate = 2007-09-25
}}</ref>

In 1963, Weyl and Possony asserted that comparatively small differences in average intelligence can become very large differences in the very high I.Q. ranges. A decline in average psychometric intelligence of only a few points will mean a much smaller population of gifted individuals.<ref>Weyl, N. & Possony, S. T: The Geography of Intellect, 1963, s. 154</ref>

In his 1965 article "Roman Culture and Dysgenic Lead Poisoning" Colum Gillfallen argued that ] used by Romans in plumbing and cooking utensils poisoned the water and food of the Roman elite, causing the ].<ref>{{cite journal| last = Gillfallen| first = S. Colum| title = Roman Culture and Dysgenic Lead Poisoning| journal = The Mankind Quarterly| volume = 5| issue = 3| pages = pp. 131-148| date= 1965, Jan-Mar| id = ISSN 0025-2344| accessdate = }} </ref>
In 1985, the Gillfallen paper was refuted by Needleman and Needleman. They agree that lead poisoning from cooking utensils was potentially hazardous. However, measurements of lead from bones of Romans and other peoples provide no evidence that the fertility of the Roman elite was adversely affected.<ref>{{cite journal| last = Needleman| first = Lionel | coauthors = Diane Needleman| title = Lead Poisoning and the Decline of the Roman Aristocracy| journal = Classical Views| volume = 4| issue = 1| pages = pp. 63-94| date= 1985| id = ISSN 0012-9356| accessdate = }}</ref><ref> {{cite web| last = Grout| title = Lead Poisoning and Rome| work = Encyclopaedia Romana| publisher = James| date = ] ]| url = http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html| accessdate = 2006-04-30}}</ref>

] (a ] in Physics) used the term in his controversial advocacy of eugenics from the mid 1960s through the 1980s; he and his theories were unfavorably portrayed in the press. Shockley argued that "the future of the population was threatened because people with low IQs had more children than those with high IQs," and his theories "became increasingly controversial and race-based".<ref name="PBS">{{cite web| title = William Shockley 1910 - 1989| work = A Science Odyssey People and Discoveries| publisher = PBS online| date= 1998| url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/btshoc.html| accessdate = 2006-11-13}} </ref>

Robert K. Graham in 1998 argued that genocide and class warfare, in cases ranging from the French Revolution to the present, have had a dysgenic effect through the killing of the more intelligent by the less intelligent, and "might well incline humanity toward a more primitive, more brutish level of evolutionary achievement."<ref>Graham, Robert K. "Devolution by revolution: Selective genocide ensuing from the French and Russian revolutions," Mankind Quarterly. Washington: Fall 1998.Vol.39, Iss. 1; pg. 71</ref>

==In music, film and literature==
*]' 1895 novel, '']'', describes a future world where humanity has degenerated into two distinct branches who have their roots in the class distinctions of Wells' day. Both have sub-human intelligence and other putative dysgenic traits.
*]'s short story "]" is an example of dysgenic fiction.
*]'s novels '']'' and '']'' describe humanity becoming cooperative and "low-maintenance" to the detriment of all other traits.
*The 1998 song "]" by ] finds lighthearted humor in dysgenics with the lines "Been around the world and found/That only stupid people are breeding/The cretins cloning and feeding/And I don't even own a tv"
*The 2003 song "The Idiots Are Taking Over" by ] suggests that the effects of dysgenics are already evident.
*]'s 2006 film '']'' is a comedy about a future where dysgenics has contributed to mass stupidity.
*The 2007 music video of ]'s song "]" discusses the topic of dysgenics.

==See also==
<!-- Alphabetical, please -->
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

==References==
===Cited===
<div class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>

===General===

*] and Omer Moav: Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Review of Economics 117 (2002) 1133-1191.
* ] (2000) A review of Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations. Annals of Human Genetics 64 (4), 363-374. doi: 10.1046/ j.1469-1809.2000.6440363.
* Shockley on Eugenics and Race: The Application of Science to the Solution of Human Problems Scott-Townsend, 1992

==External references==
] ]
] ]
]

]
]
]

Latest revision as of 19:41, 16 December 2024

Decrease in genetic traits deemed desirable Not to be confused with Dysgenesis (embryology).

Dysgenics refers to any decrease in the prevalence of traits deemed to be either socially desirable or generally adaptive to their environment due to selective pressure disfavouring their reproduction.

In 1915 the term was used by David Starr Jordan to describe the supposed deleterious effects of modern warfare on group-level genetic fitness because of its tendency to kill physically healthy men while preserving the disabled at home. Similar concerns had been raised by early eugenicists and social Darwinists during the 19th century, and continued to play a role in scientific and public policy debates throughout the 20th century.

More recent concerns about supposed dysgenic effects in human populations were advanced by the controversial psychologist and self-described "scientific racist" Richard Lynn, notably in his 1996 book Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations, which argued that changes in selection pressures and decreased infant mortality since the Industrial Revolution have resulted in an increased propagation of deleterious traits and genetic disorders.

Despite these concerns, genetic studies have shown no evidence for dysgenic effects in human populations. Reviewing Lynn's book, the scholar John R. Wilmoth notes: "Overall, the most puzzling aspect of Lynn's alarmist position is that the deterioration of average intelligence predicted by the eugenicists has not occurred."

See also

References

  1. Rédei, George P. (2008). Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics, and Informatics, Volume 1. Springer. p. 572. ISBN 978-1-4020-6755-6.
  2. Jordan, David Starr (2003). War and the Breed: The Relation of War to the Downfall of Nations (Reprint ed.). Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 978-1-4102-0900-9.
  3. Carlson, Elof Axel (2001). The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. pp. 189–193. ISBN 9780879695873.
  4. Carlson, Elof Axel (2001). The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. ISBN 9780879695873.
  6. ^ Fischbach, Karl-Friedrich; Niggeschmidt, Martin (2022). "Do the Dumb Get Dumber and the Smart Get Smarter?". Heritability of Intelligence. Springer. pp. 37–39. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-35321-6_9. ISBN 978-3-658-35321-6. S2CID 244640696. Since the nineteenth century, a 'race deterioration' has been repeatedly predicted as a result of the excessive multiplication of less gifted people. Nevertheless, the educational and qualification level of people in the industrialized countries has risen strongly. The fact that the 'test intelligence' has also significantly increased, is difficult to explain for supporters of the dysgenic thesis: they suspect that the 'phenotypic intelligence' has increased for environmental reasons, while the 'genotypic quality' secretly decreases. There is neither evidence nor proof for this theory. Citations in original omitted.
  7. Lynn, Richard (1997). Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations (PDF). Praeger Publishers. ISBN 9780275949174.
  8. Conley, Dalton; Laidley, Thomas; Belsky, Daniel W.; Fletcher, Jason M.; Boardman, Jason D.; Domingue, Benjamin W. (14 June 2016). "Assortative mating and differential fertility by phenotype and genotype across the 20th century". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (24): 6647–6652. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.6647C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1523592113. PMC 4914190. PMID 27247411.
  9. Bratsberg, Bernt; Rogeberg, Ole (26 June 2018). "Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (26): 6674–6678. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.6674B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1718793115. PMC 6042097. PMID 29891660.
  10. Neisser, Ulric (1998). The Rising Curve: Long-Term Gains in IQ and Related Measures. American Psychological Association. pp. xiii–xiv. ISBN 978-1557985033. There is no convincing evidence that any dysgenic trend exists. . . . It turns out, counterintuitively, that differential birth rates (for groups scoring high and low on a trait) do not necessarily produce changes in the population mean.
  11. Wilmoth, John R. (1997). "Review of Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations". Population and Development Review. 23 (3): 664–666. doi:10.2307/2137584. ISSN 0098-7921. JSTOR 2137584.
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