Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence

Theory that Ashkenazi Jews are abnormally intelligent

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Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence, often colloquially referred to as "Jewish genius",[1][2] is the stereotype[3] that Ashkenazi Jews tend to have a higher intelligence than other ethnic groups.

## Background

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See also: Race and intelligence

Measures of intelligence often exhibit cultural bias.[4]

In response to controversy sparked by the publication of The Bell Curve in 1994, a 1995 task force by the American Psychological Association found that racial and ethnic groups have wider range of intelligence test performance within groups than the mean difference between groups.[5]

Over the course of subsequent decades, a consensus has emerged in the scientific community that ethnic or racial differences in average intelligence test performance are not due to genetic differences between these groups.[6][7][8] Growing evidence indicates that environmental factors explain such differences.[9][10]

## Analysis

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Albert Einstein, a prominent Ashkenazi Jewish physicist and Nobel laureate, is often cited as an example of Jewish intellectual achievement.

Jewish success in many intellectual fields often prompts the stereotype. Many who argue for Jewish intelligence have pointed out the List of Jewish Nobel laureates amassing 22% of Nobel Prizes across all scientific categories while Jewish people comprise only 0.2% of global population at roughly 14 million people.[11][12] Even a small increase in average IQ would represent significant representation of outliers.[11] One psychologist, commenting on the state of research, says "it is fair to say that most, though not all, studies give Ashkenazi descendants a higher IQ than non-Jewish whites", but argues that the effect size remains contentious and unknown.[11] Many studies in the literature are often done by disreputable researchers, which may make assessing the size of difference difficult.[11]

### Selected studies

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#### Lynn paper

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A 2004 paper by self-professed "scientific racist" Richard Lynn reported that American Jews obtained significantly higher verbal IQ scores than the average white gentile, and even higher scores compared to black peoples.[13][a][non-primary source needed]

#### Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence

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In 2006, a controversial paper titled "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence" proposed a biological basis for Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence.[15] The paper was authored by Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending; who have been linked to theories described as "scientific racism".[16] The authors hypothesize that Ashkenazi Jews as a group inherit higher verbal and mathematical intelligence on the basis of inherited diseases, selective pressure from the peculiar economic situation of Ashkenazi Jews in the Middle Ages, and supposed lack of intermarriage with outside groups. This paper suggested that the average IQ score of Ashkenazi Jews fall in a range of 108–115 under some studies, which would be significantly higher than that of any other ethnic group in the world.[15][17][18] The paper received widespread coverage in media.[19][20][21]

The paper attracted significant criticism and controversy. Steven Pinker described the paper's central theory as "tentative", stating that it "could turn out to be mistaken" and cautioning that "any characterization of Jews in biological terms smacks of Nazi pseudoscience".[22] David Reich has argued that contrary to selective pressure theory, some of the inherited diseases that Ashkenazi Jews suffer may be more likely due to genetic drift. Adam Rutherford argues that some of these diseases may have been commonplace during the Middle Ages, and that genetic studies may indicate the bottleneck that caused the accumulation of disease occurred before the Medieval period.[23][24] Sander Gilman has argued it is problematic to paint Jews with tropes of being physically enfeebled geniuses, with the idea of hereditary illnesses in Ashkenazi Jews being due to consanguinity, having been previously suggested by 19th century French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.[25]

Bret Stephens cited the study in a New York Times op-ed, suggesting that Jewish genius is innate to culture instead of biology, which later led to an editor's note apologizing for referencing the study at all.[26][11][27] Adam Shapiro has argued that while praising Jewish genius may seem to combat antisemitism, Stephens was actually attempting to co-opt White supremacy ideals by using race science.[28] Shapiro and other commentators also argue that using intelligence tests to divide and describe specific ethnic groups, even when to prove superiority of one group, is still linked to eugenics.[28][29]

#### 2019 polygenic score paper

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A controversial 2019 paper by Dunkel et al. suggested that a Jewish sample had higher polygenic scores for educational attainment and cognitive ability than other religious groups.[30][31] Political scientist Evan Charney argued that this paper displays methodological flaws similar to early candidate gene studies.[31]

According to Panofsky et al., purported indicators of a Jewish genotypic advantage predict average IQ scores "four standard deviations above non-Jews" rather than the "slightly above average" results actually observed, which they argue shows the limitations of such purported indicators.[32] Jordan et al. say that the relatively invariant nature of polygenic scores cannot account for changes in Jewish intellectual achievement over time.[33]

### Sociological explanations

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Bret Stephens has opined in The New York Times that the intellectual rigor of religious studies, especially in the context of constant upheaval, has allowed intellectual flexibility.[26] Malcolm Gladwell similarly argues in Outliers that the rigorous Talmud schools may foster intellectualism and perseverance in Jewish students.[34] Cochran et al. say that Sephardic and Oriental Jews "do not have high average IQ test scores" compared to Ashkenazi, arguing that any theory of Ashkenazi intelligence must explain why this is.[15]: 662

### Criticism

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See also: Model minority myth

Some have argued that the elevation of Jewish intelligence based on both biology or sociology may feed into model minority myths that harm both Jewish and black peoples.[11] Matt Yglesias has written that the idea is used to legitimise scientific racism, including that the idea that Black people in particular are genetically inferior.[11]

Sander Gilman has argued that racializing intelligence is particularly problematic for Jews as it may feed into multiple antisemitic tropes and other categorization of a vast group of people.[25] Gilman also argued that pointing out identity when attributing success is only helpful for tribalism, and does nothing to point out social situations that allow such success to occur.[25] Gilman also says that implicit assumptions of Jewish intelligence may help fuel fear and common stereotypes of Jews controlling higher professions such as law.[3]

## See also

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* Ashkenormativity
* Philosemitism
* Racism in Jewish communities

## Notes

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1. ^ A group researchers called for Richard Lynn's work to be retracted, citing "distortions and misrepresentations of the data" that "constitute a truly venomous racism, combined with the scandalous disregard for scientific objectivity"..[14]

## References

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1. ^ Murray, Charles (2007-04-01). "Jewish Genius". Commentary. Archived from the original on 2018-10-27. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
2. ^ Valk, Jonathan (2015-06-14). "Is there really such a thing as Jewish genius?". haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-15. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
3. ^ a b Smith, Dinitia (1998-11-21). "How Even 'Good' Stereotypes Can Be Bad; Myriad Subjects With a Common Thread: The Images We Build to Define Ourselves". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
4. ^ Weiner, Irving, ed. (2012-09-26). "Bias in Psychological Assessment". Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781118133880.hop210004. ISBN 978-0-470-61904-9.
5. ^ Neisser, Ulric; Boodoo, Gwyneth; Bouchard, Thomas J.; Boykin, A. Wade; Brody, Nathan; Ceci, Stephen J.; Halpern, Diane F.; Loehlin, John C.; Perloff, Robert; Sternberg, Robert J.; Urbina, Susana (February 1996). "Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns". American Psychologist. 51 (2): 77–101\. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.51.2.77. ISSN 1935-990X.
6. ^ Bird, Kevin; Jackson, John P.; Winston, Andrew S. (2024). "Confronting Scientific Racism in Psychology: Lessons from Evolutionary Biology and Genetics". American Psychologist. 79 (4): 497–508\. doi:10.1037/amp0001228. PMID 39037836. "Recent articles claim that the folk categories of race are genetically meaningful divisions, and that evolved genetic differences among races and nations are important for explaining immutable differences in cognitive ability, educational attainment, crime, sexual behavior, and wealth; all claims that are opposed by a strong scientific consensus to the contrary. ... Despite the veneer of modern science, RHR [racial hereditarian research] psychologists' recent efforts merely repeat discredited racist ideas of a century ago. The issue is truly one of scientific standards; if psychology embraced the scientific practices of evolutionary biology and genetics, current forms of RHR would not be publishable in reputable scholarly journals."
7. ^ Birney, Ewan; Raff, Jennifer; Rutherford, Adam; Scally, Aylwyn (24 October 2019). "Race, genetics and pseudoscience: an explainer". "'Human biodiversity' proponents sometimes assert that alleged differences in the mean value of IQ when measured in different populations – such as the claim that IQ in some sub-Saharan African countries is measurably lower than in European countries – are caused by genetic variation, and thus are inherent. The purported genetic differences involved are usually attributed to recent natural selection and adaptation to different environments or conditions. Often there are associated stories about the causes of this selection, for example that early humans outside Africa faced a more challenging struggle for survival, or that via historical persecution and restriction of professional endeavours, Ashkenazi Jews harbour genes selected for intellectual and financial success. Such tales, and the claims about the genetic basis for population differences, are not scientifically supported."
8. ^ Ceci, Stephen; Williams, Wendy M. (2009). "Should scientists study race and IQ? YES: The scientific truth must be pursued". Nature. 457 (7231): 788–789\. doi:10.1038/457788a. PMID 19212385. "here is an emerging consensus about racial and gender equality in genetic determinants of intelligence; most researchers, including ourselves, agree that genes do not explain between-group differences."
9. ^ Nisbett, Richard E.; Aronson, Joshua; Blair, Clancy; Dickens, William; Flynn, James; Halpern, Diane F.; Turkheimer, Eric (2012). "Group differences in IQ are best understood as environmental in origin". American Psychologist. 67 (6): 503–504\. doi:10.1037/a0029772. ISSN 0003-066X. PMID 22963427.
10. ^ Kaplan, Jonathan Michael (January 2015). "Race, IQ, and the search for statistical signals associated with so-called "X"-factors: environments, racism, and the "hereditarian hypothesis"". Biology & Philosophy. 30 (1): 1–17\. doi:10.1007/s10539-014-9428-0. ISSN 0169-3867. S2CID 85351431.
11. ^ a b c d e f g Yglesias, Matthew (2019-12-30). "The controversy over Bret Stephens's Jewish genius column, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
12. ^ Efron, Noah (21 October 2013). "The Real Reason Why Jews Win So Many Nobel Prizes". Haaretz.
13. ^ Lynn, Richard (2004-01-01). "The intelligence of American Jews". Personality and Individual Differences. 36 (1): 201–206\. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00079-5. ISSN 0191-8869.
14. ^ McFarling, Usha Lee (2024-06-20). "Coalition wages campaign for retractions of Richard Lynn's racist journal articles". STAT. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
15. ^ a b c Cochran, Gregory; Hardy, Jason; Harpending, Henry (September 2006). "Natural History of Ashkenazi intelligence" (PDF). Journal of Biosocial Science. 38 (5): 659–693\. doi:10.1017/S0021932005027069. ISSN 1469-7599. PMID 16867211.
16. ^ "Henry Harpending". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
17. ^ Lynn, Richard; Longley, David (2006-11-01). "On the high intelligence and cognitive achievements of Jews in Britain". Intelligence. 34 (6): 541–547\. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2006.03.011. ISSN 0160-2896. Archived from the original on 2018-09-10.
18. ^ "Study: Ashkenazi Jews Smartest on Earth, Partly Due to Diseases". Israel National News. Archived from the original on 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
19. ^ Senior, Jennifer (2005-10-14). "Are Jews Smarter? What Genetic Science Tells Us". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
20. ^ "Natural genius?". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
21. ^ Wade, Nicholas (2005-06-03). "Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
22. ^ Pinker, Steven (26 June 2006). "Groups and Genes". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
23. ^ Slatkin, Montgomery (August 2004). "A Population-Genetic Test of Founder Effects and Implications for Ashkenazi Jewish Diseases". American Journal of Human Genetics. 75 (2): 282–293\. doi:10.1086/423146. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 1216062. PMID 15208782.
24. ^ Whittle, Patrick (2022-12-13). "Part II: Jewish skeletal remains in a Norwich well — Do they undermine the controversial theory of 'Jewish IQ'?". Genetic Literacy Project. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
25. ^ a b c Gilman, Sander L. (2008). "Are Jews Smarter Than Everyone Else?". Mens Sana Monographs. 6 (1): 41–47\. doi:10.4103/0973-1229.34526 (inactive 11 July 2025). ISSN 0973-1229. PMC 3190562. PMID 22013349.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
26. ^ a b Stephens, Bret (2019-12-28). "Opinion | The Secrets of Jewish Genius". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
27. ^ "Outcry after NYT writer appears to argue Ashkenazi Jews are genetically smarter". The Times of Israel. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
28. ^ a b "The Dangerous Resurgence in Race Science". American Scientist. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
29. ^ Helmore, Edward (2019-12-28). "New York Times columnist accused of eugenics over piece on Jewish intelligence". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
30. ^ Dunkel, Curtis; Woodley of Menie, Michael Anthony; Pallesen, Jonatan; Kirkegaard, Emil O. W. (2019-01-01). "Polygenic Scores Mediate the Jewish Phenotypic Advantage in Educational Attainment and Cognitive Ability Compared With Catholics and Lutherans". Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. 13 (4): 366–375\. doi:10.1037/ebs0000158.
31. ^ a b Charney, Evan (2022). "The "Golden Age" of Behavior Genetics?" (PDF). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 17 (4): 1188–1210\. doi:10.1177/17456916211041602. PMID 35180032. "As in the CGA study era, current predictive claims, if correct, have profound social implications. (...) According to Dunkel et al. (2019), Jews have higher PRSs for general intelligence than Catholics and Lutherans. (...) In a blunt assessment of CGA studies, Keller commented, 'This should be a real cautionary tale. How on Earth could we have spent 20 years and hundreds of millions of dollars studying pure noise?' (citation elided). The rise of the new golden age from the ashes of CGA studies has occurred at a precipitous rate. Have the lessons of the 'cautionary tale' been taken to heart? To a large extent, they have not. Some of the same problems that beset CGA studies have reappeared in new forms, together with a host of new difficulties related to new methods, new sources of data, and a unique focal point (sizable segments of the human genome, as opposed to individual genes). (...) There is little evidence that current approaches have either advanced our knowledge of how genes contribute to complex behaviors or given us new tools to predict them."
32. ^ Panofsky, Aaron; Dasgupta, Kushan; Iturriaga, Nicole (2020-09-28). "How White nationalists mobilize genetics From genetic ancestry and human biodiversity to counterscience and metapolitics". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 175 (2): 387–398\. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24150. PMC 9909835. PMID 32986847. "This was rebutted by a group of sociogenomics researchers who showed that given the polygenic score of the Jewish group their IQ should actually be four standard deviations above non-Jews, not slightly above average as it is"
33. ^ Jordan, A. Chad; Brym, Robert (2020-09-28). "Jewish Intellectual Exceptionalism? Ethnic Representation at the University of Toronto Medical School". Contemporary Jewry. 40 (3): 389–390\. doi:10.1007/s12397-020-09344-0. "We contend that the main problem with both the genetic and the cultural theories is their inability to explain variation in Jewish intellectual attainment over time. Instead of speculating about the proximate causal effects of nearly invariant traits like nebulous polygenic scores and ancient cultural practices on variation in the intellectual performance of Jews, we identify proximate sociological circumstances that are plausibly associated with intellectual attainment."
34. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (2008). Outliers: the story of success (1st ed.). New York: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 978-0-316-01792-3.

## Further reading

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* Sander Gilman Smart Jews: The Construction of the Image of Jewish Superior Intelligence, University of Nebraska Press 1997 ISBN 978-0-803-27069-5