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{{Short description|Decrease in genetic traits deemed desirable}}
{{mergeto|Eugenics|Talk:Eugenics#Merger proposal|date=August 2007}}
{{Distinguish|Dysgenesis (embryology)}}
{{npov}}
'''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>
'''Dysgenics''' is a term applied by some researchers to describe the progressive ] weakening of a ] of ] relative to their ], often due to relaxation of ] or the occurrence of ]. Because of fertility differences between social groups it is argued that ] and other socially valued traits are deteriorating in ] populations.<ref>Richard Lynn: Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations, Praeger Publishers (December 1996)</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>
==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.


More recent concerns about supposed dysgenic effects in human populations were advanced by the controversial psychologist and self-described "]"<ref>
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 whilst 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>
*{{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'...}}
*{{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>
Colum Gillfallen in 1965 argued that ] used by Romans in plumbing and cooking utensils poisoned the water and food of the Roman elite. He concluded, "It follows ... that whatever qualities enabled Roman individuals to make money, or to marry or mate with money, were rigorously bred out of the race and culture by lead and other forces" and caused 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 found that "the lead employed in the main water-supply system was almost certainly harmless". Calcium deposits from hard water prevented contact with the lead. Where the water was soft (rare in the most populated areas), continuous flow of water caused dissolved lead concentration to be small. 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>


⚫ == See also ==
] (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>
*{{annotated link|Social degeneration|Degeneration theory}}
*{{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 ==
] (the first director of ]) was concerned of dysgenics and described ] as of "of all outlets for altruism, that which is most comprehensive, and of longest range".<ref>Van Court, Marian (1982) "Eugenics Revisited," Mensa Bulletin, #254</ref>
{{Reflist|30em}}


{{Charles Darwin}}
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>
{{Global catastrophic risks}}

{{Population}}
==Dysgenics and IQ testing==

:''See also: ]''

Most of the focus on dysgenics in human populations in recent years has investigated the change in genotypic intelligence. Demographic studies generally indicate that the more intelligent and better educated women in affluent nations have much lower reproductive rates than the less educated, which has led to concern regarding the future of intelligence in these nations. The most cited work is Vining's 1982 study on the fertility of 2,539 U.S. women aged 25 to 34; the average fertility is correlated at -0.86 in ] for white women and -0.96 for black women, and indicated a drop in the ] average IQ of 1.6 per generation for the white population and 2.4 points per generation for the black population.

In his controversial 1996 book, ''Dysgenics: Genetic deterioration in modern populations'', psychologist ] argued that intelligence in Western nations had been decreasing due to the effects of the ]. In addition to other concepts he mentioned, Lynn also concluded that China may overtake the West due to continued deterioration of intelligence in the Western nations, especially the USA.<ref name="Lynn">{{cite book| last = Lynn | first = Richard | title = Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations | publisher = Praeger Publishers | date = 1996 |location = Westport, Connecticut | id = ISBN 0-275-94917-6}}</ref>

A 2004 study by ] and ] 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>

Richard Lynn suggests in Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations, that the isolated effect of dysgenics may have been masked by the countervailing ], the steady increase of IQ in Asian and Western nations during the 20th century, thought to be related to better diets and other environmental factors. Current research shows that the Flynn effect might have already ended around 1990 in several European nations. Teasdale & Owen (2005) "report intelligence test results from over 500,000 young Danish men, tested between 1959 and 2004, showing that performance peaked in the late 1990s, and has since declined moderately to pre-1991 levels." They speculate that "a contributing factor in this recent fall could be a simultaneous decline in proportions of students entering 3-year advanced-level school programs for 16–18 year olds."

Lynn's work on dysgenics has been criticized in the mainstream scientific press. "Lynn's distortions and misrepresentations of the data constitute a truly venomous racism, combined with scandalous disregard for scientific objectivity. Lynn is widely known among academics to be an associate editor of the racist journal "Mankind Quarterly" and a major recipient of financial support from the nativist, eugenically oriented Pioneer Fund." <ref>LEON J. KAMIN, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN February 1995 Volume 272</ref>

==Consequences==
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. ] and Stefan T. Possony write that this natural elite of gifted people and of geniuses does most of the really creative work of the world, gives civilizations their shape, and its presence or absence determines which nations are to lead the world and which are to follow.<ref>Weyl, N. & Possony, S. T: The Geography of Intellect, 1963, s. 154</ref>

Weyl and Possony present us with the following scenario. Assume that the average I.Q. of a population declines by 15 points, possibly because of intermarriage with mentally less gifted groups, perhaps for other reasons. Under these assumptions, the production of highly intelligent people, those with I.Q.’s of 130 and over, would decrease from about 2.27 % to about 0.13 % of the population. In other words, a 15-point decline in average I.Q. would suffice to wipe out 92 % of the minority with markedly superior minds.<ref>].</ref>

==In fiction==
*]'s short story ] is an example of dysgenic fiction.
*]'s film '']'' is a comedy about a future where dysgenics has caused everybody to be stupid.
*]'s novels ] and ] describe humanity becoming cooperative and "low-maintenance" to the detriment of all other traits.
*]' 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.
*The 2007 song ''Evolution'' by ] warns against dysgenics.

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

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

===General===

<!--* James F. Crow (1997). The high spontaneous mutation rate: Is it a health risk? ''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA'' 94, pp 8380&ndash;8386. (This has been replaced in the article, but it still isn't mentioned -- how can it be a reference? Is it even a source? -->
*Galor, Oded and Omer Moav: Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Review of Economics 117 (2002) 1133-1191.
* Hamilton, W. D. (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.x
* Shockley on Eugenics and Race: The Application of Science to the Solution of Human Problems Scott-Townsend, 1992
*Thomas W. Teasdale and David R. Owen (2005). "A long-term rise and recent decline in intelligence test performance: The Flynn Effect in reverse." ''Personality and Individual Differences'' 39(4), pp 837&ndash;843.
* Vining, D.R., 1982. On the possibility of a re-emergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials. Intelligence 6, pp. 241—264.


] ]
] ]
]

]
]

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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