this post was submitted on 17 May 2025
178 points (80.5% liked)

science

18668 readers
449 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] troed@fedia.io 239 points 1 week ago (2 children)

the researchers note that the sister raised in the US had suffered three previous concussions

+

the twin raised in Korea described growing up in a loving and harmonious family home, the adopted sister reported a harsher upbringing, colored by regular conflict and the divorce of her adoptive parents

It does seem as if there would be explanations for the unusual difference.

https://www.iflscience.com/identical-twins-raised-in-the-us-and-korea-display-surprising-iq-variations-71357

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 155 points 1 week ago (11 children)

That's kind of an understatement. Three traumatic brain injuries is not exactly something that can be ignored when discussing differences in mental faculties.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] WhiteRabbit@lemmy.today 25 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Right, this assertion is invalidated and agenda-driven.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 64 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I have children. The amount of trauma a two year old would experience losing their family, being transported to a foreign country and adopted by different people would be ~~traumatic~~intense as hell.

A two year old is not a newborn. That's their entire world blowing up.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (14 children)

Luckily it's very local, time wise. I don't remember a thing from like 5 and earlier.

load more comments (14 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] noctivius@lemm.ee 54 points 1 week ago (12 children)
[–] Steve 43 points 1 week ago

Yes. Contrary to current pop-sci thought, it's not actually useless bunk. Epically when differences reach into 2 digits.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I didn't realise it wasn't a thing anymore.

I know it's never been a good indicator of success or even cognitive abilities but it's still a thing that people try to measure.

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I know it's never been a good indicator of success

I suppose you might define “success” in an unusual way, but IQ is the single highest correlate with income of all factors. Higher than parental income, race, or residential location.

If you’re interesting in learning more I recommend this article. They cite a lot of data and research. I’m happy to walk you through the directionality topic as well if you’re interested.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] rapchee@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

there are companies that still use myers-briggs personality tests for "compatibility"

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Myers-Briggs is modern snake oil.

[–] techt@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Meyers-Briggs is astrology with more steps

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 3 points 1 week ago

It still is a thing, always will be. People are vastly differently skilled. The problem isnt that there are different abilities but that our centralized meat mill pushes them into categories. It doesnt make you better to have more skill in one area, it just means people should consider listening to you.

[–] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

IQ is a very good indicator of cognitive abilities. It’s a poor indicator of kindness, morality, or honesty.

[–] aaron@infosec.pub 7 points 1 week ago

Apparently not in the US!

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago

Why wouldn’t it be? It is the single most research metric in all of sociology. We have more evidence for the existence of the g factor (and its causal and correlative effects) than any other phenomenon in that entire school of science.

Don’t confuse the criticism of measurement tools with the premise that g doesn’t exist.

[–] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 4 points 1 week ago

Americans are so weird about IQ. Yes, indeed, some brains work better than others — by avoiding lead poisoning or traumatic brain injuries, for instance, and by reading books, pursuing higher education, and enjoying a fulfilling social environment.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago (2 children)

16 points, so about a standard deviation. That's big, but your own varience can be just as high; the original point of IQ is a measure of how well you'll do in school to detect who may need additional attention (and not an inherent intelligence) so later aged tests include more on knowledge base while earlier tests are more about things like pattern recognition, mental rotation, etc. Infact, it has to get recurved regularly as each generation tends to be roughly 10 or 15 points higher (although idk about gen Z).

All this is to say that a slump of 16 points doesn't have to be shit like lead poisoning or gas fumes (although that certainly doesn't help, and pollution matters), it can simply be the US education system isn't good at teaching students. Cross culture studies already show that, as do differences between the rich and the poor. Or hell, just playing Tetris raises IQ, lol.

It'd obviously help if this wasn't a click bait article, though. People wanting to know why need to read a lot of actual research to know the myriad of different things that impact IQ and not just "haha US stupid."

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

although idk about gen Z

💀

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I technically meant that in regards to not seeing the research lately, but... lol

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ZephyrXero@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

The article says 7 points is standard in twins. So this is over twice what is normally seen

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The sister raised in the US had an IQ 16 points lower than her sibling in Korea. Previous studies revealed that identical twins typically have no more than a 7-point IQ difference, making this case astounding.

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 week ago (1 children)

while the other faced hardships with her adoptive family and parents

Does anyone have more info? Abuse, neglect, and malnutrition are proven to reduce IQ. So are the concussions referenced in the article. I would be dubious to make any statements on the back of a single case like this. This is not even outside the realm of possibility of twin IQ variance - albeit unlikely.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

So is lead.

Using historical data on U.S. childhood blood-lead levels, leaded-gas use, and population statistics, they determined the likely lifelong burden of lead exposure carried by every American alive in 2015.

https://today.duke.edu/2024/12/20th-century-lead-exposure-damaged-american-mental-health

She looks pretty young, but still.

Also, just schooling, lol. US education sucks donkey dick

[–] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The photo is stock. They’re in their 40s so it could be lead. The US twin experienced multiple serious concussions, so that alone might explain a 16 point IQ difference.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Not stock, slop.

[–] huquad@lemmy.ml 29 points 1 week ago

This summer, they're gonna get their parents back together!

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

The headline alone just outright insults the other twin. lmao wtf

[–] tfed@infosec.exchange 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

@fne8w2ah environment shapes our behavior.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 23 points 1 week ago

Especially if that environment includes head trauma.

[–] troed@fedia.io 3 points 1 week ago

Yes, but, IQ isn't expected to be that much influenced by behavior.

source: My partner is a psychologist and sometimes I listen

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Was the one raised in the U.S. around lead at some point?

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No, but she had three concussions

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›