Monday, July 06, 2009

Dumb people are more likely to have place burglarized: GSS respondents were asked if they had been victims of a burglary in the past year.


Percent who have been burglarized

High IQ 5.1
Medium IQ 6.2
Low IQ 7.1


Yes, this is a little too simple because low IQ people live closer to burglars, while smart people probably have more to steal, etc. etc. But it's a start, and it makes sense that intelligent people can better anticipate problems and thus are more likely to take precautions like home security systems, guard dogs, careful selection of residence, etc. Nerd alert: I look at the neighborhood data before choosing a new place to live. What sensible person doesn't?

6 comments:

  1. You kind of answered it...smart people are better at looking ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also, a burglar needs to know where/who he's robbing. Burglarizing takes planning. Now...
    add: the fact that similar IQ people associate with one another, and then,
    add: low IQ people are more likely to engage in criminal behavior, so there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:54 PM

    What's the quantitative differentiation between low, medium and high IQ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vocab score (out of 10)

    High--8 to 10
    Medium--5 to 7
    Low--0 to 4

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8:02 PM

    Sorry, no.

    I did not articulate my point clearly enough. I'm wondering what differentiates High IQ to Medium IQ to Low IQ by their respect IQ scores.

    I'm sure many will agree that an IQ of 170 is high and and an IQ of 70 is low, but at what level did they differentiate between High to Medium to Low. 15? 20? Where does medium end and where does high begin is essentially what I'm asking. The same thing for low to medium.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:02 PM

    "I did not articulate my point clearly enough. I'm wondering what differentiates High IQ to Medium IQ to Low IQ by their respect IQ scores."


    Often one standard deviation is used, but I guess it doesn't have to be. White average is 100 and standard deviation of 15.

    More at

    http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/g.htm

    ReplyDelete

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