On one hand is, "A researcher in human intelligence at Utah Valley University". On the other are, "the 29 best-selling introductory psychology textbooks in the US - some written by among the most eminent psychologists alive".
Why would I believe the former? I'm not saying that Utah Valley U. researchers shouldn't raise questions, but that the standard for what I'm going to take at face value is much higher than one study that contradicts everyone else. One study is just the start of the start of a discussion. I think I'll let the body of evidence accumulate and let experts weigh in.
One psychological concept I'm familiar with is confirmation bias. This article confirms beliefs held by some at HN about political bias, authority, and accuracy in science, (and unfortunately, an effort to rationalize and justify racism by finding some basis for it). That doesn't make this report any more likely to be accurate. Apparently, 29 leading textbooks contradict it; if not for the bias, why not take 29 publications at face value instead of 1?
EDIT: a bunch of edits; sorry for the mess.
EDIT: I'll add that this one study was published "in an open-access article in Archives of Scientific Psychology". It's not even peer-reviewed [EDIT2: It is, in fact, peer reviewed; sorry. I still expect the textbooks to be reviewed much more carefully than one paper.]
Why would I believe the former? I'm not saying that Utah Valley U. researchers shouldn't raise questions, but that the standard for what I'm going to take at face value is much higher than one study that contradicts everyone else. One study is just the start of the start of a discussion. I think I'll let the body of evidence accumulate and let experts weigh in.
One psychological concept I'm familiar with is confirmation bias. This article confirms beliefs held by some at HN about political bias, authority, and accuracy in science, (and unfortunately, an effort to rationalize and justify racism by finding some basis for it). That doesn't make this report any more likely to be accurate. Apparently, 29 leading textbooks contradict it; if not for the bias, why not take 29 publications at face value instead of 1?
EDIT: a bunch of edits; sorry for the mess.
EDIT: I'll add that this one study was published "in an open-access article in Archives of Scientific Psychology". It's not even peer-reviewed [EDIT2: It is, in fact, peer reviewed; sorry. I still expect the textbooks to be reviewed much more carefully than one paper.]