TresSugar

Smart and Rich? Scholar Says Poor People Have Lower IQ

LibertySugar — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:00:25 -0700

Dr. Bruce Charlton, an evolutionary English scholar, just submitted a paper that argues that the poor are intellectually mediocre. He claims that:

The UK Government has spent a great deal of time and effort in asserting that universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge, are unfairly excluding people from low social class backgrounds and privileging those from higher social classes. Yet in all this debate a simple and vital fact has been missed: higher social classes have a significantly higher average IQ than lower social classes.

He thinks that top schools are overwhelmingly populated with wealthy students as a result of the working class "meritocracy", not admission prejudice.

Charlton's tone, which seems to suggest that the poor are genetically inferior, is bothersome. Families working hard just to get by may not have the resources or time to foster their children's early education. Should higher education institutions and society in general take steps to correct the educational inequalities between the classes?

Do you see a class bias in IQ testing, or educational practices? Do the admission standards of elite universities exclude equally qualified students from working class families, or are there subconscious systematic factors at play here. Do universities have a responsibility to help those with a disadvantaged upbringing fulfill their potential?

Source

Group Therapy: Do Smart Women Need Smart Men?

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:00:00 -0700

I am a highly intelligent woman in my late 20s. I met a handsome man at the grocery store, and we exchanged numbers. We went to coffee and had a decent time. I think he's a nice guy, very attractive, and successful, but I get the impression that he is not on the same level as me intellectually. I've always envisioned myself with a man who is highly intelligent and likes to be inquisitive and discuss random or interesting things. I don't get this vibe from this man.

We went on a second date, and again, it was a good time, and he did open up more. I really do want to see where it goes, but I wonder if he's going to disappoint me in the end. Am I being overly critical?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: To be involved in more GROUP THERAPY, click here]

Source

Women, Know Your Limits!

GiggleSugar — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:02:00 -0800

If a sexist laundry tag wasn't vomitous enough, I found a public (dis)service announcement that's even more repugnant. Ladies, beware: don't even try to think. At all. Unless it's of soft, furry kittens. It might make your male counterpart feel thiiiiis small.

Do You Think You're Emotionally Intelligent?

TresSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

In some ways, this is a trick question, because if you're not emotionally intelligent - defined very broadly as someone "particularly good at establishing positive social relationships with others, and avoiding conflicts, fights, and other social altercations" - you might think you are anyway!

But October is Emotional Intelligence month, and it seemed a good time to remind people, as Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman claims in his book subtitle, that "it can matter more than IQ." We've all known the brilliant boss or friend who had a horrible temper or little ability to empathize and couldn't figure out why, in the case of the boss, no one ever stuck around for long, or, in the case of the friend, people had to break up with them they were so toxic.

Some traits of emotional intelligence?

1. Having the ability to accurately perceive emotions in oneself and others.
2. Using emotions to facilitate thinking.
3. Being able to understand emotional meanings, being sensitive.
4. Being able to manage emotions.

So if you're paranoid everyone's out to get you, or that everything someone says is a perceived slight justifying angry outbursts, but nothing you say or do should bother others . . . you might need a higher EQ. (Some believe this can be worked on, others say it's inborn.)

New Study: Emotionally Smart Women Have Better Sex

TresSugar — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:00:00 -0700

A recent study suggests that women who score high in emotional intelligence - meaning they are good at expressing feelings and empathizing with others - have more fun in bed as well.

It makes sense. If you're in touch with your feelings, can suss out how your partner feels, and express what you want - sex will be better than if you're closed off, have no clue what another person is feeling, and lack communication skills.

Professor Tim Spector of King's College in London asked more than 2,000 female twins between the ages of 18 and 83 about their sex lives, including how they rated their ability to have an orgasm. They were also asked to fill out a questionnaire that determined to what degree they were emotionally intelligent, or flourished in self expression, empathy and contentment.

Emotional intelligence also makes it easier, researchers say, for women to fantasize about sex, which is always a good thing. I wonder, though, if it's important for men to have emotional intelligence to be good in bed or to enjoy themselves more? Something tells me they might have fun no matter what. . .

Source

New Intelligence Report: US Dominance Set to Wane by 2025

LibertySugar — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:30:57 -0800

If you wish you could see into the future, US intelligence officials are here to hand you a crystal ball. The National Intelligence Council just released Global Trends 2025, an unclassified intelligence report put out every four years, and assesses the opportunities and problems that lie ahead in the next 15 years. One tip: Americans might need to start practicing being humble, because by 2025 the US could lose its position of global supremacy.

Other findings include:

Global warming will have a positive economic impact in Russian and Canada because it will make seasons longer, as well as increase their access to oil fields.
Russia's rise could be hindered by a lack of investment in the energy sector, crime, and corruption.
Governments in Africa and South Asia could collapse due to security problems or water and food shortages caused by a population boom of 1.5 billion and global warming.
There will be a greater potential for war in 2025, thanks to increased global competition for food, water, and energy.
The transfer of wealth from West to East will continue for the foreseeable future.
Thanks to economic growth in the Middle East, and growing unpopularity of al Qaeda, the terrorist network will collapse sooner than people think.

To see some other predictions regarding Iran, nuclear weapons, and US dominance, read more.

Iran could be a major world player if it gets rid of its theocracy.
The risk of a nuclear weapon detonation will still remain low in 2025, but it will be higher than today's risk.
A growing demand to solve domestic problems could cause the US to reduce global aid, thus reducing US influence.

Are you upset or happy that US global domination could decrease over the next 15 years?

Source

Berlusconi Insults Women Again - And They're Fighting Back

TresSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Feminism is back in vogue in Italy. Some say it lay dormant in spite of a vibrant '70s feminist movement, but thanks to raging misogynist Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, largely silent Italian women have had enough and are speaking up.

"[T]he scandals surrounding the prime minister have been like a violent slap in the face for millions of women who are just now waking up from a state of passivity," said political scientist Francesca Izzo.

A favorite tactic of the 73-year-old Berlusconi is to disparage the looks of his female political opponents. In a heated debate with 58-year-old opposition party member Rosy Bindi, he said, "You're more beautiful than you are intelligent," to which the annoyed politician shot back, "I am not a woman at your disposal." (Perhaps she was referring to his multiple girlfriends, which finally led his wife to file for a divorce.)

Many American women claim they aren't feminists, but I wonder if they'd change their tune if the president were speaking this way every day! To find out how Italian women are fighting back and to see a clip of a documentary about how women are represented on Italian television, read more

After Berlusconi's nasty comment to Rosy Bindi, pissed off women drafted a petition saying that his sexism was an insult both to women and to democracy. 11 days later, more than 100,000 women had signed it, claiming that Berlusconi participated in the "cretinization of women."

It took long enough for more women to speak up, but it's great they finally did it. Alas, Italian feminists have more than Berlusconi and his rhetoric to fight. In the following clip from filmmaker Lorella Zanardo's documentary Women's Bodies, you'll see that almost all the representations of women on Italian television depict them as sex objects.

Mad Men: Is Birthing in the '60s as Bad as You'd Think?

TresSugar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Sunday's Mad Men told me more than I ever wanted to know about childbirth in the '60s. Betty Draper is hushed away from her husband upon arriving at the hospital, forced to fill out paperwork midcontractions, and bossed around by an unsympathetic nurse whose bedside manner approximates a warden's - you made your bed now have your baby in it.

What did I expect anyway - for Betty to have her baby in the master bath while Don burned lavender and massaged her shoulders. Of course not. But I also did not expect to see Betty give birth in a semiconscious state. I thought you were either awake or out. This in-between state, more formally known as twilight sleep, is made of a cocktail of drugs to relieve pain and induce amnesia. Because who wants to remember the birth of her child!

Today natural childbirth is applauded, so it's easy to be appalled by Betty's semiconscious experience. But was it oppressive or an initial, if flawed, step toward a better childbirth? Probably both! Read on

The Case For Letting Women Into Military Combat Roles

TresSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Since 1994, American women have been able to serve in direct combat in air and sea missions, but when it comes to ground operations, they are forbidden to fully participate.

Kelly Martin, an Air Force veteran, penned an op-ed out today on the topic. She maintains that women have the physical strength and mental aptitude to serve on the ground and Kelly also believes that female soldiers offer a strategic advantage. She wrote:

Women military personnel also offer a capability that their male counterparts lack: the ability to interact with Iraqi and Afghan women and girls. The potential for human-intelligence gathering as well as relationship building in more closed cultures cannot be underestimated.

Other countries, like New Zealand, Canada, France, Norway, Israel, and Switzerland, let women serve in combat roles. Do you think it's time that the US lets its women fight along the men, too?

A News Study Shows Alcoholics Misread Facial Cues

TresSugar — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:00:00 -0700

They don’t call it getting blotto for nothing.

You’ve probably heard the claim that alcohol kills brain cells. A new study makes this a little more concrete: long-time alcoholics’ brains (even those who are now sober) are not good at recognizing facial expressions. Specifically, their brain’s limbic system (which supports emotion, long-term memory and the ability to smell things) does not register facial expressions of joy, sadness or disappointment as intensely for them.

Making sure that the two test groups were matched in IQ, socioeconomic status and education, researchers showed 15 now-sober alcoholics and 15 nonalcoholics pictures of faces asking, “How intelligent do you think this person is?” The pictures represented a face that was positive, negative or neutral. Using an MRI to check out how the respective groups’ limbic systems were operating, they saw strong activity in the nonalcoholics’ brains in response to the emotion-expressing photos, but for the abstaining alcoholics - it was all the same to them.

Without being able to read a person’s expressions, even the recovering alcoholic (to say nothing of a practicing alcoholic), will have more difficulty with interpersonal situations - with coworkers, significant others and family members. They may misread what's happening and overreact or underreact. All this may cause more strife for them, which could lead to more drinking. What researchers aren’t clear about it is which came first - emotional insensitivity and hence alcoholism, or alcohol-induced emotional insensitivity?