Directional Selection and Evolution of Polygenic Traits in Eastern Eurasia: Insights from Ancient DNA.

This study explores directional selection on physical and psychosocial phenotypes in Eastern Eurasian populations, utilizing a dataset of 1245 ancient genomes. By analyzing polygenic scores (PGS) for traits including height, educational attainment (EA), IQ, autism, schizophrenia, and others, we observed significant temporal trends spanning the Holocene era. The results suggest positive selection for cognitive-related traits such as IQ, EA and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), alongside negative selection for anxiety and depression.

International Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Assortative Mating for Educational Attainment.

Previous studies have found a high degree of assortative mating for educational attainment (r = .56). However, this can be confounded by cohort effects or country effects, where certain nations may have more pronounced assortative mating than others.

International differences in the speed of cognitive development: A systematic examination of the existence of the Simber Effect.

The Simber Effect refers to the phenomenon whereby, in Arabic countries, young children have an IQ that is little different from that of Western children but that these differences increase throughout childhood culminating in a difference of around 20 points by adulthood. The true nature of this phenomenon is revealed by an examination of 125 samples from all around the globe measured with Raven's Progressive Matrices. We show that in many cases different speeds of cognitive development increase the IQ score differences between countries mostly between 4 and 9 years of age, and that these increases can in part be explained by poor environmental conditions.

The overlapping geography of cognitive ability and chronotype.

Chronotype and cognitive ability are two human phenotypes with an uneven geographic distribution due to both selective migration and causal environmental effects. In our study, we aimed to examine the relationship between geographic variables, cognitive ability and chronotype. We used a large anonymized sample (n = 25,700, mostly from the USA, UK, Canada and Australia) of dating site users to estimate chronotype and cognitive ability from questionnaire responses using item response theory.

The Negative Religiousness-IQ Nexus is a Jensen Effect on Individual-Level Data: A Refutation of Dutton et al.'s 'The Myth of the Stupid Believer'.

A recent study by Dutton et al. (J Relig Health 59:1567-1579. https://doi.

Spare the rod and spoil the group's cultural fitness? Conditions under which corporal punishment leads to detrimental and beneficial outcomes.

Corporal punishment of children is common across human history, and the specific practice of striking the buttocks, known as spanking, seems to have developed independently across a number of separate cultures. This pattern suggests adaptive value, posing a paradox in view of the many reviews stating that spanking has purely negative outcomes on future mental health, and the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that it be outlawed. We purport to resolve this paradox by separating this particular type of corporal punishment from less controlled lashing out in anger, and we reanalyze these reviews in terms of psychological and physical health outcomes.

The Myth of the Stupid Believer: The Negative Religiousness-IQ Nexus is Not on General Intelligence (g) and is Likely a Product of the Relations Between IQ and Autism Spectrum Traits.

Numerous studies have found a negative relationship between religiousness and IQ. It is in the region of - 0.2, according to meta-analyses.

Bibliometric Keyword Analysis across Seventeen Years (2000-2016) of Articles.

An article's keywords are distinct because they represent what authors feel are the most important words in their papers. Combined, they can even shed light on which research topics in a field are popular (or less so). Here we conducted bibliometric keyword analyses of articles published in the journal, (2000-2016).

National, Sex and Academic Discipline Difference in Smartphone Addiction: A Study of Students in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Sudan.

There are an increasing number of studies on smartphone addiction (SA) among students, and also a number of cross-cultural ones. We add to this body of research by presenting, for the first time, a cross-cultural study comparing students in four Middle Eastern countries: Sudan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. In this context, we also attempt to replicate findings-in other studies-that there are differences in smartphone addiction prevalence along the lines of sex, culture and subject of study.

A STUDY OF THE HERITABILITY OF INTELLIGENCE IN SUDAN.

Intelligence was assessed using the Standard Progressive Matrices in 316 MZ and 550 same-sex DZ twins with a mean age of 10 years in Sudan. Heritability was estimated at 0.172 and shared environmental influences at 0.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE IN EGYPT: A COUNTRY WHERE UPPER IS LOWER.

Two administrations of the Coloured Progressive Matrices in Egypt were compared. The first was administered to a large, representative national sample between 2011 and 2013. The second was administered to primary school pupils in villages in Menoufia in northern Egypt in 2017.

Are greenhouse gas emissions and cognitive skills related? Cross-country evidence.

Are greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and cognitive skills (CS) related? We attempt to answer this question by exploring this relationship, using cross-country data for 150 countries, for the period 1997-2012. After controlling for the level of economic development, quality of political regimes, population size and a number of other controls, we document that CS robustly predict GHG. In particular, when CS at a national level increase by one standard deviation, the average annual rate of air pollution changes by nearly 1.

Intelligence, competitive altruism, and "clever silliness" may underlie bias in academe.

Why is social bias and its depressing effects on low-status or low-performing groups exaggerated? We show that the higher intelligence of academics has at best a very weak effect on reducing their bias, facilitates superficially justifying their biases, and may make them better at understanding the benefits of social conformity in general and competitive altruism specifically. We foresee a surge in research examining these mechanisms and recommend, meanwhile, reviving and better observing scientific ideals.

Ethnic and sex differences in the predictive validity of the scholastic achievement test for college grades.

The predictive validity of SAT-Verbal and SAT-Mathematics scores for college grades was examined for males and females and for four ethnic groups in a nationally representative American sample. SAT scores "overpredicted" the grades of males and of Asians, Hispanics, and blacks, i.e.