Intelligence and Education: Causal Perceptions Drive Analytic Processes and Therefore Conclusions

Ian J Deary (1) , Wendy Johnson (2)

1 Dept of Psychology
2 Psychology

Background Educational attainment is associated with many life outcomes, including income, occupation, and many health and lifestyle variables. Many researchers use it a control variable in epidemiological and other social scientific studies, often without specifying exactly what environmental effects or set of personal characteristics is being controlled. Other researchers assume that genetically-influenced intelligence drives educational attainment, and think that intelligence is the appropriate control variable. Researchers' different and often unstated causal assumptions can lead to very different analytical approaches and thus to very different results and interpretations. Methods, results, and conclusions We document several examples of this important variation in the treatment of education and intelligence and their association. We recommend: greater clarity in stating underlying assumptions and developing analytical approaches; and greater objectivity in interpreting results. We discuss implications for study designs.

Mots clés: Medicine

Ian J Deary, Wendy Johnson. Intelligence and Education: Causal Perceptions Drive Analytic Processes and Therefore Conclusions. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2010, ⟨10.1093/ije/DYQ072⟩. ⟨hal-00595943⟩