Satoshi Kanazawa
Encyclopedia
Satoshi Kanazawa PhD is a Reader
in Management at the London School of Economics
. His work uses evolutionary psychology to analyze social sciences such as sociology, economics, and anthropology. Some of his work dealing with race and gender has been controversial and led to his dismissal from writing for Psychology Today
.
Kanazawa has been a fierce opponent of what he considers political correctness
. Much of his work is not considered mainstream evolutionary psychology. In response to ongoing controversy, his current employer, the London School of Economics, has prohibited him from publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets for 12 months.
He also wrote a blog, The Scientific Fundamentalist, for Psychology Today
until his dismissal in 2011.
Kanazawa uses the term Savanna principle
to denote the theory that societal difficulties exist because the human brain evolved in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago, a drastically different environment from today's urban, industrial society.
In 2003, in an article in the Journal of Research in Personality
, he claimed to show that scientists generally made their biggest discoveries before their mid-30s, and compared this productivity curve to that of criminals.
, claiming that attractive people are 26% less likely to have male offspring.
In a letter to the editors regarding Kanazawa's claim that attractive people are more likely to have daughters, Columbia
statistician Andrew Gelman
points out that a correct interpretation of the regression coefficients in Kanazawa's analysis is that attractive people are 8% more likely to have girls, an error that Kanazawa acknowledges.
Gelman argues that Kanazawa's analysis does not convincingly show causality, because of possible endogeneity as well as problematic interpretations of statistical significance
in multiple comparisons. While Kanazawa claims that the former error is "merely linguistic" and that he addressed the latter two in his initial article, Gelman maintains that his original criticism remains valid.
and hypothesized that the rater's preference for physical markers of estrogen levels, which he asserted were lower in blacks, was the culprit. Subsequent critical independent analysis of the results showed that the difference in assessed attractiveness held for three of the four data sets in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and that there was only a statistically significant race difference in younger women and that it disappeared by early adulthood. His explanation has generally been considered incorrect as there is no evidence that black women have lower levels of estrogen than other groups.
The article caused outrage and was widely criticized. The first criticisms were published in the blogosphere
leading to the creation of petitions on change.org
and facebook
to have Kanazawa sacked.
But also other scientists, including a group of evolutionary psychologists publishing a joint statement published criticisms, distancing the discipline of Evolutionary psychology
from Kanazawa's research. Psychology Today pulled the article and on May 27, 2011, issued an apology to anyone who had been offended and stated that they had not reviewed Kanazawa's article before its publication, and stated that they would police more strictly for controversial content in the future.
In September 2011, Kanazawa apologized to LSE director Judith Rees, saying he "deeply regrets" the "unintended consequences" of the blog and accepting that "some of [his] arguments may have been flawed and not supported by the available evidence". An internal LSE investigation found that Kanazawa had brought the school into disrepute and prohibited him from publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets for a year.
Following the controversy, an open letter was signed by 68 evolutionary psychologists distancing themselves from Kanazawa and defending evolutionary psychology, writing "The principle of applying evolutionary theory to the study of human psychology and behaviour is sound, and there is a great deal of high-quality, nuanced, culturally-sensitive evolutionary research ongoing in the UK and elsewhere today". In response, an international team of 23 scientists published a letter in Times Higher Education defending Kanazawa's work.
are less healthy because they are unintelligent and not because they are poor. Kevin Denny wrote similar criticisms regarding the IQ data and stated that African Americans should have similar IQs when compared to the sub-Saharan African population and that Kanazawa should have measured the distance between areas in a topographical fashion.
Reader (academic rank)
The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...
in Management at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. His work uses evolutionary psychology to analyze social sciences such as sociology, economics, and anthropology. Some of his work dealing with race and gender has been controversial and led to his dismissal from writing for Psychology Today
Psychology Today
Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
.
Kanazawa has been a fierce opponent of what he considers political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
. Much of his work is not considered mainstream evolutionary psychology. In response to ongoing controversy, his current employer, the London School of Economics, has prohibited him from publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets for 12 months.
Work
Kanazawa has co-written three books with Alan Miller:- "Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire— Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do" ;
- "Why Men Gamble and Women Buy Shoes: How Evolution Shaped the Way We Behave"; and
- "Order by Accident: The Origins and Consequences of Conformity in Contemporary Japan".
He also wrote a blog, The Scientific Fundamentalist, for Psychology Today
Psychology Today
Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
until his dismissal in 2011.
Kanazawa uses the term Savanna principle
Savanna principle
The Savanna Principle is a theory about the evolutionary roots of the human brain. Developed and researched by Satoshi Kanazawa it asserts that the environment that molded the human brain through natural selection is drastically different than the world humans currently live in...
to denote the theory that societal difficulties exist because the human brain evolved in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago, a drastically different environment from today's urban, industrial society.
In 2003, in an article in the Journal of Research in Personality
Journal of Research in Personality
The Journal of Research in Personality is an academic journal in the field of personality psychology, published by Elsevier....
, he claimed to show that scientists generally made their biggest discoveries before their mid-30s, and compared this productivity curve to that of criminals.
Attractiveness and sex of offspring
In 2006, he published an article in the Journal of Theoretical BiologyJournal of Theoretical Biology
The Journal of Theoretical Biology is a scientific journal about theoretical biology; dealing with theoretical issues, as well as mathematical and computational aspects of biology. Some research areas covered by the papers published in the journal are population genetics, morphogenesis,...
, claiming that attractive people are 26% less likely to have male offspring.
In a letter to the editors regarding Kanazawa's claim that attractive people are more likely to have daughters, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
statistician Andrew Gelman
Andrew Gelman
Andrew Gelman is an American statistician, professor of statistics and political science, and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. He earned an S.B. in mathematics and in physics from MIT in 1986 and a Ph.D...
points out that a correct interpretation of the regression coefficients in Kanazawa's analysis is that attractive people are 8% more likely to have girls, an error that Kanazawa acknowledges.
Gelman argues that Kanazawa's analysis does not convincingly show causality, because of possible endogeneity as well as problematic interpretations of statistical significance
Statistical significance
In statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. The phrase test of significance was coined by Ronald Fisher....
in multiple comparisons. While Kanazawa claims that the former error is "merely linguistic" and that he addressed the latter two in his initial article, Gelman maintains that his original criticism remains valid.
Race and attractiveness
In May 2011, he published an article in Psychology Today that explored why black women had been rated less attractive than those of other races in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent HealthNational Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health is the only nationally representative study of adolescent sexuality, which has spawned over one thousand peer-reviewed publications on many issues related to adolescent health and sexuality, and other adolescent health risk behaviors.The Add...
and hypothesized that the rater's preference for physical markers of estrogen levels, which he asserted were lower in blacks, was the culprit. Subsequent critical independent analysis of the results showed that the difference in assessed attractiveness held for three of the four data sets in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and that there was only a statistically significant race difference in younger women and that it disappeared by early adulthood. His explanation has generally been considered incorrect as there is no evidence that black women have lower levels of estrogen than other groups.
The article caused outrage and was widely criticized. The first criticisms were published in the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
leading to the creation of petitions on change.org
Change.org
Change.org is an online platform for social change launched on February 7, 2007 by current CEO Ben Rattray and Mark Dimas, and certified as a B Corporation in January, 2011. Its stated mission is to "empower anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change."...
and facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
to have Kanazawa sacked.
But also other scientists, including a group of evolutionary psychologists publishing a joint statement published criticisms, distancing the discipline of Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional...
from Kanazawa's research. Psychology Today pulled the article and on May 27, 2011, issued an apology to anyone who had been offended and stated that they had not reviewed Kanazawa's article before its publication, and stated that they would police more strictly for controversial content in the future.
In September 2011, Kanazawa apologized to LSE director Judith Rees, saying he "deeply regrets" the "unintended consequences" of the blog and accepting that "some of [his] arguments may have been flawed and not supported by the available evidence". An internal LSE investigation found that Kanazawa had brought the school into disrepute and prohibited him from publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets for a year.
Following the controversy, an open letter was signed by 68 evolutionary psychologists distancing themselves from Kanazawa and defending evolutionary psychology, writing "The principle of applying evolutionary theory to the study of human psychology and behaviour is sound, and there is a great deal of high-quality, nuanced, culturally-sensitive evolutionary research ongoing in the UK and elsewhere today". In response, an international team of 23 scientists published a letter in Times Higher Education defending Kanazawa's work.
Health and intelligence
In 2006, Kanazawa published a paper suggesting that the poor health of people in some nations is the result not of poverty, but of lower intelligence. In the British Journal of Health Psychology, George Ellison wrote that the theory is based on flawed assumptions, questionable data, inappropriate analysis and biased interpretations. Ellison wrote that Kanazawa mistook statistical associations for evidence of causality and falsely concluded that populations in sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
are less healthy because they are unintelligent and not because they are poor. Kevin Denny wrote similar criticisms regarding the IQ data and stated that African Americans should have similar IQs when compared to the sub-Saharan African population and that Kanazawa should have measured the distance between areas in a topographical fashion.
External links
- "Is atheism linked to intelligence?" A review of Kanazawa's recent "Why liberals and atheists are more intelligent", Social Psychology Quarterly 73(1): 33-57.
- Video interview at Big Think