The Intelligence of Migrants

T THIS PAPER summarizes the results of several studies bearing upon the quality of migrants with reference to intelligence. It deals therefore with the problem of migration,-the problem of whether those who migrate from any given area at any given time are superior intellectually to those who stay behind. The problem is an old one. In i899, Otto Ammon' formulated it clearly Zur Anthropologie der Badener. He defended the thesis that the superior individuals, who are also dolichocephalic, migrated to the cities, whereas the relatively inferior brachycephals stayed on the land. The anthropometric linkage which he postulated has pretty well been discarded, but not so the theory of selective migration, to which appeal is frequently made order to explain observed differences population quality. Pintner,2 for example, summarizes the intelligence test performance of rural children and concludes that in general . . . it would appear as if the urban districts rate higher intelligence than rural districts and that this is due to the migration of superior intelligence to the cities. Hirsch3 regards selective migration as responsible, at least part, for the low general intelligence of the eastern Kentucky mountaineers. Peterson and Lanier4 find that whereas twelve-year-old Negro boys are definitely inferior to White boys Nashville, New York City there is little or no difference between the two races. They explain this fact by the selective migration of the most intelligent Negroes from the South to the North. These examples are taken purposely from the writings of psychologists who have been concerned with the problem of variations population quality. In every case, and probably many other studies as well, the argument for selective migration appears to be based on logic rather than on empirical data. It is argued that certain qualities are necessary for migration, therefore the migrants must possess these qualities. The first half of this proposition has never been proved, however, and the conclusion drawn from it is not justified. On a priori grounds, one can make as good a case for the inferiority as for the superiority of the migrants. While working on Negro migration the South, I found many southerners, both Negro and White, who did point out that it requires energy and initiative to start over again a new community, as well as intelligence to see the advantages of the new environment over the old. There were just as many

Political science · Sociology · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Psychology · School Choice and Performance

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