Inspired by Glenn Wilson's demonstration that IQ is lowered 10 points by "infomania" -- the distracting effects of email and telephone calls -- Language Log Labs is proud to announce a series of even more striking discoveries.
Experiment 1. Purpose: to determine the effect of heated political argument on intelligence. Procedure: Each subject will take the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale twice, once in a quiet room and once while at table with Andrew Sullivan, Arianna Huffington, Michael Kinsley, Ann Coulter and a partner of the subject's choice. The order of testing will be randomly counterbalanced across subjects.
Experiment 2. Purpose: to determine the effect of athletics on intelligence. Procedure: Each subject will take WAIS-III twice, once in a quiet room and once while occupying one of the goals during a practice session for a high-school soccer team, or sitting in the middle of the court during a basketball scrimmage. The order of testing will be randomly counterbalanced across subjects.
Experiment 3. Purpose: to determine the effect of sexual intercourse on intelligence. Procedure: [redacted].
Preliminary results:
political argument causes a 20-point reduction in IQ;
soccer causes a 30-point reduction in IQ;
basketball causes a 40-point reduction in IQ;
sex causes [redacted].
[Update 9/25/2005: for the truth about the experimental design in the original study -- ironically, exactly the one lampooned here -- and an apology for blaming the media's excesses on Glen Wilson, see this post.]
Posted by Mark Liberman at May 3, 2005 04:46 PM