Intelligence and Sex Drive

[Fed]

I found a really interesting blog on this subject. You can see it here.

A few interesting points:

And two new papers suggest that testosterone may depress IQ. One team found that salivary testosterone levels were lower for preadolescent boys with IQs above 130 and below 70. (the same two groups most likely to be virgins in adolescence)

 

[Airicon]

Yeah I saw that on Reddit earlier, it's a pretty cool study. I don't think it has to do with risks, as I've seen smart people do some pretty stupid things I think in general the smarter a person is the less likely they will be interested in sex, as they are probably occupying their minds with more important matters. There are probably cultural aspects also that should be considered. There's a lot of Indians and Asians at MIT, most of which are smart and most of which are in the math/sciences, and sex is not as prevalent in their nations as in ours.
So those two factors, along with generally geekiness, and you have less sex. If you ask me it's worth the trade off.

 

[emmzee]

Yea, interesting article, but beware the correlation/causation fallacy. It seems unlikely that not having sex causes people to be smarter, at least directly ... as Airicon points out there are likely secondary factors involved.

 

[Fed]

There's a lot of Indians and Asians at MIT, most of which are smart and most of which are in the math/sciences, and sex is not as prevalent in their nations as in ours.

Haha, I think the Indians would disagree. Promiscuous sex, maybe, but not sex.

 

[MrsSeptemberPenguin]

Interesting thought, but to me it seems kinda weird, and probably hasn't been tested enough to really be thought of as true. In many ways it seems like an excuse to have sex, or an excuse to be dumb.

 

[arunma]

Haha, I think the Indians would disagree. Promiscuous sex, maybe, but not sex.

I'm Indian (...sort of, I was born here in the U.S.). It's true that middle and upper class Indian families tend to frown upon premarital sex far more than American families in the same socioeconomic classes. But among the poor, promiscuous sex is about as common.

Anyway, ethnic educational differences may also be in play here. There are a lot of Asian graduate students in the physics department at my school. They come from cultures with less sex, and they also happen to be much better at school than myself and the other Americans. We're all studying for PhD qualifiers right now, and I notice that whereas we Americans study in groups, they tend to study alone (meaning they're smarter). So the statistics may not point to a causal relationship.

 

[WurdBendur]

If this correlation is good, then I must be pretty smart. I never held hands in a romantic way until I was 19, and I never kissed until I was 21 (and that was just in February!).

Or I'm just a dork >.>

 

[Fed]

Anyway, ethnic educational differences may also be in play here. There are a lot of Asian graduate students in the physics department at my school. They come from cultures with less sex, and they also happen to be much better at school than myself and the other Americans. We're all studying for PhD qualifiers right now, and I notice that whereas we Americans study in groups, they tend to study alone (meaning they're smarter). So the statistics may not point to a causal relationship.

I agree. I think ethnic attitudes towards sex are a large part. But that's really just in the natural sciences. Outside those, it seems to me something else is to blame, along the lines of social skill.