JGWeissman comments on Poly marriage? - Less Wrong

-9 Post author: h-H 06 June 2012 07:57PM

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Comment author: JGWeissman 07 June 2012 06:21:37PM 0 points [-]

The parents were statistically matched with a control group of unrelated parents for age and socioeconomic factors.

Do "socioeconomic factors" include the parents' IQ?

Comment author: gwern 07 June 2012 06:30:08PM 2 points [-]

Given the strong influence of IQ on socioeconomic status, even without controlling for IQ explicitly, there's still going to be substantial controlling for IQ that way.

Comment author: JGWeissman 07 June 2012 06:45:23PM 2 points [-]

That would not be enough control if IQ has influence on whether someone marries their cousin.

Comment author: gwern 07 June 2012 06:55:19PM 2 points [-]

Are you arguing for the sake of arguing a methodological point, or do you seriously think that this point has a >50% chance of making the theoretically predicted and empirically confirmed phenomenon of inbreeding depression just go away?

Comment author: JGWeissman 07 June 2012 07:11:24PM 2 points [-]

I don't think it makes the inbreeding effect go away completely, but it seems worth considering if there are other contributing factors to the observed effect. (Probability less than 50%, but I think worth tracking.)

I would be careful about dismissing "methodological points". The methodological standards are there for a reason.