http://hdl.handle.net/10468/250 2013-05-24T23:20:10Z 2013-05-24T23:20:10Z King, Robert J. http://hdl.handle.net/10468/968 2013-04-08T08:21:07Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

Baby got back: some brief observations on obesity in ancient female figurines: Limited support for waist to hip ratio constant as a signal of fertility King, Robert J. Venus figurines such as the famous Willendorf Venus--provide a possible window into the reproductive preferences of ancestral humans. These figurines cover a period of about 20,000 years of human history and have been found across ice-age Europe. There are a number of unknowns about such figurines. For example, they may be votive offerings, idealisations, or have some as-yet, unguessed-at function. Ancient figurines typically display body types typically considered obese by modern standards of medicine and aesthetics. While some have averred that such figurines show a marked change in human body preferences over thousands of years it is possible that this has been an artifact of particular approaches to measuring such figurines. Measuring a fuller extent of the markers of fat deposition seems to support a case for arguing that male preferences have broadly tracked fertility markers over ancestral time. The waist-to-hip ratio is arguably a more important fertility marker than obesity per se and a 0.7 ratio has been found cross-culturally and in this sample. It is likely that such preferences have been further calibrated by local ecological variations for example as regards food supply but these calibrations would not have a great impact on proportionality preferences. Great caution must be taken in reading too much into such a limited sample.

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z te Nijenhuis, Jan Cho, Sun Hee Murphy, Raegan Lee, Kun Ho http://hdl.handle.net/10468/617 2012-07-10T15:43:12Z 2012-07-01T00:00:00Z

The Flynn effect in Korea: large gains te Nijenhuis, Jan; Cho, Sun Hee; Murphy, Raegan; Lee, Kun Ho Secular gains in IQ test scores have been reported for many Western countries. This is the first study of secular IQ gains in South Korea, using various datasets. The first question is what the size of the Flynn effect in South Korea is. The gains per decade are 7.7 points for persons born between 1970 and 1990. These gains on broad intelligence batteries are much larger than the gains in Western countries of about 3 IQ points per decade. The second question is whether the Korean IQ gains are comparable to the Japanese IQ gains with a lag of a few decades. The gains in Japan of 7.7 IQ points per decade for those born approximately 1940 1965 are identical to the gains per decade for Koreans born 1970 1990. The third question is whether the Korean gains in height and education lag a few decades behind the Japanese gains. The Koreans reach the educational levels the Japanese reached 25 30 years before, and the gains in height for Koreans born 1970 1990 are very similar to gains in height for Japanese born 1940 1960, so three decades earlier. These findings combined strongly support the hypothesis of similar developmental patterns in the two countries.

2012-07-01T00:00:00Z Murphy, Raegan http://hdl.handle.net/10468/616 2012-07-11T02:00:40Z 2012-02-01T00:00:00Z

Dysgenics: Genetic deterioration in modern populations, Second revised edition, Richard Lynn., London. Ulster Institute for Social Research, 2011. Murphy, Raegan

2012-02-01T00:00:00Z Murphy, Raegan te Nijenhuis, Jan van Eeden, Rene http://hdl.handle.net/10468/613 2012-07-11T02:00:40Z 2011-11-01T00:00:00Z

The Flynn effect in South Africa Murphy, Raegan; te Nijenhuis, Jan; van Eeden, Rene This is a study of secular score gains in South Africa. The findings are based on representative samples from datasets utilized in norm studies of popular mainstream intelligence batteries such as the WAIS as well as widely used test batteries which were locally developed and normed in South Africa. Flynn effects were computed in three ways. First, studies where two different groups take the same test, with several years in between, using representative or comparable samples were used. Second, studies where the same group takes two different test batteries at a specific time were used. Third, the score differences between English- and Afrikaans-speaking Whites in South Africa in the 20th century were compared. The Flynn effect in White groups in South Africa is somewhat smaller than the Flynn effect in Western, industrialized countries (total N = 6534), and the Flynn effect in Indian groups is substantially smaller (total N = 682). Non-verbal IQ scores surpassed increases in verbal IQ scores. The findings from English- and Afrikaans-speaking Whites evidence a leveling out of differences in score gains over the 20th century (total N = 79,310). A meta-regression analysis showed no clear support for the moderators a) method used for computing the Flynn effect gain, b) type of test battery, c) time span, d) quality of the sample, and e) average age of sample.

2011-11-01T00:00:00Z