Since IQ measures just a person’s IQ and not their intelligence, it is difficult to make any correlation between race and intelligence. Many studies have been done on IQs of different races in different environments under different situations. Whether IQ depends on genetics or the environment is still a debatable issue, although some feel strongly towards one and not the other. The main problem with nature and nurture is to conclude which –inheritance or environment- is primary. As it has been seen, IQ is a result of both genetics and environment, not of one alone.

On the other hand, there are many that argue against the environmental aspect of the argument. Instead, authors such as Herrnstein and Murray, claim that the stratification of society by income and social achievement is largely the unavoidable result of IQ differences, and that these IQ differences, including the average IQ differences found between blacks and whites, are largely due to genetics. One way to study this would be to observe people related to one another and compare their IQs. The only problem is, is that if they are related, most likely they will be living in the same environment. The only way to avoid this would be to study twins that were separated at birth. By doing this, the twins share the same genetic material, but were raised in different environments by different families, usually in different parts of the country. There is a correlation between IQ scores of twins reared apart. There is an inherited component to IQ. At most it accounts for about 50% of the variability (Appendix D). According to The Bell Curve, the authors rank the races by IQ with Asians outscoring whites and blacks. In one IQ study by Murray and Herrnstein, “The children (Chinese) from Hong Kong averaged and IQ score of 113; from Japan 110; from Britain 100.” Also, they cited additional studies showing that the black white IQ difference was fifteen points. Murray and Herrnstein also assumed a substantial genetic component of these IQ differences. Basically, they are saying that blacks are inferior to all other races (Reiland). First, Herrnstein and Murray invoke the authority of genetics to argue that "it is beyond significant technical dispute that cognitive ability is substantially heritable." Second, even if there was agreement on the heritability of cognitive ability, lessons from genetics are misrepresented. They argue that since cognitive ability is considerably heritable, it is not possible to alter it and that remedial education is not worth the effort or cost. This is not an accurate message from genetics or a necessary lesson from efforts at remedial education. Heritability estimates are significant only for the particular environment in which they are measured. If the environment is changed, the heritability of traits can also change extremely.

The observed increase in average IQ scores of three points per decade has been reported by many as proof that intelligence is not stable but is flexible with regards to environmental influences. However, none of the researchers in this extensive review of the data, believes that intelligence is increasing at a rate greater than can be attributed by eugenic means (breeding smarter people). Instead, they are looking at the mechanisms of tests and how they are administered and interpreted

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