Lynn’s review work on global racial differences in cognitive ability has been cited for misrepresenting the research of other scientists, and has been criticised for unsystematic methodology and distortion.
John P. Jackson Jr., of the University of Colorado, Boulder, disputed Lynn’s claim (in The Science of Human Diversity) that the Pioneer Fund was dedicated to funding objective scientific research. Jackson wrote that “…although the Pioneer Fund may not have endorsed any policy proposal officially, it has funded a group that is remarkably uniform in its opposition to school integration, immigration, and affirmative action.”[94]
David King, the coordinator of the consumer watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, said “we find Richard Lynn’s claims that some human beings are inherently superior to others repugnant.”[95] Similarly, Gavin Evans wrote in the Guardian that Lynn was one of a number of “flat-earthers” who have claimed that “Africans, or black Americans, or poor people” are less intelligent than Westerners. He further wrote, with regard to Lynn’s claims that Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, “What is remarkable in all this is not so much that there are people who believe him - after all, there are still those who insist the Earth is flat - but rather that any creditable institution should take it seriously.”[96]
The datum that Lynn and Vanhanen used for the lowest IQ estimate, Equatorial Guinea, was taken from a group of children in a home for the developmentally disabled in Spain.[97] Corrections were applied to adjust for differences in IQ cohorts (the “Flynn” effect) on the assumption that the same correction could be applied internationally, without regard to the cultural or economic development level of the country involved. While there appears to be rather little evidence on cohort effect upon IQ across the developing countries, one study in Kenya (Daley, Whaley, Sigman, Espinosa, & Neumann, 2003) shows a substantially larger cohort effect than is reported for developed countries (p.?)[7]
In a critical review of The Bell Curve, psychologist Leon Kamin faulted Lynn for “disregarding scientific objectivity”, “misrepresenting data”, and for “racism”.[98] Kamin argues that the studies of cognitive ability of Africans in Lynn’s meta-analysis cited by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray show strong cultural bias. Kamin also reproached Lynn for concocting IQ values from test scores that have no correlation to IQ.[99] Kamin also notes that Lynn excluded a study that found no difference in White and Black performance, and ignored the results of a study which showed Black scores were higher than White scores.[100]
Journalist Charles Lane criticised Lynn’s methodology in his article in The New York Review of Books, “The Tainted Sources of The Bell Curve” (1994).[101] Pioneer Fund president Harry Weyher, Jr. published a response accusing the reviewer of errors and misrepresentation; Lane also replied to this with a rebuttal.[102]
In 2002 an academic dispute arose after Lynn claimed that some races are inherently more psychopathic than others, and other psychologists criticised his data and interpretations.[103] Psychologist Leon Kamin has said that “Lynn’s distortions and misrepresentations of the data constitute a truly venomous racism, combined with the scandalous disregard for scientific objectivity”.[5]
In 2010, on his 80th birthday, Lynn was celebrated with a special issue of Personality and Individual Differences dedicated to his work that was edited by Danish psychologist Helmuth Nyborg with contributions by Nyborg, J. Philippe Rushton, Satoshi Kanazawa and several others.[104]
In February 2018, the Ulster University students’ union issued a motion calling for the university to revoke Lynn’s title as emeritus professor. The motion argued that Lynn’s title should be revoked because he has made statements that are “racist and sexist in nature”.[105] The university agreed to this request in April 2018.[106]