So, since you’re hinting that they do, indeed, tend to lack “something” and that you know what that something is, would you mind enlightening the rest of us?
Ashkenazi Jews have an unusual ability profile as well as higher than average IQ. They have high verbal and mathematical scores, while their visuospatial abilities are typically somewhat lower, by about one half a standard deviation, than the European average (Levinson, 1977; Levinson and Block, 1977). Han Eysenck (Eysenck, 1995) noted “The correlation between verbal and performance tests is about 0.77 in the general population, but only 0.31 among Jewish children. Differences of 10-20 points have been found in samples of Jewish children; there is no other group that shows anything like this size difference.” The Ashkenazi pattern of success is what one would expect from this ability distribution-great success in mathematics and literature, more typical results in representational painting, sculpture, and architecture.
As far as I can tell, their rate of dyslexia is virtually nil; I don’t know if this is wholly due to breeding effects or partly to culture. The mental traits and abilities that are statistically associated with dyslexia seem to be generally underdeveloped.
The few famous Ashkenazi who seem to also have strong kinesthetic/visual abilities, like Einstein and Feynman, are such outliers and exceptions that I’m not sure they can be said to fit into any expectation system.
So, since you’re hinting that they do, indeed, tend to lack “something” and that you know what that something is, would you mind enlightening the rest of us?
Edit: Never mind, I tracked it down:
Thank you, CronoDAS.
As far as I can tell, their rate of dyslexia is virtually nil; I don’t know if this is wholly due to breeding effects or partly to culture. The mental traits and abilities that are statistically associated with dyslexia seem to be generally underdeveloped.
The few famous Ashkenazi who seem to also have strong kinesthetic/visual abilities, like Einstein and Feynman, are such outliers and exceptions that I’m not sure they can be said to fit into any expectation system.