Survival Of The Slowest? Study Suggests That Less Intelligent Soldiers More Likely To Survive In War

Among the other costs of war, there may be a type of counter Darwinistic effect on a population according to a new study. A new British study has found that the most intelligent soldiers in World War II had a higher mortality rate in combat. In other words, the war favors the least intelligent soldiers in terms of survival.

The study by Ian Deary, a psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, and his colleagues used IQ scores for Scots who died and who survived the war. The study found that 491 Scots who died had an average IQ score of 100.8. Several thousand survivors who had taken the same test averaged 97.4.

There may be various reasons for this difference. One of the most obvious might be that more intelligent soldiers tend to be placed in greater leadership roles and are thus exposed to greater combat threats. The study also refuted a prior theory that less intelligent men were simply more likely to be rejected by the military. In reality, men who didn’t serve were more intelligent than surviving veterans.

Here is a link to the study: Scottish Study