Dysgenics

Dysgenics is the evolutionary weakening of an organism relative to its surroundings, often due to relaxation of selectionary pressures or to negative selection. This can happen when negative mutations occur without ramification to the organism and accumulate in the species.

Related Topics:
Negative selection - Mutation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The term first came into use as an opposite of eugenics, a social philosophy advocating improvement of human hereditary qualities, often by social programs or government intervention. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "dysgenic" was first used as an adjective as early as 1915 to describe the "dysgenic effect" of the First World War. Amongst eugenicists of this time period, war was initially thought to have a eugenic effect, as it killed off the "less fit" men of a population. During WWI, however, it became quickly clear that even the "fit" men were as likely to die from modern warfare as anyone else, and war was seen as killing off only the physically fit male members of the population whilst the disabled stayed safely at home.

Related Topics:
Eugenics - Oxford English Dictionary - First World War

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Second World War the USA had difficulty training low IQ military recruits. This led Congress to ban enlistment by those with an IQ below 80.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The term fell out of use after eugenic thought fell out of popularity in the 1930s, though in the 1970s it was used again by the controversial Nobel laureate William Shockley in his advocacy of eugenics.

Related Topics:
Nobel laureate - William Shockley

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dysgenics: Genetic deterioration in modern populations is also the title of a controversial 1996 book by the psychologist Richard Lynn, in which he argued that intelligence in Western nations had been decreasing due to dysgenics and conjectures that China may overtake the West due to continued deterioration of intelligence in the Western nations, especially the United States. Contrast with the Flynn effect, which states that global IQ scores have been rising over the years.

Related Topics:
1996 - Richard Lynn - United States - Flynn effect - IQ

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In biology, dysgenesis refers to faulty or abnormal organ or development - the organ is then said to be dysgenic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~