People of class drink alcohol

[Triple Zero]

To be honest, in my professional opinion, the data as it has been presented leaves a little to be desired.  First, he doesn't look into economical variables, or at least he didn't publish them.  My hunch is that may be a variable influencing the trend.  Second, what does "drink" mean?  Is it defined as someone who drinks regularly?  Does it include people who tried alcohol once or twice but no longer drink? 

It's clear from what he writes that the trend cuts across the variables he did discuss which is primarily gender, religion, and region, but this means he is missing something, or multiple somethings. 

Also, it would be helpful to have more information on WORDSUM.  Who takes it?  Where?  My guess is that is also a confounding variable. 

Yeah absolutely.

I'm not arguing this article shows that drinking alcohol makes you higher class, or smart (duhh )

It's just the correlation .. even with other variables influencing the trend, it's interesting to say the least. I know correlation is not causation, so it's interesting to wonder about what is really going on.

One thing, obviously, is college. I think I said that already? (maybe I just thought it) People drink a lot in college.

Another interesting thing is what Nigel said about how high intelligence often seems to come with strange quirks, cause you're a statistical outlier. I know there are some people that are inherently (genetically?) more prone to addiction than others. I'm probably one of those myself, I'm good at observing my own thoughts so I take care of that (it's hard). It wouldnt surprise me if certain types of high intelligence (but not all, some people are just smart), correlate with prone-ness to addiction, and alcohol being the most legal most prevalent hard-drug of choice, drinking.

So it doesn't mean you'd be smarter or more creative when drinking, but rather that being a smart and creative person, has an elevated probability of drinking.

I gotten a long way since college, but still I battle addictions. Mostly smoking btw, but damn fuck I dont wanna be an alcoholic, but I feel I got the possibility in me.

[Doktor Howl]

Then don't drink.  For real.

There are other ways to pass the time.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm interested in the assumption everyone seems to be stuck to, that for the most part only people of particularly high IQ attend college.

[Doktor Howl]

I'm interested in the assumption everyone seems to be stuck to, that for the most part only people of particularly high IQ attend college.

This is an excellent point.

When I was in university, I knew plenty of dumbfucks.

[Requia ☣]

Somebody mentioned a possible link between College and drinking, so I ran the GSS data with education (highest grade completed) as a control.

In the high school graduate/no college range, the correlation is still there.

There /is/ a correlation with highest level of education and alcohol though.  74.6 of high school grads drink, 82.3% of the college grads do, only 54% of people without a high school diploma drink.

The clincher would be to look at the cohort of people who graduate from high school but don't go on to college.

That's exactly what I looked at.  It is not admittedly, quite so shocking as the chart in the article.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm interested in the assumption everyone seems to be stuck to, that for the most part only people of particularly high IQ attend college.

This is an excellent point.

When I was in university, I knew plenty of dumbfucks.

Yep. Dipshits go to college too, especially nowadays when your parents paying for college is the best indicator for going to college.

Actually, a while ago I read an article that talked about how ability is a factor, but ability is not always directly linked to IQ, and that the average IQ of people getting an undergrad degree has dropped 9 points in the last 30 years. There was also something about how people with a below average IQ are likely to struggle in college, but if it's average or even slightly above average they usually do just fine. I imagine that has something to do with most things in life being oriented to the average, which is not really a bad thing if it helps the majority of people be successful at fending for themselves.

[Triple Zero]

I dunno about IQ, but if we consider a (very subjective) idea of "smartness", then yeah. Absolutely.

Just as much dumbfucks in college, and just as much smart people outside of it. (please notice I'm not saying either one has less of either)

I went to college for a long time, it took me a while to realize this fact. It kind of came shortly after the realization that all fraternity-hazing-club-peoples are not all assholes either (maybe a bit rarer, but not all of them by a long shot) and that the average guy anywhere might just be fucking smart, especially on the life-experience front. Also when I got involved in Discordia btw. Might be something to do with--dare I say it--monkeys.

[AFK]

I'm interested in the assumption everyone seems to be stuck to, that for the most part only people of particularly high IQ attend college.

It's not about only, it's about more likely.  Theoretically, someone with greater mental capabilities is going to do better in high school.  People who do better in high school are going to tend to go to college in higher percentages.  Obviously people who struggle a little more in high school still manage to go to college, but percentage wise, it most certainly is going to be in lower numbers.  Smart kids get scholarships that help pay for the college.  That's another factor. 

But when it comes to this kind of data analysis, you aren't looking for absolutes and "onlys", you want to look at the "tends to".  And even then, it isn't about finding a silver bullet or the "eureka", it's just another piece of the context. 

Another bar in the cell, if you will. 

[Jasper]

I'm interested in the assumption everyone seems to be stuck to, that for the most part only people of particularly high IQ attend college.

This is an excellent point.

When I was in university, I knew plenty of dumbfucks.

I've been to a couple of different community colleges over the last couple of years, and even attempting generous assumptions about other people, the fact in my perspective, is that college students are mostly average people who realize the importance of an education.  There are a couple brilliant people, usually one or two in a classroom.  Students, even in a high-brow elective like social psychology 300 have the standard range of IQ.

[Rumckle]

Hmm, this reminded me of an article that I read a few weeks ago:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/study-finds-graduates--to-a-greater-degree--are-unhappy-20100420-sru3.html

TLDR, the article says that university graduates are less happy than people who didn't go to uni at the age of 25 (ie just after graduates have entered the workforce).

The paper it's based on is here:
http://www.ncver.edu.au/lsay_pubs/research/LSAY_2239.pdf

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That's interesting.

I'm interested in any research (not anecdotes) regarding college graduates and IQ, drinking and IQ, etc... if you happen upon any, would  you post them here? Especially the source study rather than synopsis articles.