• As evolutionary psychologists go, he’s pretty much the worst of the bunch. And while his prior studies have been derided as “crap,” the latest one — now pulled by Psychology Today and replicated here — takes it to a whole new level. And with Kanazawa arguing that black women are less attractive than other races, of course it seems that someone has a huge PR problem. “It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women,” he writes (unbelievably), “black women (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others.” While you’re trying to take that racist nugget in, here’s a sample of his broader work:

• 2006 In a study that was previously his most controversial, he argued that Africa was poor and unhealthy because people on the continent had low IQs. Uh, yeah. *steps back*
• 2008 In a bizarre hypothetical, Kanazawa argued that if Ann Coulter were president instead of George W. Bush, she would have dropped dozens of nuclear bombs immediately after 9/11.
• overall Many of the articles that he writes for Psychology Today are thin on science and thick on shock value. Sample: “If Barack Obama Is Christian, Michael Jackson Was White.” Wow. source

• EDIT: The Noob Yorker recommends a follow-up piece by biology professor PZ Myers, where he rips apart Kanazawa further and breaks apart his bad science piece-by-piece. “It seems to have been purged from Psychology Today,” he writes in his most biting remark, “but I suspect this article will soon find a happy home on the pages of Stormfront and other such aryan racist tripe.”

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink