Why do High IQ Societies Differ in Intellectual Achievement? The Role of Schizophrenia and Left-Handedness in Per Capita Scientific Publications and Nobel Prizes

Previous research has attempted to understand why countries with relatively favorable conditions andhigh estimated average IQs (such as Finland and Japan) have a relatively low per capita number of scientificNobel prizes. In the present study, we examine whether there is a relationship between national schizophre-nia and left-handedness prevalence, on the one hand, and per capita scientific and literary achievement, onthe other hand, in countries with IQ estimates of at least 90. We found that per capita science and literatureNobel prizes and scientific publications are strongly negatively associated with schizophrenia and stronglypositively correlated with left-handedness. There also was a very pronounced negative correlation betweenschizophrenia rate and left-handedness rate. These results suggest that genius can be regarded as a combina-tion of very high IQ, aspects of high-functioning autism (specifically low empathy) plus relatively lowimpulse control, consistent with observations of intellectually outstanding individuals, and the fact thatschizophrenia appears to constitute the opposite pole of these aspects of autism spectrum. We posit differ-ences in androgen levels as a possible underlying explanation for these findings.

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