Differences in achievement not in intelligence in the north and south of Italy: Comments on Lynn (2010a, 2010b)

Lynn (2010a, 2010b) argued that individuals from south Italy have a lower IQ than individuals from north Italy, and that these differences in IQ are at the basis of north–south gap in income, education, infant mortality, stature, and literacy. In the present paper, we discuss several theoretical and methodological aspects which we regard as flaws of Lynn's studies. Moreover, we report scores of southern Italian children on Raven's Progressive Matrices and a north–south comparison for the PASS theory of intelligence as measured by the Cognitive Assessment System (Taddei & Naglieri, 2006). Both results reveal similar levels of performance of northern and southern Italian children in fluid intelligence and PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive) cognitive abilities. ► We reply to Lynn's papers (2010a, 2010b) about Italian regional differences in IQ. ► We discuss several methodological weaknesses of Lynn's papers (2010a, 2010b). ► New results of Raven CPM reveal similar south–north IQs. ► New results of Naglieri and Taddei's CAS confirm no differences in south–north IQs.