Many of us think that we are smarter than our parents. In fact, this may be true if the Flynn Effect means anything.
The Flynn effect describes the general increase in IQ scores over generations. At roughly 3 IQ points a year, this increase is enough to mean that test scores have to be renormalized so that the average stays at 100.
Although I would love to say that the Flynn effect is a sign of the evolution of mankind, I believe it means very little in terms of our true intelligence.
Continue reading for 3 reasons that the Flynn effect does not mean we are getting any smarter.
Intelligence is not just IQ
The first question to ask is how do IQ tests test intelligence? Or more simply, what is on an IQ test?
From the podcast yesterday, I described the content of IQ tests as mathematical and geometrical pattern recognition, word games and logic puzzles.
This works better if you know what sorts of questions I am talking about.
Mathematical pattern recognition - What number follows next in the series? 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ?
Geometrical pattern recognition - What shape follows next in the series? (usually this would be a picture) Hexagon, Pentagon, Square, ?
Vocabulary games - The people of Tuung are very particular people: They like cookies but not candies, they like spoons but not forks, they like the moon, but not the sun. Of the following pairs, which do they prefer? Boar or Deer; Vacuums or Dishwashers.
Logic puzzles - These get a little cumbersome, so I will omit this one.
I do believe that there is some level of innate “intelligence” one must have to grasp these exercises quickly. From personal experience, however, I know I have become much more adept at these sorts of tests with practice and familiarity.
I am comfortable and confident in seeing a pattern recognition exercise whereas others might feel shocked and confused. In pattern recognition exercises, there are only so many factors that can be changed (typically). In the above example, I know not to look for symbolic qualities of the shapes, like “what do they represent in the real world?”, I only care about one thing: number of sides.
Boom, there’s the answer.
Understanding this does not make me intelligent by any means. Understanding this means that I am very well-suited for taking IQ tests. And as a generation we are better than our parents. Does this mean we are smarter? I don’t think so, Tim.
More school correlates with higher IQ
We have been in school for more days than the previous generation. Even in the short term when children are taken out of school, their IQ test scores decrease. So it makes sense that if we as a generation attend more school, throughout the year and for longer into our lives, that our IQ tests scores will increase.
If this intelligence comes straight from schools it doesn’t seem to be some sort of innate marker of learning potential or even straight knowledge, just a very specialized type of knowledge that comes with test-taking and book-learning. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
The average person in the 1930s wasn’t retarded
To me the extrapolations from the data are the most convincing reason that increases in generational IQ test scores do not mean we are getting smarter. If take the data and look back at whatIQs in the 1930s would have been by today’s standards, we get an average IQ of roughly 80, which is classified as borderline mentallyretared.
We run into some problems when we extrapolate, but the implication is clear: people in the 1930s were not retarded, so the IQ test must be testing for something crucially different.
James R. Flynn, after whom the Flynn effect was named, describes how test answers have changed so much from generation to generation. To the question, “What do a dog and rabbit have in common?”, where as 2 generations ago the answer might be “dogs are used to catch rabbits”, these days the answer would more commonly be “both are mammals”.
Our thoughts have shifted from the practical (how to hunt, live) to the abstract (how to classify).
I think this is captured nicely in our shift in vocabulary as well, covered in my post on the Death of Words. In the post I describe how there is a movement away from words about nature and a move towards technology.
Closing remarks
We are getting lot better at abstract thinking. This may be due to a number of reasons like increased schooling, testing, and other factors (such as technology use or nutrition). As such our IQs are increasing, this doesn’t mean that we are more intelligent that previous generations. While I could make a ballin’ dichotomous key to classify things in my house, heaven knows I couldn’t catch a fish to save my life (literally).
Sources/Further reading:
Wikipedia: Flynn Effect, proposed explanations
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