SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the tv-and-video-games-cause-brain-rot dept.
A Norwegian study published Monday found a seven-point dip in IQ test scores per generation among men born from 1962 to 1991. The results suggest a reversal in the Flynn effect, an observed increase in IQ scores throughout the 20th century in developed countries.
Coverage from The Week adds:
The reasons for the Flynn effect and its apparent reversal are disputed. "Scientists have put the rise in IQ down to better teaching, nutrition, healthcare and even artificial lighting," says The Times.
But "it is also possible that the nature of intelligence is changing in the digital age and cannot be captured with traditional IQ tests", adds the newspaper.
"Take 14-year-olds in Britain. What 25% could do back in 1994, now only 5% can do," Shayer added, citing maths and science tests.
More from The Daily Mail:
Two British studies suggested that the fall was between 2.5 and 4.3 points every ten years.
But due to limited research, their results were not widely accepted.
In the latest study Ole Rogeburg and Bernt Bratsberg, of the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Oslo, found that Norwegian men's IQs are lower than the scores of their fathers when they were the same age.
The pair analysed the scores from a standard IQ test of over 730,000 men – who reported for national service between 1970 and 2009.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday June 14 2018, @11:22AM (3 children)
And if culture is affected by IQ.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Reziac on Thursday June 14 2018, @02:44PM (1 child)
Culture is selected for *by* IQ. Funny thing, you can pretty much correlate IQ with invention of the wheel.
Also, there is so much data that any cultural skew on IQ tests is long since swamped out.
As to the "Flynn effect" ... friend and I (both with IQs in the 160 range, mine by actual test) were discussing the IQ thing and noted something interesting: we both have ZERO patience with the current standard test, Raven's Progressive Matrices. Get to the third item and we're both about ready to throw darts. This despite being generally good and tenacious problem-solvers. We also both tend to solve problems without the tedium of "show your work". I thereby hypothesized what's creating the "Flynn effect" is that Raven's is selecting for people who will plod through the test no matter what, which probably tends to flatten the curve toward the right side. I'd like to see a chart of IQ scores vs adoption of Raven's; I'd bet there's a correlation.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 14 2018, @05:33PM
Hey everybody, Doctor Nick here.
Now slow down sir, you're going to give yourself SKULL failure. Ok, the symptoms you describe point to brainus eruptus where the brain tries to leap out the mouth and escape the body. Our one chance is transdental IQ transplanticide!
After the operation there are maaany options for compulsive narcissism. This therapeutic backpack carries two car batteries we hook up to your temples, and anytime you feel like bragging it will give you a teeny little shock.
If your symptoms do not get better in two weeks we will have to increase the voltage which may have just a leetle brain damaging effects.
Good bye everybody!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @01:43AM
> And if culture is affected by IQ.
They are interrelated because both are hereditary. In biology a related term is called inclusive fitness but that's as far as the top biologists are willing to state publicly. Off the record, there is a growing consensus that populations have an overall fitness themselves, which means that objectively some cultures are more fit than others. That's something that cannot be published in today's academic climate.
The article mentions Norway, and the elephant in the room there is Islam. Islam afflicts close to 6% of the Norwegian populus [pewresearch.org] and that volume is expected to more than triple by 2050 if left untreated. There is a correlation between the spread of Islam and the drop in IQ. It is not that Islam itself causes the drop in IQ but that the reproducing individuals that carry it are of lower IQ.
Sweden and the UK in similar situations. The UK has already long since passed 6% occupation and in Sweden it is well ove 8%. The IQ is dropping rapidly in both and no politician or scientist is willing or able to look at the cause. Yet by 2050 a third of Sweden will be occupied by moslems [pewforum.org]. Overall, Europe will hit 14% by 2050 which is enough for internecine fighting to become pervasive and eventually dominant on top of the IQ drop. Society is fully dependent on excessively complex technologies and workflows that the IQ drop by itself will prevent long term survival of the overall population.