Although it may seem to us that each new generation is less intelligent than the previous one, "The effect Flynn” refutes this popular belief. Generally speaking we could say that the IQ of children is higher than that of their parents and so this chain would continue in the increase of intelligence. Research supporting this hypothesis was developed in New Zealand in the 80s from James Flynn who understood how the periodic updating of intelligence tests prevented psychometrists from perceiving the IQ increase in results. Thus, by collecting data from 35 countries, he showed the world that the IQ increased by an average of 3 points every 10 years while that in the Nordic countries there was a greater growth: 8 points. The data were obtained starting from the analysis of the results obtained in the well-known intelligence tests: WISC e Raven. Attempts to explain are very varied: better nutrition, the tendency to create smaller families that can offer a more favorable environment for the development of the little ones, the possibility of accessing a better education, more complex living environment ... However, in my attempting to refute or verify all the information I encounter I have come across new studies showing that the steady increase in IQ seems to have come to an end. In 2004 researchers of theUniversity of Oslo they showed what could be the end of the Flynn effect, at least in Norway. Starting from the analysis of 500 thousand recruits it was observed that in the decade of the 90s there was a peak in the results obtained in the intelligence tests but later the increase stopped and even a slight decrease in the results obtained in the subtests of numerical reasoning. For their part, Psychologists ofUniversity di Adelaide in 'Australia of the South, presented the results of 20 years of research with samples of children aged between 6 and 13 years and deny the increase in IQ. Throughout 20 years of history, intelligence levels have tended to stabilize. To be more specific, the average obtained in 1981 was 123 ± 87 while in 2001 a discrete 116 ± 71 was obtained, a slight decrease is therefore observed. The test used to obtain these results was the Peabody Picture Vocabulary. At the same time, researchers from the King’s College dell 'University from London showed that the performance on reasoning tests in physics, which British secondary school teenagers were subjected to, declined considerably between 1976 and 2003. So what happens? Beyond the critical considerations regarding the intelligence tests and the results they offer, I venture to hypothesize that the Flynn effect it really showed up in some countries, up to 1990. We all know that between 1960 and 1990 people were much more active and compromised in social development, there was a broad movement of cultural change in many countries led by university students who yearned to a profound social revolution. This period of time included the sexual revolution, the birth of the hippie movement, and even the musical world varied substantially with the appearance of groups such as the Beatles, i Rolling Stones. These social changes undoubtedly had a notable impact on the form in which the education of the new generations was conceived, above all because it suggested that “Learn to think for yourself”. It is therefore not strange that a social movement of this magnitude has given rise to an increase in the IQ of the fibula. But what happened after 1990? The family significantly changes its relational pattern and even if parents want their children to have an excellent education, on average and more generally, much less time is dedicated to them for their education at home, time that the little ones spend with computers and video games that ... teach you to think? For many psychologists, computer games are very similar to the classic intelligence tests according to which the score in the same should have increased, but in practice this is not the case. The problem is that these psychologists forget that computer games offer constant feedback to the player, so that, many times the game ends after an endless number of risky answers or learned by memorizing them by repetition rather than because the person has understood, reflecting on the possible solutions. However, these are just some possible explanations for a phenomenon like intelligence that we know to be multi-determined and extremely complex. This blog is open to other ideas that can explain this phenomenon, so if you have one you can share it.
