Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The Flynn Effect

Good Essays
726 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Flynn Effect
ARE HUMAN BEINGS GETTING SMARTER?

(1) Do you think you are smarter than your parents and grandparents? According to James Flynn, a professor at a New Zealand university, you are! Over the course of the last century, people who have taken IQ tests have gotten increasingly better scores – on average, three points better for every decade that has passed. This improvement is known as ‘the Flynn effect,’ and scientists want to know what is behind it.

(2) IQ tests and other similar tests are designed to measure general intelligence rather than knowledge. Flynn knew that intelligence is partly inherited from our parents and partly the result of our environment and experiences, but improvement in test scores was happening too quickly to be explained by heredity. So what was happening in the 20th century that was helping people achieve higher scores on intelligence tests?

(3) Scientists have proposed several explanations for the Flynn effect. Some suggest that the improved test scores simply reflect an increased exposure to tests in general. Because we take so many tests, we learn test-taking techniques that help us perform better on any test. Others have pointed to better nutrition since it results in babies being born larger, healthier, and with more brain development than in the past. Another possible explanation is a change in educational styles, with teachers encouraging children to learn by discovering things for themselves rather than just memorizing information. This could prepare people to do the kind of problem solving that intelligence tests require.

(4) Flynn limited the possible explanations when he looked carefully at the test data and discovered that the improvement in scores was only on certain parts of the IQ test. Test takers didn’t do better on the arithmetic or vocabulary sections of the test; they did better on sections that required a special kind of reasoning and problem solving. For example, one part of the test shows a set of abstract shapes, and test takers must look for patterns and connections between them and decide which shape should be added to the set. According to Flynn, this visual intelligence improves as the amount of technology in our lives increases. Every time you play a computer game or figure out how to program a new cell phone, you are exercising exactly the kind of thinking and problem solving that helps you do well on one kind of intelligence test. So are you really smarter than your parents? In one very specific way, you may be.

PART A. Circle the correct answer according to the text. 1. The Flynn effect is _____. a) used to measure intelligence b) an increase in IQ test scores over time c) unknown in some parts of the world d) not connected to our experiences 2. The Flynn effect must be the result of _____. a) heredity b) our environment and experiences c) taking fewer tests d) memorizing information 3. IQ tests evaluate _____. a) our knowledge b) our environment c) our intelligence d) our memories 4. Which sentence from the article gives a main idea? a) Scientists have proposed several explanations for the Flynn effect. b) Because we take so many tests in our lives, we learn test-taking techniques that help us perform better on any test. c) Test-takers didn’t do better on the arithmetic or vocabulary sections of the test. d) For example, one part of the test shows a set of abstract shapes, and test-takers must look for patterns and connections between them and decide which shape should be added to the set. 5. According to the article, newer educational techniques include _____. a) exposure to many tests b) children finding things out themselves c) memorizing information d) improved test scores 6. Why does the author mention computer games? a) to give an example of technology that improves our visual intelligence b) to explain why young people have poor vocabularies c) to encourage the reader to exercise d) to show that young people are not getting more intelligent 7. Which statement would Professor Flynn agree with? a) People today are more intelligent in every way. b) People today have fewer problems to solve. c) People today are taking easier tests. d) People today have more visual intelligence.

ANSWER KEY

PART A.
1- b
2- b
3- c
4- a
5- b
6- a
7- d

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Intellectual Power Paper

    • 1123 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Intelligence includes the ability to reason abstractly, the ability to profit from experience, and the ability to adapt to varying environmental contexts” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 167). Tests to measure intelligence were first developed in 1905 by Frenchmen, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon. The purpose of the tests was to measure these abilities to help children who difficulties in school. At that time, the French government began requiring all children to attend school, they wanted to be able to identify those with difficulties. The tests were made to measure skills that children would use in school “including measures of vocabulary, comprehension of facts and relationships, and mathematical and verbal reasoning” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 167). The original tests developed by Binet and Simon were revised in 1916 and 1937 by Lewis Terman while at Stanford University. He wanted to revise the tests for children in the United States, and they were termed the Stanford-Binet tests. There were six different tests for different ages. When taking the test, the child would take the individual tests designed by age until he reached a test that he could not complete. A formula was used to determine the Intelligence Quotient (as known as IQ) of the child based on their scores. Binet and Simon compared the children’s actual chronological age to their “mental age” defined as “the age level of IQ test terms a child could successfully answer” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 168). There have been revisions over the years in how IQ scores are calculated and today they are calculated by comparing a child’s score with that of children of the same age. There has been a need for changes in computing IQ scores because IQ scores have increased gradually over the last five decades. If a child today were to take the tests given in the early 1930s, he would score higher than the average of 100.…

    • 1123 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flynn Effect

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Before beginning an investigation of the causes of the Flynn effect, it is important to understand the nature of the increase in mean IQ scores over the past decades. Although some researchers have challenged the existence of the Flynn effect, they failed to explain the dramatic rise in mean IQ scores observed by a growing body of research (Rodgers, 1998). Because the Flynn…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the other hand, Naglirei and Graham (2003) are of the view that IQ assessment is biased in terms of individual, ethnic, and cultural differences, and this wrong assessment may result in “long-term consequences” for subjects. For instance, a student may be placed in the wrong class; a person might be over diagnosed or not diagnosed at all; and applicants may be denied a job or admission. The differences described by Naglirei and Graham (2003) include genetic effects; social and environmental factors including social, political, economic, or educational deprivation; the “interactive effect of genes and environment”; and biased tests that do not represent the minorities’ aptitude. Thus, at least different measurements and tests should be designed…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Iq Test

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The very first test researchers conducted showed dramatic differences in IQ test results between different population groups in the United States and it was the actual tests of United States Army recruits in World War I. “In the 1920s groups of eugenics lobbyists argued that this demonstrated that African-Americans and certain immigrant groups were of inferior intellect to Anglo-Saxon whites due to innate biological differences, using this as an argument for policies of racial segregation. Soon, other studies appeared, contesting these conclusions and arguing instead that the Army tests had not adequately controlled for the environmental factors such as socio-economic and educational inequality between African-Americans and Whites.” (Shilpa 2006). The debate came out once again in the year 1969, when Arthur Jensen championed the view that for genetic reasons Africans were less intellectual than whites and that education for African-American children was therefore doomed to be ineffective. In the year 1994, the book called The Bell Curve, disputed that social inequality in the United Sates could largely be explained as a result of IQ differences between races and separate individuals rather than being their main cause, and regenerated the public and…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) theory is used to clearly identify intelligence. It can be measured accurately via IQ tests. The data produced by this test indicates clear social class differences in intelligence. It can be seen that those from working-class backgrounds have weaker intelligences, drawn from the IQ tests than middle-class students. Research on identical twins suggests that up to 80% of the variation in intelligence among individuals can be explained by genetic factors. Environmental factors, therefore, are less important than inherited IQ as determinants of intelligence.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Flynn Effect

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One of the main premises in Nicholas Carr’s book “The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains” is the Flynn effect. The Flynn effect refers to the steady increase in IQ scores the past century. People think the Flynn effect occurred because our technology advanced. The Flynn effect however was in motion before the internet became a mainstream, even before the world wars. Also because of the rapid increase in IQ scores the past century graphs show that the Fathers of America would have to have been significantly retarded, a fact we all know is not true. So if our IQ scores aren’t increasing because of technology how are they increasing? Theories, for the rise of scores, range from a healthier population, smaller households, to a more educated and literate population. While all these are possible factors none are truer than the reason Flynn himself eventually came to understand. “The gains in IQ scores have less to do with an increase in general intelligence then with a transformation in the way people think about intelligence” meaning until the late 1990s only professors and those who attended college had access to real intelligence i.e. Abstract reasoning, classification. “This all changed over the course of the last century when for certain reasons abstract reasoning moved into the mainstream. Everyone began to wear the same ‘scientific spectacles’ that were worn by the original developers of IQ tests.”…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    the flynn effect

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Flynn effect is named after intelligence researcher James Flynn, an emeritus professor of the University of Otago in New Zealand. According to James Flynn, over the course of the last century, people who have taken IQ tests have gotten increasingly better scores – on average, three points better for every decade that has passed. Flynn knew that intelligence is partly inherited from our parents and partly the result of our environment and experiences, but improvement in test scores was happening too quickly to be explained by heredity. So some of the explanations offered are these:…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Think about incorporating questions dealing with baseball rules into an intelligence exam. If such questions had appeared on an exam in say the year 1800, no one at all, including the smartest people who then lived, would have been able to answer such questions correctly (other than by random luck). By contrast, if such questions were to appear on today’s intelligence exams, many individuals, including those of low-to-average intelligence, would be able to answer such questions correctly—baseball and its rules have become an established part of the human environment, their widespread presence and influence are now thoroughly encountered and absorbed by a large percentage of the population. As Flynn indicates, it would be only those with an IQ of around 75 or under who would have limited potential to answer such questions…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert J. Trotter, in this article on intelligence tests, focuses on the recent work of Sternberg (an IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University). Sternberg recalls at the beginning how his test scores on standardized tests were terrible as a child in the fifth grade because he was always nervous and ended up freaking out mid test. This continued until one year he had to retake a test with the grade below him where he noticed he was not near as nervous because he was around “babies”. This strange occurrence in his life lead Sternberg to study Psychology and attend Princeton for his graduate degree. He focused mainly on IQ tests and how IQ directly can influence people’s ability to decide how successful or unsuccessful someone can be at a certain occupation. While he was working as at Yale University he noticed how the graduate students that applied with exemplary grades, test scores, recommendations and accommodations were fought over by the Ivy League schools. Yet these same students would graduate statistically lower than their test scores and undergraduate grades would assume. Secondly, he noticed that students with quite low-test scores and grades, for Yale, with great recommendations when given a chance would succeed with flying colors. Finally a third group with mediocre test scores recommendations and grades managed to have great job placement opportunities. These case studies lead to his creation of the Triarchic Theory of intelligence. Sternberg hypothesized that there are three types of intelligence each with an important role in academic studies and in the work force. Componential intelligence revolves around analytical thinking and is great for test taking and undergraduate studies. Experiential intelligence surrounds around using your experiences to think creatively. Lastly, contextual intelligence is the ability to be able to recognize the world around you and how to come out on top in…

    • 1461 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Malnutrition Site

    • 11040 Words
    • 45 Pages

    [ 25 ]. McNeil Jr, Donald G. (2006-12-16). “In raising the world’s IQ the secret is in salt”.…

    • 11040 Words
    • 45 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The psychology of intelligence has rapidly developed over the years, but it still has quite a long way to go. Intelligence is controversial topic due to tests being “unfair” in a certain group of people’s perspectives. The intelligence myths are easy to disprove if one is able to obtain the factual evidence. Intelligence is not as black and white as it used to seem: different forms of intelligence, intelligence tests, hereditary differences, environmental differences, gender differences, and ethnic differences all prove the previous statement.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    That is another work of Howard Gardner for educational psychology, after set the frame of multiply intelligence in 1983. It focuses in social context’s influence of a person’s IQ, which means IQ tests cannot apply to another society as the cultural background is various. It also criticises the psychometric method of the U.S and compares it to the Japanese one, saying that the American neglect interpersonal experiences and emphasize too much on psychometric instruments.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Flynn Effecct

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Coupled with the given assumption, I do agree that human being is getting smarter. The reason of the growth in human’s intelligent is affected by several factor. The factor that took into consideration is shown as below: -…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ories of Psychology

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Further analysis of scores in an intelligence test battery shows that different tests in the battery are not highly correlated. Hence, it is suggested that the unifactory approach is too simple and a complex model is needed to explain intelligence satisfactorily.…

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    assessment

    • 2862 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Research shows that IQ scores are increasing three IQ points per decade since the early 1900’s in the United States. Does that mean that people in the past weren’t as smart as people today? No, certainly not, but that indicates people in this day and age, students are much more curious and open to see a bigger world. People’s IQ average scores continue to grow because of the challenges they are facing due to the…

    • 2862 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays