Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL about "Flynn Effect", which shows that the average IQ rises steadily with each generation. IQ tests are made harder and harder to keep the average at 100. Today's children taking tests from pr... (www.wikipedia.org)

submitted 10 months ago by bot@lemmit.online to c/todayilearned@lemmit.online

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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Excellent-Cap1118 on 2024-04-17 09:50:04.

Original Title: TIL about "Flynn Effect", which shows that the average IQ rises steadily with each generation. IQ tests are made harder and harder to keep the average at 100. Today's children taking tests from previous decades score well above 100 on average.

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[–] TheRaven@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Speculation:

Part of it is probably natural evolution. Smart people have generally bred more.

Part of it is also that everything our parents struggled to learn was just passed down to us as knowledge and we take it for granted that we know it. It’ll happen for the next generation as well.

Part of it is also environmental. Generation after generation has had less reliance on authority to give knowledge, and more reliance on objective truth seeking. There has also been a shift from farming as a career for 90% of households, with women only having housekeeping as their career option. We’ve been training more at the kinds of skills for which IQ tests test. On top of that, in order to learn, we generally have to have confirmation that what we think is accurate. With the world’s knowledge at our fingertips, it’s no wonder we’re able to learn faster. When previous generations had to find a library, we have to simply google it.

Not speculation:

https://www.livescience.com/37095-humans-smarter-or-dumber.html This article interestingly also calls out nutrition, which I didn’t think of.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago

Lol I always thought dumber poor people bred more since they didn't use contraceptives or had abortions. Thought maybe that's a more recent trend. I have uncle with 15 kids that he knows of.