Are Those Born After Mid -1970’s Dumber? The 21st Century is Winding Back 20th Century IQ Gains.

They say that wisdom comes with age, but that is through lived experience and has nothing to do with when you were born surely?

I mean think about it, the older generation battle to navigate their way around computers, and apps and programmes, so why should the younger generation thik that they are so wise?

Well it turns out that no matter what the younger generation think the numbers don't lie and they are not painting a pretty picture at the moment.

Is this the first generation in a long time that is getting dumber than the previous one? Dumb and Dumber a funny movie but is this a reflection of real life? Sometimes when I see videos on social media, I think we may just be living out the truth of that movie.

Then I think back to my youth and I am so grateful nobody had smart phones to video my friends and I. I think we could have gone viral…

I don’t think we can generalise because we have high and low IQ people in all generations. IQ measures aren’t everything. There are many talented people who think differently. They are more creative and often come up with rather novel solutions that strong logical thinking would not deliver.

The scientific phenomenon known as the ‘Flynn Effect’ was that IQ’s were rising about 3 IQ points per decade in the 20th Century but in people born after the mid-1970’s there has been a drop in IQ scores, up to 7 points per generation.

The study was based on 730,000 tests conducted with people born between 1962 and 1991.

It was not the first time that they had observed this effect. A study done on British teenagers showed similar drops in test scores. They conducted the British study around 2008.

Reasons and explanations for IQ drop?

Initially, the hypothesis was around genetic factors causing the drop in IQ’s, that younger generations were inheriting an accumulation of inferior genes. But other reasons were pur forward like lifestyle and the way we educate and raise children.

The way they play and whether they read books.

Another reason proposed is that IQ tests are outdated and not adapted to measure modern people’s intelligence.

I am not sure why logic and reasoning and memory would change? Which is what IQ tests are based on? These should be timeless and universal.

Perhaps reasoning and logic are not formally taught in modern education? With the information overload, perhaps there is not enough time to ponder and think about information critically.

Perhaps now the emphasis is more on understanding volumes of information? Not asking why? And how? But asking what? How much? And by when?

Researchers differentiated between fluid and crystallised intelligence. Crystallised intelligence is about what they taught you and what they trained you to do, and I think this is where the emphasis is today.

Fluid intelligence is about recognising links and patterns and using logic to solve problems.

The IQ tests probably have an even weighting between the two, but the education seems to be weighted more towards crystallised intelligence.

Both types of intelligence are important, and it depends on your profession. I would want a medical professional with high training and crystallised intelligence to be my doctor, but then, when stumped, he may need to resort to fluid intelligence to make a medical breakthrough.

I think entrepreneurs and successful business people probably have a good mix of both and rely on both at different times and on different projects.

Could it be that being taught how to think (fluid intelligence) and not what to think (crystalline intelligence) is lacking in modern education?

I propose yes that this could be the problem. Let me know your thoughts?