Author Topic: Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s  (Read 475 times)

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rangerrebew

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Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s
« on: June 12, 2018, 05:39:57 pm »

Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s
June 12, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Medical Xpress report
 

A pair of researchers with the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Norway has found that IQ test scores have been slowly dropping over the past several decades. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Rogeberg describe their study and the results they found. They also offer some possible explanations for their findings.

Prior studies have shown that people grew smarter over the first part of last century, as measured by the intelligence quotient—a trend that was dubbed the Flynn effect. Various theories have been proposed to explain this apparent brightening of the human mind, such as better nutrition, health care, education, etc, all factors that might help people grow into smarter adults than they would have otherwise. But, now, according to the researchers in Norway, that trend has ended. Instead of getting smarter, humans have started getting dumber.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-iq-scores-1970s.html

Offline skeeter

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Re: Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2018, 05:43:41 pm »
Whatever you do don't mention the correlation between lowering IQ and rising predominance of the Department of Education.

Offline dfwgator

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Re: Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2018, 05:45:10 pm »

Offline the_doc

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Re: Researchers find IQ scores dropping since the 1970s
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2018, 06:11:01 pm »
Here's a teaser for you:

How can IQ scores, globally considered, ever drop? 

Raw scores on an IQ test have apparently been dropping--and based on what I have noticed about intellect in the 18th through 20th centuries, this is not a new problem, even if we haven't had a study confirming that folks are getting a lot dumber. 

But even if average intelligence is dropping--and I certainly didn't need a study to tell me that it is dropping--isn't average IQ always defined as 100?   Maybe I'm just dumb, but it seems to me that when people get dumber, as seen in their raw test scores, the IQ calculation always, necessarily self-adjusts downward to keep the population IQ the same.  In other words, IQ masks the dumbing down of the populace.