In 1984, James Flynn, a New Zealand researcher of American origin, while researching the history of IQ tests, noticed a strange thing. In particular, from 1905, when the French psychologists Alfred Nibet and Theodore Simon created the predecessors of IQ tests, and until the date of the study, the IQ of the test subjects increased by an average of 0.33% per year. More precisely, by about 3% every decade.

Illustration of the human brainPhoto: Callista Images / ImageSource / Profimedia

Flynn ran the analysis, looked at data from 20 different countries, and all showed the same thing. The increase was global, permanent, metronome-paced, and dozens of subsequent tests conducted independently by other researchers confirmed what is now known as the Flynn effect. And no, there is no generally accepted explanation for the reasons for this effect.

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One of the most striking aspects of the Flynn effect was its discovery itself. For almost 90 years, from the beginning of the 20th century until the 80s and 90s, IQ increased steadily, gradually, without stops and without fluctuations.

But in recent decades, everything has taken an unexpected turn. More precisely, since the end of the 20th century, the intelligence quotient obtained with the help of classic IQ tests began to decline. And the decline is not permanent. Rather, it is 0.5-2 percent per decade, in some cases even 6 percent. On the other hand, this was recorded for the first time.

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The most important question is how to translate this information? Are we getting dumber? Are we below the level of intelligence of our parents, grandparents, who felt the full impact of constant Flynn? If there have been such fluctuations throughout history, we cannot know because absolutely no one has documented them. And then, is this negative trend of the Flynn effect normal?

We’re going to answer these questions in this new podcast series focusing on human evolution and especially the month in which we celebrate British naturalist Charles Darwin’s birthday. You can learn more by watching the audio.

Plot: Adrian Nicolae | Audio: Adi Jacob

Photo source: Callista Images / ImageSource / Profimedia