Re: Public School was a waste of my time (Re: When even a Republican can see it....)

In message <ddfr-0BD43C.12454807072007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

How would the Flynn effect change the results? You are, in the simplest
case, comparing the correlation between identical twins reared apart
with the correlation between adopted siblings. If everyone's IQ is going
up over time--or, alternatively, if IQ tests are continually renormed to
keep the mean from going up--the effect will be the same on both groups,
no? The Flynn effect only messes things up if one of the comparisons is
within generation and the other across generations (or both across
different numbers of generations).

I think the Flynn effect is a fascinating puzzle; I have an explanation
of it webbed on my site which I'm proud of, because I think it's
ingenious and could be true, but I'm told by people who know more about
the subject than I do that isn't sufficient to explain the data.

http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Miscellaneous/why_getting_smarter.htm

A few other hypotheses that strikes me as plausible are:

First modern society is more mentally demanding than past society, while being less physically demanding. Analogously to how if you take a lot of physical exercise you get physically stronger if you take a lot of mental exercise your brain develops a lot more internal connections and is more powerful and flexible. While the relatively sedentary lifestyle leads to a lower overall level of fitness.

Secondly the brain is a highly energy intensive organ and if there is a degree of malnutrition during childhood is likely to suffer, so a delayed effect from the improvement in the diet of the poor several decades ago may account for some of Flynn's observations. This improvement in early nutrition seems to be the reason for an increase in average height some time ago.

Thirdly it is also possible that education systems teach more of the skills involved in many of the tests. The school leaving age has increased substantially participation has increased and the emphasis of education has changed from regurgitation of facts to understanding and analysis.

Not all of these operated all time but all would seem likely to have a positive effect on achieved intelligence.
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