IQ among Americans is falling

It’s the outdated IQ tests! They don’t give credit for DEI and wokism. No points for online gaming or political activism and protesting. It’s just not fair

IQ is not necessarily a complete measure of intelligence. It's a measure of how well one has acquired cognitive skills necessary to pass an IQ test.

The Flynn effect shows that most people at the beginning of the last century would be considered to be mentally-deficient compared to today's people, based on IQ tests. Yet they seem to have done very well in all sorts of things.

IQs went up (and apparently are now going down) at rates far too fast to be explained by evolutionary effects. New ways of making a living require new cognitive skills.

stevil said:

The bible belt states will ban that course.

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That's the problem. Candidates have lots of marketing research, showing that people who don't think rigorously are much easier to program to fear and hate. And they know that such people are both easier to control and harder to disabuse of their fears and hatred.

Listening to television political ads in Texas, one hears so much that is apparently aimed at angering people of very low intelligence by feeding them absurd stories. Apparently it works, or candidates wouldn't be using it. It's not just the far-right anymore; I see it happening with moderates and liberals as well.

FireDragon76 said:

IQ scores among Americans are falling. The evidence seems to be that it is due to environmental changes, possibly due to social media consumption and screen time:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html

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Don't watch any kind of reality TV, or reels.

They *replace* learning.

Landon Caeli said:

Don't watch any kind of reality TV, or reels.

They *replace* learning.

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Or MSNBC

Landon Caeli said:

Don't watch any kind of reality TV, or reels.

They *replace* learning.

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I draw the line at the old “fixit” shows The Woodwright’s Shop with Roy Underhill, (even the host‘s name is “earthy”!)
I loved the way he took these complicated “labor-saving” tools that often needed more labor to do the job than just using another tool, “like dad had!”, and fumble with them as if he wasn’t a master craftsman, to lure the “I could do that, better than him!” crowd to join him in his passion, what a pro!

The Barbarian said:

That's the problem. Candidates have lots of marketing research, showing that people who don't think rigorously are much easier to program to fear and hate. And they know that such people are both easier to control and harder to disabuse of their fears and hatred.

Listening to television political ads in Texas, one hears so much that is apparently aimed at angering people of very low intelligence by feeding them absurd stories. Apparently it works, or candidates wouldn't be using it. It's not just the far-right anymore; I see it happening with moderates and liberals as well.

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Texas?

Estrid said:

Texas?

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That’s actually humor... Made me laugh.

Perhaps general intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, isn't as valued by contemporary society as it once was. If your peers no longer value the ability to solve puzzles, for instance, your scores may not accurately reflect your true puzzle-solving potential. While some individuals may seek puzzles on their own, others might be discouraged from doing so. Although it is difficult to score above one's natural ability, it is quite easy to under-perform.

The Greatest Generation come of age during the Great Depression.
Fought WWII
When “the boys” came home, they built the Interstate Highway System while the Government paid for scads of them to go to college.
Right before they retired, they took the computing power of a watch to the moon and back.

Their children complained that everything was too expensive and cut taxes so that future generations will be left paying for this largess for themselves.

FireDragon76 said:

IQ scores among Americans are falling. The evidence seems to be that it is due to environmental changes, possibly due to social media consumption and screen time:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html

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I'm finding this hard to believe. Whenever I'm talking to an American in face-to-face conversions, I think they're getting smarter over the years. For me, being quite spontaneous in live conversations points to good IQ because they can process information and express themselves comprehensively quickly. And they're making more money than ever and the products far more sophisticated than the years past.

So I don't get it. Maybe their intelligence is extremely specialized? For the lack of good choice of words, dumb and unable to make sound reasoning outside their professional fields?

Landon Caeli said:

That’s actually humor... Made me laugh.

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That stuff is for real. But then as Sheriff J.B. Smith once noted, the good thing about criminals is they usually aren't very smart.
So Mr. Lawyer knows his customer base.

timewerx said:

I'm finding this hard to believe. Whenever I'm talking to an American in face-to-face conversions, I think they're getting smarter over the years. For me, being quite spontaneous in live conversations points to good IQ because they can process information and express themselves comprehensively quickly. And they're making more money than ever and the products far more sophisticated than the years past.

So I don't get it. Maybe their intelligence is extremely specialized? For the lack of good choice of words, dumb and unable to make sound reasoning outside their professional fields?

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Intelligence is a very flexible thing. The sort of cognitive abilities that would have served you well in 1900 are probably not the same as those that work well today. Technology alone has changed the sorts of cognitive skills required to succeed. And it's probably made some cognitive skills less important.

The Barbarian said:

That stuff is for real. But then as Sheriff J.B. Smith once noted, the good thing about criminals is they usually aren't very smart.
So Mr. Lawyer knows his customer base.

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It’s mostly the dumb ones that get caught.

BPPLEE said:

It’s mostly the dumb ones that get caught.

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The Barbarian said:

Intelligence is a very flexible thing. The sort of cognitive abilities that would have served you well in 1900 are probably not the same as those that work well today. Technology alone has changed the sorts of cognitive skills required to succeed. And it's probably made some cognitive skills less important.

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I've taken some IQ tests before, one in a job screening process, a few online. They were all fairly simple and didn't require working knowledge of calculus.

What's being tested is still quite relevant today especially in the tech and finance fields. What made the difference is how quickly you answered the test. How fast you think seems fundamental to modern IQ tests.

Or maybe the modern IQ tests are biased towards people can work efficiently and fast and not about people who can ponder our place in the universe or root out the fundamental problems in society.

timewerx said:

What's being tested is still quite relevant today especially in the tech and finance fields. What made the difference is how quickly you answered the test. How fast you think seems fundamental to modern IQ tests.

Or maybe the modern IQ tests are biased towards people can work efficiently and fast and not about people who can ponder our place in the universe or root out the fundamental problems in society.

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The standard test has remained pretty much the same. That's how we know how people scored decades ago, relative to people today. But your impression of the emphasis on the test is pretty much spot on.

durangodawood said:

Our attention is constantly scattered and we can hardly focus on challenging things, or anything really, in a sustained way.

Thanks, internet / phones / social media.

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and games

The Barbarian said:

The standard test has remained pretty much the same. That's how we know how people scored decades ago, relative to people today. But your impression of the emphasis on the test is pretty much spot on.

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Estimated IQ of Vincent Van Gogh goes up to 200 making him way smarter than Albert Einstein.

But if Vincent took modern IQ tests (where the test questions are already relevant in his time period), I doubt he's going to make it past 100.

Vincent can definitely ponder the meaning of life, has tremendous capacity for imagination and insight of the human condition. I read his letters, Vincent would actually make a good philosopher, not just an exceedingly talented artist. But he would fare poorly in IQ tests where the emphasis is on "how good of a cog you are in the machinery of commerce".

Experts who IQ'ed Vincent Van Gogh must be using a different standard of measure. If that same standard is used and Americans are faring poorly that is a reason for concern. A sign that the populace is losing touch with reality and the truth.

timewerx said:

Estimated IQ of Vincent Van Gogh goes up to 200 making him way smarter than Albert Einstein.

But if Vincent took modern IQ tests (where the test questions are already relevant in his time period), I doubt he's going to make it past 100.

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Einstein was no great success as a student in school, either. His genius was in his "Gedankenexperiment" where in he considered the physical implications of what the math was telling him. Imagination counts.

The truth is, quality of public schools isn't the greatest predictor of intelligence. It comes in about 4th behind:

1. Mother with an advanced degree.
2. Father with an advanced degree
3. Economic status of parents.