Flynn Effect Theory About IQ and Intelligence - Essay Example

Flynn effect theory about IQ and intelligence Introduction Intelligence is one factor which separates one person from another. No two individuals are alike either physically or mentally. No science or technology so far succeeded in giving a comprehensive explanation about why different people may have different intellectual abilities or which factors affect the growth of intelligence. There are many theories about intelligence, intelligence quotient or IQ, multiple intelligence, emotional quotient or EQ etc. James R Flynn put forward a theory in which he argued that “On average, IQ test scores worldwide have been increasing over time: younger generations perform better than older generations. Per generation, the average IQ test scores increase by 10 points” (The Flynn effect).The above theory is labeled as Flynn effect. Flynn’s theory argued that the current generation is lot smarter than the ancient generation because of the development of education, technology, better food or nutrition etc. Flynn postulated that the current generation has better facilities and infrastructure than the past generation which helped them to grow their intelligence. However, there are many scholars who questioned Flynn’s theory or effect. “Studies in Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom have shown that the Flynn effect has not only ended, but that there is actually a decrease in the average IQ scores. Convincing explanations for this reversal have not been found yet” (The Flynn effect). In short, Flynn effect is a controversial topic at present. This paper argues against the Flynn effect theory. Discussion “The Flynn Effect has been one of the most powerful refutations to those who think that intelligence is ‘innate’ or ‘genetically determined” (Downey). It is already proved by psychologists that heredity and environment are the major factors which affect the physical and psychological development of people. In other words, in most of the cases, the children of intelligent people may become intelligent even though some exceptions are there. This happens through gene transfer from parents to the children. Flynn effect rejects the involvement of genetics in intelligence building. It argues that intelligence is the product of environment and genetics has no role at all in intelligence building. The above claim seems to be illogical since we know that it is difficult for the children of idiots or morons to become extremely intelligent even if they were brought up in healthy environment. Of course, environment plays an important role in the growth of intelligence; however, the influence of heredity in the development of intelligence cannot be neglected. In other words, Flynn’s arguments seem to be illogical. Advocates of Flynn effect argue that Flynn effect has ended in developed countries. In their opinion, the measurement of IQ has started during the middle part of the twentieth century and since then the IQ level of the people grown significantly till 1990’s and then started to decline or remain stationary. If the above argument is correct, the gap in IQ scores of people in developed and underdeveloped countries should come down. However, such reduction is not observed anywhere which means that the concept of Flynn effect is illogical and unacceptable. It should be noted that people from underdeveloped countries are immigrating to the developed countries which means that the Flynn effect should be observed at least among the minorities or immigrant communities in developed countries. Such people are getting better education, nutrition and infrastructure facilities in their target country or developed country and their IQ levels should be increased gradually if the postulates of Flynn effect are correct. However, such increase in IQ level is not visible among the immigrant communities in developed countries. Flynn argues that certain shorthand abstractions (SHA), formulae for thinking critically, have entered the cognitive repertoire of educated people, expanding their intellectual capabilities. Ironically, none of these SHAs shows up on a standardized IQ test like WISC or WAIS. If we wanted to measure people’s critical thinking abilities, we would have to come up with a new sort of test (Downey). It is difficult to measure the critical thinking or rational thinking abilities of people. In fact many people questioned the reliability or validity of IQ tests. There are many cases in which uneducated people provide the solution when educated people remain clueless. One of my friends, who is working as a production manager in an advertising company has told me an incident. An illiterate office boy provided the answer when the entire production unit failed to rectify a production problem. The above incident clearly shows that intelligence is not always dependent on education. There are many cases in which educated people behave unintelligently whereas the uneducated people behave intelligently. So, it is difficult to generalize that all the educated people may have better intelligence or all the uneducated people have low intelligence. Flynn in his 2007 book What Is Intelligence?, further expanded his theory. Environmental changes resulting from modernization — such as more intellectually demanding work, greater use of technology and smaller families — have meant that a much larger proportion of people are more accustomed to manipulating abstract concepts such as hypotheses and categories than a century ago. Substantial portions of IQ tests deal with these abilities. Flynn gives, as an example, the question 'What do a dog and a rabbit have in common?' A modern respondent might say they are both mammals (an abstract answer), whereas someone a century ago might have said that humans catch rabbits with dogs (a concrete answer) (Flynn Effect) Flynn argues that modernization helped people in developing their abstract thinking. In his opinion, the thinking of ancient generation was more concrete in nature. He argues that better environment helped people to change their thinking pattern from concrete to more abstract form. Flynn’s arguments seem to be partly correct. However, it should be noted that people living in same environment at present have different opinions about a particular topic. For example, in the last presidential election in America, people living in same locality or environment voted in favor and against the current president Obama. In other words, some people in a particular locality thought that Obama would be a better president whereas others thought differently. If the arguments of Flynn effect were correct, all the people in a particular environment should have voted in favor or against Obama. In reality, such things will never happen which means that apart from environment, heredity also plays an important role in intelligence growth. Intelligence is a multifaceted entity. A person who has superior learning abilities or academic qualification may fails in his practical life. Most of the current generation fails to manage their private life properly even though they are capable of managing their professional life properly. Intelligence is necessary to manage both the personal and professional lives successfully. If a person shows enormous abilities in his profession and fails drastically in his personal life, it is difficult to assume that he has well developed intelligence. On the other hand, even uneducated people manage their personal lives successfully which means that they are intelligent enough to manage their personal life. Under such circumstances it is difficult to accept Flynn’s argument that education increases intelligence. In reality, education enhances only some faculties of intelligence. One researcher, Ulric Neisser suggests that the Flynn effect is due to the way we are being saturated with sophisticated visual images: ads, posters, videogame and TV graphics etc - rather than written messages. He suggests that children experience a much richer visual environment than in the past and that this assists them with visual puzzles of the kind that dominate IQ tests (Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence) We are living in a digital world at present in which digital machines like computers control our life. It should be noted that a person capable of operating a computer can operate any of the other digital equipment like Mobile phones, digital cameras etc. This is not because of his higher level of intelligence, but because of his increased exposure to digital equipment. It is difficult even for an intelligent person from a poor or underdeveloped country to operate computers and other digital equipment as easily as a person in America or Britain because of his lack of exposure on such machineries. The influence of heredity and environment is equally important in the development of intelligence. A person without the backing of intelligent-heredity may fail to respond positively, while facing unfamiliar situations since his intelligence is developed only because of the environmental parameters. Better environment helped people from developed countries to show signs of intelligence in some aspects of life; however, it is not necessary that such people may exhibit same intelligence while facing unfamiliar life situations. Intelligence should be analyzed based on the ability of a person to respond positively in unfamiliar situations. The arguments of Flynn effect can be disproved easily, if an unfamiliar situation is created in front of the environmentally fabricated intelligent person. Conclusions To conclude, genetics and environment are equally important in the development of intelligence. Flynn effect argues that environment is the only decisive factor in intelligence growth. Education, better nutrition and the development of technology are the reasons for the growth of intelligence according to Flynn effect. These factors help a person in developing only some faculties of intelligence. In order to develop the complete faculties of intelligence, suitable environment and the backing of better heredity are equally important. Works Cited 1. Downey, Greg. “The Flynn Effect: Troubles with Intelligence 2”. Web. 30 May 2011. 2. “Flynn Effect”. Web. 30 May 2011. 3. “Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence”. 2005. Web. 30 May 2011. 4. “The Flynn Effect”. 2011.Web. 30 May 2011. Read More