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Is this valid? It has seemed to me that with the advances made in technology that human intelligence was increasing. However a recent study first reported in the April 13 issue of the publication "Intelligence" shows that the reverse appears to be occurring. In this issue of the named publication they go on to report the following: Our technology may be getting smarter, but a provocative new study suggests human intelligence is on the decline. In fact, it indicates that Westerners have lost 14 I.Q. points on average since the Victorian Era. What exactly explains this decline? Study co-author Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis, professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam, points to the fact that women of high intelligence tend to have fewer than do women of lower intelligence. This negative association between I.Q. and fertility has been demonstrated time and again in research over the last century. But this isn't the first evidence of a possible decline in human intelligence. "The reduction in human intelligence (if there is any reduction) would have begun at the time that genetic selection became more relaxed," Dr. Gerald Crabtree, professor of pathology and developmental biology at Stanford University, stated that. "I projected this occurred as our ancestors began to live in more supportive high density societies (cities) and had access to a steady supply of food. Both of these might have resulted from the invention of agriculture, which occurred about 5,000 to 12,000 years ago." As for Dr. te Nijenhuis and colleagues, they analyzed the results of 14 intelligence studies conducted between 1884 to 2004, including one by Sir Francis Galton, an English anthropologist and a cousin of Charles Darwin. Each study gauged participants' so-called visual reaction times -- how long it took them to press a button in response to seeing a stimulus. Reaction time reflects a person's mental processing speed, and so is considered an indication of general intelligence. Hipp chronoscope, a device used to measure short intervals of time with an accuracy of 1/1,000th of a second. Hipp chronoscopes were used to measure reaction time in experimental psychology labs in the late 19th Century. In the late 19th Century, visual reaction times averaged around 194 milliseconds, the analysis showed. In 2004 that time had grown to 275 milliseconds. Even though the machine gauging reaction time in the late 19th Century was less sophisticated than that used in recent years, Dr. te Nijenhuis said that the old data is directly comparable to modern data. Other research has suggested an apparent rise in I.Q. scores since the 1940s, a phenomenon known as the Flynn Effect. But Dr. te Nijenhuis suggested the Flynn Effect reflects the influence of environmental factors -- such as better education, hygiene and nutrition -- and may mask the true decline in genetically inherited intelligence in the Western world. My questions for those of you that may read this, do you believe that our technological advances and advances in education, hygiene and nutrition have obscured the actual "native" (genetically inherited) intelligence? Has technology led to a diminishment in the exercise of our native intelligence? Do you see a contributing effect through the effects of living in more concentrated human environments? Could this effect, should it be there, be the result of lower demand on individual intelligence because of reliance on the intelligence of the mass of higher population centers? Thanks to each of you that read and responds to my questions. |
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Interesting blog! I can see both sides of this issue, so I won't hazard a guess just yet. But this is thought provoking! GBU, Gavin
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5/23/2013 4:49 am |
Im inclined to think people are less intelligent because of their dependence oftechnology I was shopping recently, the computer broke down, and the girl didnt know how to tot up the amount by even writing the figures down. I did it for her!! I suppose it goes both ways ut I think you need to know how to work without technology.
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I think that our brains are much less challenged. We've become an observer society. I agree with Skariff.
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5/23/2013 7:15 am |
I believe Rock`n`Roll is to blame. Our parents were right, it did rot our brains.
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5/23/2013 4:11 pm |
It's hard to consider technology being responsible for "dumbing down" when it takes so lots of "figuring out" to use the technology. Having spent part of my career administering, interperting and applying the results of various psychometrics I might be inclined to think that the current mesurement instruments still focus on older skills rather than those needed to navigate our technolicy doinated society. Believe it or not most of the standardized tests have not changed since I was in grad school in the 60's. Even then many, particularly the IQ tests were questioned due to cultural bias. Most of the standardized tests were developed by PHD's and college and grad school students used to establish the norms. If there is a decline in over all IQ I would consider it more likely due to the reproduction rations mentioned in your blog. Spiritwoman ^i^
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Very interesting blog. Amethyst quote: "I do think that technology has contributed to the decline, instead of stimulating the desire to go further." I also believe this. I see it in my grandchildren. Current technology gives everything done, and not have to think much, do not want to. Creativity is almost lost. The brain does not have to work so hard. So...   Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.(Khalil Gibran)
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What I want to know is if "Intelligence Tests" actually test intelligence. According to such tests, I am a blithering idiot, yet I speak, read and write 4 languages plus can understand and speak two more and worked as a teacher in Continuing Education for many years. It is clear in my weak mind that the IQ tests we took included items my strabism couldn't handle and the results were thus totally absurd.
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