← all facts
intelligence
Your baseline for intelligence has shifted over the decades.
The Flynn effect describes the observed rise in raw IQ scores throughout the 20th century.
Between 1930 and 1990, raw test scores increased significantly across various countries. This was not due to a sudden jump in innate intelligence, but to changes in how we navigate abstract logic, education, and nutrition compared to previous generations.
Environment shapes the cognitive tools you use to think.
Where this comes from
- Study
- James Flynn, 1984, Flynn Effect
- What the check found
- The definition and attribution are accurate. James Flynn's seminal 1984 paper is the widely accepted origin of the term.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.