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EXPANDING MINDS Are we getting smarter? April 20, 1998 |
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Questions answered in this forum:
Why do we still look at IQ scores? Is technology the cause of rising IQ scores? Has environmental or health factors increased IQ scores? Do current IQ tests reflect the idea of multiple intelligences? How does a person's race or socioeconomic background affect his or her IQ score? Should student testing be changed to reflect the times? Viewer Comments
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March 18, 1998
New findings unscramble the mystery of dyslexia.
August 27, 1997
A Gergen Dialogue with Howard Gardner, author of "Extraordinary Minds."
June 13, 1997
Does science prove the existence of woman's intuition?
November 26, 1996
Stephen Jay Gould talks about evolution.
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Outside Links
American Psychological Association
An online IQ test.
Are America's minds wasting away?
Standardized test scores are low, and S.A.T. scores are declining. To many, it's proof that people are getting dumber.
What is Intelligence?
Psychologists have long believed that general intelligence is defined by skills used for problem solving and abstract reasoning.Recently, however, some researchers have proposed that intelligence cannot be measured by a single factor. Robert Sternberg of Yale University argues that there are three kinds of intelligence: analytical (the one most commonly measured by IQ tests), creative and practical.
Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner goes even further, arguing that people have "multiple intelligences" that include:
Linguistic intelligence: the ability to understand and use language.
Musical intelligence
Logical/mathematical intelligence: the ability to see relationships between objects.
Spatial intelligence: the ability to visualize and manipulate objects in the mind's eye.
Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence: the ability to combine perceptual and motor skills to accomplish something, like hitting a baseball.
Intrapersonal intelligence: the ability to understand one's own emotions.
Interpersonal intelligence: the ability to understand other's actions or emotions.But are they? One measurement of intelligence is on the rise: IQ scores. Raw IQ scores have increased 15 points since the 1940s, almost three points per decade, and scores that measure general reasoning skills are rising twice as quickly, almost seven points per decade.
This continuing increase in IQ scores is commonly called the Flynn Effect. But researchers disagree about the causes. Some academics, including Syracuse University psychology Professor
Alice Honig, say basic human intelligence is not increasing. Instead, the rise in IQ scores may come from changing IQ tests or greater access to education.
But others believe there's something behind the Flynn Effect, and that people are getting smarter - at least the nature of intelligence is changing. A variety of social changes -- from better nutrition to improved parenting -- have been offered to explain the rise in IQ scores. Cornell University Professor Ulric Neisser argues that rising IQ scores are a result of living in an increasingly complex and visual world.
The rise in technology-- from video games to VCRs-- has contributed to lower verbal skills, Neisser said. But it has also led to an increased ability to decode complex visual patterns and handle multiple viewpoints simultaneously, skills that produce results on IQ tests.
What's your view? Are we getting smarter, or is the nature of our intelligence changing?
Your questions were answered by Professor Alice Honig of Syracuse University and Prof. Ulric Neisser, Cornell University and former chairman of an American Psychological Association panel on intelligence.
Questions answered in this forum:
Why do we still look at IQ scores? Is technology the cause of rising IQ scores? Has environmental or health factors increased IQ scores? Do current IQ tests reflect the idea of multiple intelligences? How does a person's race or socioeconomic background affect his or her IQ score? Should student testing be changed to reflect the times? Viewer Comments
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