Since 1975, the IQ of new generations is declining, according to results of a study published in the American medical journal PNAS.
Researchers at the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research in Norway have found that IQ test scores have steadily declined over the past decades.
Previous studies have shown that people got smarter during the early part of the last century and this was measured by the intelligence quotient. This trend which has been dubbed the Flynn Effect. Various theories have been proposed to explain this evolution of the human mind, such as a better nutrition, quality health care, better education, all of those things that could help people get smarter. But today, according to these researchers, this trend is over and reversed.
Since 1975, the IQ on the decline
The researchers analyzed the results of IQ tests of young men entering Norwegian national service (compulsory military service) during the years 1970 to 2009. A total of 730,000 test results were recorded. Looking at the data, the researchers found that scores decreased by an average of seven points per generation, a clear reversal in test scores going back about 70 years.
Sociology and genes would not be involved. “While such factors may be present, their influence is negligible compared to other environmental factors,” the researchers said.
As non-sociological, non-genetic factors, they put forward the “decline of educational values”, “degradation of education and school systems”, “television and media”, “degradation of education within families”, “degradation of nutrition “and” degradation of health “.
Scientists have also observed some differences between family groups, suggesting that part of the decline in IQ may be attributable to environmental factors. They also suggest that lifestyle changes may also explain part of the decline, such as changes in the education system and children who read less and play more games. video games. A British team recently found IQ scores falling from 2.5 to 4.3 points every ten years since around the end of World War II. And last December, another group of American researchers discovered that theChildren who grew up eating a lot of fish tended to have higher IQs than they slept better. Today, children in many countries eat very little fish.
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