The best explanation for this I’ve heard is that there is a certain mindset (the writer refereed to it as a “modern mindset”) that is uncorrelated with intelligence, but that allows you to do better on intelligence tests. As evidence for this, he used the fact that right here in America, test scores have gone up over the past several decades. This clearly isn’t caused by some genetic change, so the most likely explanation is cultural change.
When people say that the IQ tests are culturally biased, that doesn’t necessarily mean that “white Americans” have the biggest advantage, it just means that IQ tests are measuring at least two separate qualities; one which is “intelligence”, and the other being some facet of the culture.
There are cultural factors that might give someone in China and advantage over someone in America on an IQ test. One of the simplest explanations I’ve heard is that the Chinese numbering system is easier to learn and more intuitive to do simple addition and subtraction with. While most number in English have a regular pattern that makes them easy to understand and to work with, (twenty-one, fourty-three are said in “tens then ones” form), the numbers right after ten don’t follow this pattern in English (eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen). This makes them more difficult for a child who is first learning his numbers to do so, and makes them slightly more difficult to work with on a cognitive level (it’s intuitive to add fourty-one and twenty-two and get sixty-three, since those numbers are in tens-then-ones form; it’s less intuitive to learn do that with eleven or thirteen).
Anyway, that’s just a simple example of the kind of cultural difference you won’t even notice but might give one culture a small cognitive or learning advantage over another that has nothing to do with genetics.
As evidence for this, he used the fact that right here in America, test scores have gone up over the past several decades. This clearly isn’t caused by some genetic change, so the most likely explanation is cultural change.
Is that actually more likely than environmental change?
Environmental change is certainly possible. For example, the amount of lead the average person gets from the environment has been slowly falling for several decades now. Better pre-natal care, and better education about the effects of consuming even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, might also be factors.
I think that cultural change is probably the biggest single cause of the Flynn effect, though. Computer use, increased practice taking standardized tests in childhood, ect. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re smarter, just that they’d better at taking IQ tests.
It might be caused by a genetic change. Populations are becoming less inbred. This would be expected to raise IQs, though I don’t know what the expected magnitude of change is.
It’s been claimed (“Resolving the IQ paradox: Heterosis as a cause of the Flynn effect and other trends”) that hybrid vigor/heterosis may help the Flynn effect, but this is not a popular explanation since it doesn’t explain the pattern of gains on IQ tests or the apparent size of the Flynn effect. I mean, inbreeding depression alone costs much less than Flynn, so it’s hard to imagine that outbreeding could be so valuable.
it doesn’t explain the pattern of gains on IQ tests or the apparent size of the Flynn effect. I mean, inbreeding depression alone costs much less than Flynn
Interesting. Can you elaborate? What are the patterns exactly, and how do we know what inbreeding depression costs? From recent studies of inbred individuals?
I’d be very surprised if it was the only cause of the gain in IQs, but as your reference says, it represents a pretty decent hypothesis for at least some of the effect.
how do we know what inbreeding depression costs? From recent studies of inbred individuals?
Yes, that’s how one would do it. The usual reference is to a study of Japanese cousin-marriages back in the ’50s or so where IIRC the estimate was <5 IQ points, but there’s been research since then, of course; a google for ‘inbreeding depression intelligence’ should bring some research to light.
so it’s hard to imagine that outbreeding could be so valuable
I suspect that my characteristics are partly due to hybrid vigor, as are my sister’s. It’s not so much “neg (inbreeding depression)” but more of a “when pooling both the strengths and weaknesses of two respective gene pools, the strengths of having access to more ‘highly beneficial’ genes tend to outweigh the weaknesses of being struck with ‘detrimental genes’ from a different region”. So hybrid vigor isn’t necessarily antisymmetrical (I doubt it is) to inbreeding depression. Beneficial/detrimental being relative to the current stage of human civilization in general, and your culture in particular, of course. Example: propensity for thalassemia, good once, bad now.
The best explanation for this I’ve heard is that there is a certain mindset (the writer refereed to it as a “modern mindset”) that is uncorrelated with intelligence, but that allows you to do better on intelligence tests. As evidence for this, he used the fact that right here in America, test scores have gone up over the past several decades. This clearly isn’t caused by some genetic change, so the most likely explanation is cultural change.
When people say that the IQ tests are culturally biased, that doesn’t necessarily mean that “white Americans” have the biggest advantage, it just means that IQ tests are measuring at least two separate qualities; one which is “intelligence”, and the other being some facet of the culture.
There are cultural factors that might give someone in China and advantage over someone in America on an IQ test. One of the simplest explanations I’ve heard is that the Chinese numbering system is easier to learn and more intuitive to do simple addition and subtraction with. While most number in English have a regular pattern that makes them easy to understand and to work with, (twenty-one, fourty-three are said in “tens then ones” form), the numbers right after ten don’t follow this pattern in English (eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen). This makes them more difficult for a child who is first learning his numbers to do so, and makes them slightly more difficult to work with on a cognitive level (it’s intuitive to add fourty-one and twenty-two and get sixty-three, since those numbers are in tens-then-ones form; it’s less intuitive to learn do that with eleven or thirteen).
Anyway, that’s just a simple example of the kind of cultural difference you won’t even notice but might give one culture a small cognitive or learning advantage over another that has nothing to do with genetics.
Is that actually more likely than environmental change?
Environmental change is certainly possible. For example, the amount of lead the average person gets from the environment has been slowly falling for several decades now. Better pre-natal care, and better education about the effects of consuming even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, might also be factors.
I think that cultural change is probably the biggest single cause of the Flynn effect, though. Computer use, increased practice taking standardized tests in childhood, ect. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re smarter, just that they’d better at taking IQ tests.
It might be caused by a genetic change. Populations are becoming less inbred. This would be expected to raise IQs, though I don’t know what the expected magnitude of change is.
It’s been claimed (“Resolving the IQ paradox: Heterosis as a cause of the Flynn effect and other trends”) that hybrid vigor/heterosis may help the Flynn effect, but this is not a popular explanation since it doesn’t explain the pattern of gains on IQ tests or the apparent size of the Flynn effect. I mean, inbreeding depression alone costs much less than Flynn, so it’s hard to imagine that outbreeding could be so valuable.
Interesting. Can you elaborate? What are the patterns exactly, and how do we know what inbreeding depression costs? From recent studies of inbred individuals? I’d be very surprised if it was the only cause of the gain in IQs, but as your reference says, it represents a pretty decent hypothesis for at least some of the effect.
Being confined to the subscales that look like pattern-matching and analogies, IIRC; I’m not sure which paper I get this from, but it seems Jensen does at least make this claim in http://www.charlesdarwinresearch.org/2010%20Editorial%20for%20Intelligence.pdf and in some citations in http://menghusblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/explanation-behind-the-non-g-gains-in-the-flynn-effect-introducing-the-measurement-invariance-model/ so there’s some starting points at least.
Yes, that’s how one would do it. The usual reference is to a study of Japanese cousin-marriages back in the ’50s or so where IIRC the estimate was <5 IQ points, but there’s been research since then, of course; a google for ‘inbreeding depression intelligence’ should bring some research to light.
I suspect that my characteristics are partly due to hybrid vigor, as are my sister’s. It’s not so much “neg (inbreeding depression)” but more of a “when pooling both the strengths and weaknesses of two respective gene pools, the strengths of having access to more ‘highly beneficial’ genes tend to outweigh the weaknesses of being struck with ‘detrimental genes’ from a different region”. So hybrid vigor isn’t necessarily antisymmetrical (I doubt it is) to inbreeding depression. Beneficial/detrimental being relative to the current stage of human civilization in general, and your culture in particular, of course. Example: propensity for thalassemia, good once, bad now.