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Mind over Computer 33

At first glance, the problem appears to be one of social engineering.
Teachers don’t want to disappoint, and academic institutions want to
improve on last year’s results. The people awarding the grades often have
a vested interest in those grades improving. Even a tiny positive bias in
the most scrupulously honest teacher is enough for grades to creep up.
However, grade inflation might not be purely a matter of over enthusiastic
teachers. IQ scores are also rising. Welcome to the Flynn Effect.

James Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the
University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, reported in 1987 that
IQ scores rise over time throughout the world. All told the population
gains about one IQ point every three years, and approximately every
ten years IQ tests have to be re-calibrated, so the average student once
again receives the average grade. This is a mystery. It is a large effect and
cannot be explained by the rote learning of lots of sample questions. The
human race is either rapidly getting smarter or the least smart members
of society are coming up to the general average fast; either way it means
there are fewer dumb people around. The Flynn Effect has recently
slowed in western countries, suggesting it might be that intelligence is
converging rather than increasing overall. Another interesting fact is
people become more intelligent as they age, gaining about one IQ point
every ten years. Against the stereotype, it’s not all downhill after forty.
There is hope for me yet!

Until recently we thought IQ was fixed, but new research contradicts
this. Muscles get stronger with exercise, physical skills, such as playing
golf and tennis, improve with practice; why not intelligence? Scientists
used to believe brains couldn’t get smarter; you had the IQ you were
born with. You might learn more ‘stuff’ during your life, but the G factor
stayed the same. It looks like this is wrong and we were simply not using
the right exercises.

In 2008, Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl, of the University
of Maryland, modified an intelligence test into a game and showed
playing the game improved ‘fluid’ intelligence and increases IQ. They
believe playing their game helps improve working memory – the short-
term memory we use for storing sums as we do mental arithmetic –
or remembering telephone numbers. Previous attempts to improve
IQ through practice had not shown much success as the skills did not
transfer between tests, but working memory is such a useful thing it
appears to help across the board.

These factors argue against intelligence being a hardware feature of
our brain. It does not remain static but instead improves with age, time,
and education.

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