What is intelligence?
Posted by
Ricki Sharpe on
March 4, 2008
Filed Under
Cognitive, Current Reading
We are about as smart as we are going to get. So said James Flynn in a recent lecture to the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce(UK). James Flynn, after whom the Flynn Effect was named, is Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand and author of the recently published What is Intelligence—Beyond the Flynn Effect
The Flynn Effect refers to the increase in IQ test scores over the course of the twentieth century and the term was coined to recognise Professor Flynn’s central role in measuring and analysing these gains.
Now, Professor Flynn has made another observation: intelligence test scores have stopped rising. He points out that although gains are still robust in America, they have stopped in Scandinavia. “There is no reason to believe IQ gains will go on for ever”, he said.
“This may suggest that certain of our cognitive functions have reached the upper limits of what they will ever achieve,” Professor Flynn said. In other words, we can’t get much better at the mental tasks we are good at, no matter how hard we try.
If we are to make any further progress, we will have to start exercising different parts of our brain.
His new book investigates what it is about our minds that differ from those of our ancestors a century ago. He also discusses how we can enhance our knowledge of intelligence, how we can increase our intelligence, and what must be done to build on IQ gains, so as to develop the wisdom needed to deal with the problems of the 21st century.
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The flatness of IQ scores can also be attributed to the failure of IQ tests themselves to incorporate emerging technologies and advancements adjusting to the different cognitive requirements of the twentieth century.
The question of what intelligence is today, is not being answered as quickly as the questions on the intelligence test!