Category: Education/Science gt; gt; Science and Technology
Analysis:
Is our intelligence growing? What does growth mean?
Guanzhong Biology Teaching Station 2002-4-16
It may be a cliché, but you have to admit the fact: most children are better at editing video game programs and installing new computers. The parents are strong. There is no doubt that they can beat their parents in video games and are confident that they are smarter than their parents. Surprisingly: those kids might be right. If intelligence tests were anything to go by, young people today would indeed be smarter than their parents. Research from many countries shows that IQ has been improving rapidly since at least the 1950s. This means that people with average IQs at that time may now be considered to have low IQs. Human beings seem to be getting smarter and smarter.
But there is considerable debate among psychologists over what the rising IQ trend actually means. Some researchers believe that our intelligence has not improved, just that we have improved in the way we solve a particular problem. Others believe that IQ tests do reflect improvements in people's intelligence. Even more puzzling, some studies suggest that IQ gains may be stalling.
Which view is more credible? The authoritative James Fearing (Professor of Political Science at Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand) first proposed the phenomenon of IQ improvement in the mid-1980s. It is also known as the "Fehling effect" advocated by later generations. This finding raises a host of questions about what exactly intelligence tests tell us.
In a landmark article published in 1987, Fehling compared in detail the results of IQ trend tests in 14 countries. The most complete data come from countries where military service lasted until the 1980s, such as New Zealand and Belgium. Virtually every young man (and in some countries, every woman) is asked to take a series of intelligence tests so that the results are generally representative. Testing methods vary from country to country, but the results are translated to be comparable. Overall, his results (published in Psychological Bulletin) showed an increase in IQ of up to 25 points between generations.
Feiling believed that these raw data could not fully explain the problem. In order to find more sufficient evidence, he studied various test data. For example, language, arithmetic and visual-spatial skills. The last group usually includes the Raven matrix - which has a default set of icons. The subject must choose one of the icons from a set to fill the empty slot. As Fehling pored over the test results, it became apparent to him that in almost every case the Raven Matrix or similar test scores stood out. However, language and numeracy scores did not improve significantly. He later studied more countries (including Israel and Argentina) and came to the same conclusion.
But Felin doesn't believe that everyone is smart. He said: "Our grandparents are not mentally retarded, and we will not be geniuses." Maybe we just have improved in thinking skills and habits. This allows us to better solve some abstract problems that perhaps we take too seriously.
"People do get better at solving certain problems," Fehling said. He believes that our society pushes people to improve these skills over time. In our grandparents' generation, thinking skills were valued. For example, do some arithmetic and improve your vocabulary. Their response to the questions we now value is: "What's the point?"
Fehling believes that in a society where intelligence tests are a obsession, abstract problem-solving skills are far more advanced than other skills. quick. Similarly, the improvement of television, computer, and car operating skills promotes the development of people's visual-spatial skills. Therefore, the next generation pays more attention to developing skills in this area. "I don't think intelligence can suddenly improve," he said.
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Most psychologists agree that IQ does increase, but disagree about how it occurs (New Scientist, 21 April 2001, p. 44). Some experimental psychologists, such as Robert · Howard (a scholar at the University of New South Wales in Sydney) believes that our intelligence has generally improved. This has to do with our better diet, smaller families, wider education and other environmental changes. ·Ruster believes that it is not the shift of focus to the cultivation of visual-spatial abilities that will lead to improvements in intelligence. Among the factors mentioned above, he believes that as society becomes more complex, people have to spend more time thinking. All kinds of problems. At the same time, he pointed out that if one person originally understood a certain concept, such as Einstein mastered the theory of relativity, so that later generations can understand the problem in a more clever way, so we will. Getting used to dealing with more complex problems.
But some researchers want to look beyond IQ tests to find real evidence that people are getting smarter. In a research project last year, Howard analyzed a series of test data, including scientific and technological achievements and intellectual games (chess, bridge, etc.). Through this research, he tentatively concluded that people can indeed become smarter since 1991. , the age level of the youngest chess masters has dropped four times, while it has remained unchanged since the 1950s. Admittedly, the improvement of people's IQ cannot be proved by considering only one intelligence test. The increase simply reflects the increasing pressure on scientists to publish. Other tests, such as the number of patents issued, do not clearly reflect a trend in improving IQ (Personality and Individual Differences, vol 30, p < 1039). /p>
Despite these conservative ideas, Howard believes that there is a tendency for intellectual improvement in the visual-spatial skills required for chess players: "Children's visual sense is becoming more and more acute," he said. They are constantly exposed to things that affect their vision. Like Fehling, he believed it contributed to the increase in IQ.
Whatever the underlying factors, the Fehling effect appears to be real. When it comes to problem-solving and visual-spatial skills , you may be smarter than your parents and your grandparents. But will this trend continue? Will people with average IQs be stupid in 2050?
Howard's recent research has raised more questions, and controversially, he now believes that IQ improvement in industrialized countries may have reached its peak. His conclusion comes in part from a survey of some teachers: "If IQ is at. To improve, teachers should respond. "No one had ever surveyed them systematically, so Howard surveyed teachers who had taught in Sydney secondary schools since at least 1979. Most of them answered no.
Then, Howard surveyed teachers in Australia, Singapore , South Korea conducted the same survey of experienced primary school teachers. The results of the survey were very different. Australian teachers responded that children's intelligence has not improved. However, the vast majority of teachers in Singapore and South Korea believe that children have become smarter. "There's no question kids are smarter today," Howard said. "But the Australian teacher's point of view is not wrong. "My explanation is that the general intelligence improvement of people in industrial countries has stopped long ago. ”
He speculates that the pace of social change that led to overall intellectual development in industrialized countries has slowed down. Only visual-spatial skills continue to improve. In contrast, in the past 40 years, the Asian tiger economy has developed to levels of modernization, and this rapid change continues.
To support his point, Howard cited data from Denmark, where a small number of young people are now unwilling to serve in the military. The draft still recruited all young men.
Since 1957, all 17-year-olds have taken the same intelligence tests—including tests similar to the Raven Matrix. The test taker must identify as many basic geometric shapes as possible (which make up more complex shapes). There are also some language tests, such as "The sun represents day, what does the moon represent?" and number sequence questions, such as: 2 3 5 8 ?.
Thomas Tisdale (neuropsychologist at the University of Copenhagen) and David Owen (City University of New York) carefully analyzed these test results. During the 1960s and 1970s, the growth rate of test scores was somewhat similar to that in other countries. But by the 1990s, growth had fallen to one point per decade. Moreover, only the test scores on visual-spatial skills continued to increase. Language and numeracy scores remained largely unchanged.
In addition, the upward trend before 1999 reflected an overall decline. Teasdale also added that 1999 was recorded as the year when the number of first-time passers dropped. Why is this happening? One reason may be that people have limited potential in testing. At present, Danish teenagers are approaching this limit. People are limited in their ability to accomplish tasks, no matter how much their culture facilitates them. However, this is not the answer yet. "That doesn't explain why scores dropped," he said. If the limit has been reached, the test results should show scores approaching the limit rather than falling.
Howard believes the decline in test scores in Denmark may be due to a decline in people's motivation to solve problems. From a survey of Australian teachers, he analyzed an obvious phenomenon: most people think their students are no smarter than before. The most common complaint, however, is the lack of enthusiasm among students for their homework. Tisdale has a different view, arguing that the teachers' perspective is an example of adults tending to think the worst about children. The problem is that in South Korea, where teachers think students are getting smarter, middle school teachers think children seem to be less motivated than in the past.
However, the most embarrassing and overlooked aspect of this issue is the test results of those who dropped out. Across the world, are these test results increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Unfortunately, it's difficult to draw conclusions. The format of the test has changed over the years, and because the number of students taking the test has also changed, it can be difficult to tell how well people are performing during the test. The most likely assumption is that if scores do not drop then overall performance levels remain the same. In the United States, dropout testing has remained unchanged since the 1950s, with test results remaining at the same level. In the UK, the number of 18-year-olds achieving top grades has increased significantly since 1990. However, Rust believes that this means that the exam difficulty will be reduced so that more candidates can obtain higher education. "If you want to increase the number of passers from 5% to 30%, then the only thing you can do is to lower the admission standards."
Feiling has always been concerned about these research results, but after collecting more He is not in a hurry to draw conclusions until he gets more data from other countries. But he always wondered whether we had reached a level of difficulty that students were unwilling to reach. Will the conditions that enable people's abilities to improve disappear as societies become more affluent? He said: "In the history of human society, abundance has often led to decline. Look at what happened to the Romans, who were lazy enough to hire Greeks to think for them." So far, we have no reason to say that industrial society is heading towards Walk in this direction. But maybe, just maybe, we will face this problem.