Human Intelligence and Medical Illness: Assessing the Flynn Effect (PDF)

by
R. Grant SteenR. Grant Steen

There is robust evidence that human intelligence, as measured by intelligence quotient or IQ, has been rising progressively for many years. This rise in IQ known as the Flynn Effect is neither subtle nor recent. Careful analysis of the scientific literature suggests that average human IQ is rising at a rate of about one point every two years and has been doing so for at least half a century. If IQ tests are not renormed frequently, the average person in 100 years would be a genius by current standards. Human Intelligence and Medical Illness: Assessing the Flynn Effect is a rigorous evaluation of the roots of the Flynn Effect. Using recent behavioral sciences and medical research, this book tests every potential hypothesis that may explain the Flynn Effect and concludes that rising IQ is a result of improvements in public health, both in the United States and abroad. For example, 40 years ago in the United States, roughly 20% of inner-city children had environmental lead present in their bloodstream even at very low levels of lead exposure there are serious cognitive problems that result from lead exposure; full-scale IQ would likely increase by 7 points as average blood lead decreased. This book is the first to propose that the Flynn Effect is an education and public health issue and the first to suggest that global IQ can be substantially raised by medical interventions. This is an important message for anyone who does research in human cognition, because it describes in a systematic way major causes of cognitive impairment that have not been recognized previously. The book is intended for a university audience, including researchers, professors, and graduate students in psychology, education, public health, psychiatry, neuroscience, social work.

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