3 ms·

Website seems a bit sus, but the actual research paper is interesting (PDF in linked article) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028962300015

Website seems a bit sus, but the actual research paper is interesting (PDF in linked article) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289623000156#f0005 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028962... Probably best to read the paper, but a couple of takeaways that were interesting to me. Flynn effect might never have been real. IQ tests over longer time periods are much less concrete than I had understood. Questions exist around whether they can actually be compared. Mental rotation ability continues to improve (computer games for the win). g-ness is what IQ tests are trying to measure, but they are just proxies for this. Tests might be losing there g-ness or people are/were getting better at tests (leet code grinding?) Declines in a bunch of other areas since probably 1999. Education/media influence or changing society expectations probably the cause or else you wouldn’t see the increased rotational ability scores. I’m not sure what to make of all this myself. Personally, I’m unconvinced that the g-factor is real. My own experience with several autistic family members makes me think that intelligence is much more complex than a simple “horse power” metric (g). This study, showing unequal enhancement and decline in testing of different cognitive domains, would support that conclusion.

soco 4y ago
I thought the entire IQ concept and methodology was quite disputed to start with.
- lll-o-lll 4y ago
  Really? That wasn’t my understanding at all. I had thought this was highly reproducible, life time stable, as strong a result as exists in psychology. I can imagine it being unpopular. As so much of my own personal success and “identity” is wrapped up in iq, I have been reluctant to accept the concept of a fixed general intelligence factor as being behind it. It’s a bit like being attractive. “Oh you got all that because you are pretty”. Well, I’m pretty and I worked hard. However, I can’t argue that I had any influence over being born with a higher than average iq. Still, IQ, like most things, is far more complex and multi-faceted as you dig in to the detail.

soco 4y ago

I thought the entire IQ concept and methodology was quite disputed to start with.

lll-o-lll 4y ago
Really? That wasn’t my understanding at all. I had thought this was highly reproducible, life time stable, as strong a result as exists in psychology. I can imagine it being unpopular. As so much of my own personal success and “identity” is wrapped up in iq, I have been reluctant to accept the concept of a fixed general intelligence factor as being behind it. It’s a bit like being attractive. “Oh you got all that because you are pretty”. Well, I’m pretty and I worked hard. However, I can’t argue that I had any influence over being born with a higher than average iq. Still, IQ, like most things, is far more complex and multi-faceted as you dig in to the detail.