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<\/a><\/p>\nAbility scores of verbal reasoning (logic, vocabulary), matrix reasoning (visual problem solving, analogies), and letter and number series (computational\/mathematical) dropped during the study period, but scores of 3D rotation (spatial reasoning) generally increased from 2011 to 2018, the study found. Composite ability scores (single scores derived from multiple pieces of information) were also lower for more recent samples. The differences in scores were present regardless of age, education or gender.<\/p>\n
Despite the decline in scores, corresponding study author Elizabeth Dworak said she doesn\u2019t want people to read these findings and think, \u201cAmericans are getting less intelligent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean their mental ability is lower or higher; it\u2019s just a difference in scores that are favoring older or newer samples,\u201d said Dworak, a research assistant professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. \u201cIt could just be that they\u2019re getting worse at taking tests or specifically worse at taking these kinds of tests.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study was published earlier this month in the journal Intelligence.<\/p>\n
The scientists used the Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment (SAPA) Project, a free survey-based online personality test that provides test-takers feedback on 27 temperament traits (e.g. adaptability, impulsivity, anxiety, humor) and their ability scores. Thestudy examined survey responses from 394,378 Americans between 2006 to 2018 to examine if cognitive ability scores changed within the U.S. in those 13 years.<\/p>\n
A smaller subset of participants (303,540) was recruited between 2011 and 2018. The 3D rotation data only exists for those who took the survey between 2011 and 2018.<\/p>\n
Why the decline in IQ scores?
\nWhile the study didn\u2019t examine the reason for the decline in IQ scores, Dworak said there is no shortage of theories in the scientific community, including poor nutrition, worsening health, media exposures and changes to education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s debate about what\u2019s causing it, but not every domain is going down; one of them is going up,\u201d Dworak said. \u201cIf all the scores were going in the same direction, you could make a nice little narrative about it, but that\u2019s not the case. We need to do more to dig into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that end, Dworak and her colleagues are currently trying to access a dataset that contains 40 years of data to conduct a follow-up study.<\/p>\n
A shift in perceived values in society also might have affected scores, Dworak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re thinking about what society cares about and what it\u2019s emphasizing and reinforcing every day, there\u2019s a possibility of that being reflected in performance on an ability test,\u201d Dworak said.<\/p>\n
She gave the example that there\u2019s been more emphasis on STEM education in recent decades, but does that mean other areas, like abstract reasoning, are receiving less attention in schools?<\/p>\n
Another factor could be due to a decline in motivation, Dworak said. Because the SAPA Project is advertised as a personality survey, individuals seeking out the test may be more engaged with sections related to measuring temperament and less engaged with sections that are seemingly unrelated to personality.<\/p>\n
The data for this study and item development of the International Cognitive Ability Resource were partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SMA-1419324).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chicago,IL…IQ scores have substantially increased from 1932 through the 20th century, with differences ranging from three to five IQ points per decade, according to a phenomenon known as the \u201cFlynn effect.\u201d But a new study from Northwestern University has found evidence of a reverse \u201cFlynn effect\u201d in a large U.S. sample between 2006 and 2018 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,20,33,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-featured","category-health-fitness","category-life-style","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/iq1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157777,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157775\/revisions\/157777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/157776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}