A recent bundle of studies have received media attention for suggesting that average IQ levels are dropping. Statistical evidence of that trend, however, seems to be limited to Scandinavian Europe, and the answers as to why might be less cut and dry than some cultural prognosticators want them to be.
The decrease in IQ test scores in Northern Europe disagrees with the Flynn theory, the hypothesis that humans’ IQ’s are gradually increasing over time, popularized in the 1980s. To wade through the crackpot and often racist theories of civilizational decline, Norwegian researchers compared IQ tests from pairs of brothers over a 30-year span, and found that halfway through, IQs stopped increasing and started decreasing.
Research into this trend revealed that humans weren’t losing IQ points because of some evolutionary magic trick, but likely because of a host of environmental factors, from decreasing health and nutrition to quality of education. Other similar studies have suggested that chemical pollutants are having a significant impact on our brain power, with causes like pesticides and plastic residues taking their toll. All research about these trends is far from conclusive, but if IQ’s are slipping, look to the environment and our physical health.
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