From the January 1999 Scientific American Magazine | 1 comments

Flynn's Effect ( Preview )

Intelligence scores are rising, James R. Flynn discovered--but he remains very sure we're not getting any smarter

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January
1999 Issue
Science and the Citizen CETACEAN CREATION
Technology and Business UNEQUAL HEALTH
Recommended THE EDITORS RECOMMEND
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Just back from teaching, James R. Flynn darts into his office to write down a revelation about Marx, free will, Catholicism and the development of the steam engine that came to him in the midst of his lecture. Busily scribbling, the professor of political science at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, declares that extemporaneous talking leads to creative thinking and new ideas. His pronouncement made, Flynn--who, it should be noted, talks for a living--is ready to discuss the insight that made him famous: the observation that intelligence quotients, as measured by certain tests, have been steadily growing since the turn of the century.

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