Quote: (07-16-2012 04:08 AM)Hooligan Harry Wrote:
James Flynn has no medical or psych background at all. He is a political science major who has been fighting geneticists for years trying to prove that intelligence is not genetic. He is the man behind The Flynn Effect, which people have clung to for years simply because the scientific studies related to intelligence are regarded as hate facts. Its just more bullshit from him really, although no doubt people will lap it up.
Regarding the Flynn effect, in the last few years the evidence has been showing that IQ scores have stopped rising in the first world amongst non-immigrants (I believe they're still increasing amongst African Americans as well). The improvements in phenotypic IQ are no longer stronger then the decline in genetic IQ. It's possible that we've hit the limit to which improved nutrition and education improves IQ, so now our dysgenic fertility for the last 60 years is catching up to us. I did some quick Googling and since the mid 1990's some first world countries have seen IQ slip amongst non-immigrants (U.K and Norway), Australia's have been static since 1975 and I'm not sure about the U.S.
One more tidbit about intelligence, it's been shown that the greatest single predictor of a persons IQ is the IQ of their mother, and the latest evidence is now saying that the genes for general IQ are located on (or at least predominately located on) the X chromosome, which means that general IQ is passed on maternally.