It’s a smart, smart, smart world
The average American in the year 1900 had an I.Q. that by today’s standards would measure about 67. Since the traditional definition of mental retardation was an I.Q. of less than 70, that leads to the remarkable conclusion that a majority of Americans a century ago would count today as intellectually disabled.
The trend of rising intelligence is known as the “Flynn Effect,” named for James R. Flynn, the New Zealand scholar who pioneered this area of research. Countless other scholars worldwide have replicated his findings, and it is now accepted science — although there is still disagreement about its causes and significance.
The average American I.Q. has been rising steadily by 3 points a decade. Spaniards gained 19 points over 28 years, and the Dutch 20 points over 30 years. Kenyan children gained nearly 1 point a year.
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This guy is full of his own ‘smarts’.
Schadenfreude on December 14, 2012 at 10:29 PM
The average American in 2012 re-elected Barack Obama.
1900: 1
2012: 0.
Gingotts on December 14, 2012 at 10:35 PM
LOL. Based on what?
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 14, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Yeah…we’re so smart we can re-define marriage, let our foreign policy be alternately dictated by NeoCons and cowardice, re-elect “President Santa Claus”, let parents turn their children into pint-size Typhoid Marys and adults walk around with contagious, incurable, lethal diseases…
Oh yeah, aren’t we a smart bunch!
MelonCollie on December 14, 2012 at 10:42 PM
Not according to the data from Nov 6.
Hmmmm, where have we heard that before?
All in all, sort of funny, since I was sure that Kristof would have been one of those heralding IQ tests as racist or inaccurate.
GWB on December 14, 2012 at 10:42 PM
Dunno about you, but if I had a nickel every time I heard it from some self-assured ‘scientist’ trying to deem the theory of random chance unassailable superior to that of Creation, I could hire Bill Gates as my towelboy.
MelonCollie on December 14, 2012 at 10:45 PM
Ohhhh. Now, I think I see where they get this made-up number. 1900 is 11 decades back, at 3 pts/dec yields the alleged 67, 33 points down from the 100 average today (as 100 is the average, by design).
ROFLMAO! I guess the average IQ in America was 37 in 1800. The average American, then, must have been unable to breathe on his own. Too funny. Good science!
I don’t have access to the NY Slimes article (since I won’t register and don’t bother with the bugmenot stuff) but, on the surface, this looks to be the genius behind this. Kind of funny, really.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 14, 2012 at 10:57 PM
Smart people wouldn’t choose bondage, in the majority.
The once freest land is now the stupidest.
Schadenfreude on December 14, 2012 at 11:12 PM
We may know much, much more. The real question is do we have the wisdom to use knowledge in the correct way.
Jurisprudence on December 14, 2012 at 11:23 PM
This is not mysterious. Relatively (maybe even absolutely) fewer people are malnourished, diseased or drug/alcohol/tobacco-ridden than in the nicotine and opiate-addled past, populations are more mobile, and they have access to more mental stimulation. The top levels probably haven’t improved (and won’t), but the lower orders have made up lots of ground.
However, there is a difference between having a high IQ and using it, or using it productively. No doubt criminals are getting smarter too. My relatives still vote Democrat. And I know of no correlation between IQ and emotional maturity.
Seth Halpern on December 14, 2012 at 11:31 PM
Of course I myself am counting on the Errol Flynn effect.
Seth Halpern on December 14, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Nailed it!
We know how to build weapons that are more powerful than the entire armed forces of Rome. But two nations barely had the wisdom to keep from ending all sentient life, and it remains to be seen how longer Western nations have the will to keep them out of the hands of barbarians.
We know more…but are we wise enough to make use of what we know?
Imho – NO.
MelonCollie on December 14, 2012 at 11:34 PM
Think of how high our average IQ would be if we didn’t have to factor in Obama voters!
skidword on December 14, 2012 at 11:51 PM
The first mistake we make is thinking we’re smart, and that goes triple for the New York Times and its editors and columnists.
flataffect on December 14, 2012 at 11:58 PM
Barky’s own IQ of 84 isn’t helping anything. His supporters probably average a touch better than that.
Meanwhile, according to the geniuses’ extrapolations in this article, I guess the average IQ in America was 7 in 1700 (evidently, most Americans were almost brain-dead) and -23 in 1600 (they were actually dead!).
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 15, 2012 at 12:18 AM
Does anyone really think that the average person in 1900 would be considered mentally disabled today? It’s so absurd it’s laughable. Read any newspaper from the day (people actually read the paper back then). It was a literate society. Look at the inventions (telephone, light bulb, radio, film, airplane, on and on and on) Look at the productivity and all the great achievements (Panama Canal, trans-Atlantic cable, skyscrapers in cities). I knew two grandparents as a child that were alive in 1900. They were smart people.
Ted Torgerson on December 15, 2012 at 12:27 AM
I will agree that the extreme lower-end of the IQ spectrum has risen. We have fewer severely mentally handicapped people today. This has been widely known. However, that is not what he wrote. He wrote, “a majority of Americans a century ago would count today as intellectually disabled.” That is absurd on its face.
Ted Torgerson on December 15, 2012 at 12:38 AM
In which Kristof reveals he has an I.Q. below 70.
theperfecteconomist on December 15, 2012 at 12:48 AM
Why do you insist on such rose colored glasses? This “once freest land” has systematically oppressed many of its citizens.
ernesto on December 15, 2012 at 2:26 AM
Quite so. Free thinkers, censored. Incorrectly creative artists, mocked. Children of the wrong parents: designated for re-education. Their parents: hounded by political officers. Producers of wealth and utility: enslaved to feed a numb and thankless machine.
Truly a shame, I agree.
Dirt McGirt on December 15, 2012 at 2:56 AM
“Badd-dumm! Thank you. Try the knishes, and I’ll be appearing all season at the Nevele.” Nick bows and runs off stage.
“Nicky, bubbie!” Agent grabs him enthusiastically. “You were great! I love that reverse humor thing you do. I think I can get you 3 weeks at the Concord next year.”
vityas on December 15, 2012 at 5:56 AM
I disagree. I believe it is a Sick Sad World.
BigGator5 on December 15, 2012 at 6:25 AM
ernesto, i assume you are talking about the suppression that is documented going back 8,000 years and still occurs today in a very large part of the world – but you don’t seem to include those…
rgranger on December 15, 2012 at 8:38 AM
I’m reminded of a commentary I read years ago. The writer basically said that intelligence and stupidity were not opposites, that very smart people could do stupid things and that in fact there were some forms of stupidity that required a high I.Q. to pull off.
PerceptorII on December 15, 2012 at 9:28 AM