The social and scientific temporal correlates of genotypic intelligence and the Flynn effect

Do opposing secular trends on backwards and forwards digit span evidence the co-occurrence model? A comment on Gignac (2015)

“…Western per capita wealth on the other hand has shown the opposite trend, that is, it has increased dramatically since the 19th century (Maddison, 2007). IQ losses simulated on the basis of dysgenics and gains simulated on the basis of the Flynn effect predict the two trends respectively (Pietschnig & Voracek, in press;Woodley, 2012;Woodley & Figueredo, 2013). This would be consistent with the frequency of major innovation and genius being dependent on a population's level of g, whereas wealth creation might be more dependent upon cognitive specialization with respect to numerous narrower abilities boosting the aggregate efficiency of the population (Woodley, Figueredo, Ross, & Brown, 2013a).…”

“…Gignac's (2015) observations are important as they add to the list of rarely considered cognitive measures the secular trends for which seem to defy the Flynn effect. These include inspection time, which, like digit span, seems to show no secular trends (Nettelbeck & Wilson, 2004), simple visual reaction time, which seems to show quite pronounced secular declines (Silverman, 2010;Woodley, Madison, & Charlton, 2014a;Woodley of Menie, te Nijenhuis, & Murphy, 2015;Woodley, te Nijenhuis, & Murphy, 2013b, 2014b and also society-level indicators of cognitive capacity, such as per capita rates of macro-innovation and genius, which also indicate pronounced declines starting in the 19th century (Huebner, 2005;Murray, 2003;Simonton, 2013;Woodley, 2012;Woodley & Figueredo, 2013). Gignac (2014a) poses the following open question:…”

Future Efforts in Flynn Effect Research: Balancing Reductionism with Holism

“…Importantly for the present discussion, the IQ-income relationship also appears to hold up within populations over time. When IQ scores rise, per capita income tends to increase as well [10,11].…”

By their words ye shall know them: Evidence of genetic selection against general intelligence and concurrent environmental enrichment in vocabulary usage since the mid 19th century

“…Simulated historical trends in “genotypic intelligence” (the population level intelligence change that would be expected due to selection alone, absent the Flynn effect) predict changing rates of innovation and genius (Woodley, 2012; Woodley and Figueredo, 2013). Clearly, there are factors other than intelligence influencing the innovativeness and creativity of populations, such as the presence or absence of key cultural factors and ‘low-hanging fruit,’ that is, novel innovations and discoveries that are easy to make (e.g., Horgan, 1997; Cowen, 2011), however, the findings of Woodley (2012) and Woodley and Figueredo (2013) suggest that losses in intelligence occurring despite the Flynn effect may nonetheless have been an important contributing factor to these trends also.…”

“…Clearly, there are factors other than intelligence influencing the innovativeness and creativity of populations, such as the presence or absence of key cultural factors and ‘low-hanging fruit,’ that is, novel innovations and discoveries that are easy to make (e.g., Horgan, 1997; Cowen, 2011), however, the findings of Woodley (2012) and Woodley and Figueredo (2013) suggest that losses in intelligence occurring despite the Flynn effect may nonetheless have been an important contributing factor to these trends also.…”