The Flynn effect states that the levels of intelligence quotient (IQ) have been rising over time and increasing among the consequent generations. The change may be attributed to several factors like the changes in technology, lifestyles, learning methods and the increasing number of scientists and inventions of our time among other changes noted over several generations to date. Before taking any side of the argument, let’s evaluate the facts of the two statements. The assumption that People just get smarter from nowhere and this progresses over time can only be false; Flynn implies that you can improve your IQ by a score of 60 in 100 years’ time. This is not possible as we have the oldest men and women in the world at an average age of 125 years currently and yet they are not the genius or the smartest of our times. There are some underlying factors that contribute to this IQ incremental change. Some of them include being faced with problems constantly that need solutions and the practices gained in life as a result of repeated exposure to these practices. Others may include the changing dynamism of life that requires a well thought of ideas and means to survive, kind and type of education exposed to among other factors. One of the greatest scientists of our times, Albert Einstein, was once quoted as saying that ‘it’s not that am so smart, it’s only that I stay with these problems for longer.
This quote emphasizes the fact that no one is born smart but the exposure you get from day one and the tasks and problems at hand help change the way your mindset is and from these assimilations, you become smart and intelligent. If we carefully analyze the current inventions, most of them are based on the improvement of the early inventions but not necessarily by the same people, case in point is the modern airplanes from the one initially invented by the Wright brothers or the modern telephones from the one initially invented by Graham Bell. One of the IQ tests that has shown a steady rise is the one that measures abstract reasoning capacity. This is evident in that situations have changed thus the abstract reasoning cannot be the same. This tends to explain the smartness of the kids against their parents. Kids nowadays start using toys and robots in early life experiences and this changes how they reason on issues. In the early ’20s, these toys were not easily accessible thus our parent’s abstract reasoning was low compared to the children of nowadays. People over time have put more emphasis on IQ measures and perfected them. At any given time when these tests are taken, they score higher grades underlying that they are geniuses. Whereas they are not. Intelligence is so broad and multifaceted that it cannot be measured by using a simple IQ test. It’s, therefore, to be noted that, as much as there is a generational change in intelligence, several factors contribute to this as opposed to just being born smart. If anyone performs the IQ test today and scores a below-normal intelligence score, he or she will go and study more on what they are expected to answer to these tests and if the same IQ tests are repeated again over time, the same individuals will score higher grades. This tends to explain that people are merely getting more practice at the skills measured during these tests and perfecting on them as they say, practice, practice makes perfect.