Nature Vs. Nurture: The Flynn Effect

What is the Flynn Effect, and how does it relate to the nature vs nurture intelligence debate? The Flynn Effect was named after James Flynn discovered the effect. It describes how every decade IQ points go up by 3 points and how the average IQ has risen one deviation all over the world since World War II (Niesser 1977). This relates in the nature vs. nurture intelligence debate because people are trying to figure out why humans seem to be getting smarter and whether it’s because we are a product of our environment or genetically becoming more capable. Although, there are studies, such as the one conducted at the University of Virginia, that state we are both a product of nature and nurture. It’s been found that the Flynn effect correlate
The study consisted of the researchers showing 45 subjects a video of a car accident and using different words when asking the questions to different groups. The first question was “about how fast were the cars going when they _____ into each other?” They used words such as collided, bumped, hit and contacted. The participants gave answers that seem to accelerate the speed depending on the severity of the word (Loftus & Palmer, 1974). For instance, when the word contacted was used the group assumed the speed was an average of about 31.8; however, when the word smashed was used the group assumed the speed was an average of about 40.5 (Loftus & Palmer, 1974). In addition to this, in a later experiment when the subject were asked if they saw any broken glass the subjects who received more severe words (like smashed) said yes while the ones who were asked with a less harsh word ( like contacted) said no (Loftus & Palmer, 1974). The reality was there wasn’t any broken glass at all. While, eye - witness testimonies are necessary for many cases this shows how anyone including a lawyers, policemen or even a judge can purposely manipulate someone’s mind in order to convey a story that might illustrate the story in their favor. However, it’s a bit unrealistic to prohibit
It describes how every decade IQ points go up by 3 points and how the average IQ has risen one deviation all over the world since World War II (Niesser 1977). This relates in the nature vs. nurture intelligence debate because people are trying to figure out why humans seem to be getting smarter and whether it’s because we are a product of our environment or genetically becoming more capable. Although, there are studies, such as the one conducted at the University of Virginia, that state we are both a product of nature and nurture. It’s been found that the Flynn effect correlate with more nurture factors than nature. A study suggests that the Flynn effect could be a cause of people seeking higher education, technological advances in society, parent’s having more interest in their children’s cognitive development and better nutrition (Neisser, 1977). While some consider that fact that our genetics might actually be evolving based on human advances stating that, “we must have some genetic base for intelligence in order to develop and manipulate the ever changing advances in technology (Neisser 1977) ”. Meaning that in order to survive in the world we live in today our genetics have evolved causing our IQs to raise with each generation and leading to an overall smarter population and species. Although, the reasoning support nurture, many have already concluded, as I previously mentioned that in some cases