Human Intelligence and Medical Illness: Assessing the Flynn Effect (The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality)

There’s little doubt that people are growing smarter. This effect is so strong that IQ tests must be renormed periodically to prevent classifying an overabundance of people as geniuses. The question is __why__ is this collective rise in IQ – known as the Flynn effect –occurring? Possible theories to explain the Flynn effect have ranged from better parenting to faster evolution. Bringing a bold new voice to the debate, __Human Intelligence and Medical Illness__ sets out a simple definition of intelligence that is appropriate for assessing intelligence at the population level. The definition is then used to probe the relationship between population intelligence and public health. This volume uses the latest medical and behavioral science research to argue that declines in serious disease and illness-causing conditions (e.g., lead paint in buildings) correlate strongly with continued cognitive gains in both developed and developing countries. Current political realities explain why the Flynn effect should be approached as a public policy as well as a public health issue. This provocative volume: * Reviews the most widely held hypotheses accounting for the Flynn effect. * Examines the relationship between intelligence and public health. * Assesses the extent to which public health improvements can potentially account for the Flynn effect. * Details how treatment of common medical problems may result in a substantial rise in IQ. * Explores the possibility of continued IQ gains in the United States and worldwide. * Reframes the Flynn effect in the contexts of public health, early childhood education, and social justice. With its groundbreaking findings on the causes of cognitive impairment and the possibility of cognitive improvement, __Human Intelligence and Medical Illness__ is must-reading for researchers, professors, and graduate students in developmental psychology, education, public health, psychiatry, neuroscience, social work, and related fields. As critics will note, psychometric tests are deeply flawed. Person-to-person differences in performance on a psychometric test are not informative about many things of great interest. An intelligence quotient (IQ) cannot characterize creativity or w- dom or artistic ability or other forms of specialized knowledge. An IQ test is simply an effort to assess an aptitude for success in the modern world, and individual scores do a mediocre job of predicting individual successes. In the early days of psychology, tests of intelligence were cobbled together with little thought as to validity; instead, the socially powerful sought to validate their power and the prominent to rationalize their success. In recent years, we have ob- ated many of the objections to IQ that were so forcefully noted by Stephen Jay Gould in The Mismeasure of Man. Nevertheless, IQ tests are still flawed and those flaws are hereby acknowledged in principle. Yet, in the analysis that follows, individual IQ test scores are not used; rather, average IQ scores are employed. In many cases – though not all – an average IQ is calculated from a truly enormous sample of people. The most common circ- stance for such large-scale IQ testing is an effort to systematically sample all men of a certain age, to assess their suitability for service in the military. Yet, it is useful and prudent to retain some degree of skepticism about the ability of IQ tests to measure individual aptitudes. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Are People Getting Smarter?....Pages 1-8 Human IQ and Increasing Intelligence....Pages 9-20 Evolution and Increasing Intelligence....Pages 21-31 Brain Development and Increasing Intelligence....Pages 33-44 Environment and Increasing Intelligence....Pages 45-57 Evidence of Physical Plasticity in Humans....Pages 59-74 Evidence of Mental Plasticity in Humans....Pages 75-90 Evidence of Cognitive Plasticity in Humans....Pages 91-98 Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ in the United States....Pages 99-109 Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ Worldwide....Pages 111-127 Medical Interventions for Cognitive Impairment....Pages 129-147 Increasing IQ in the United States....Pages 149-165 Increasing IQ and Social Justice....Pages 167-177 Back Matter....Pages 179-218 "This provocative volume: Reviews the most widely held hypotheses accounting for the Flynn effect, Examines the relationship between intelligence and public health, Assesses the extent to which public health improvements can potentially account for the Flynn effect, Details how treatment of common medical problems may result in a substantial rise in IQ, Explores the possibility of continued IQ gains in the United States and worldwide, Reframes the Flynn effect in the contexts of public health, early childhood education, and social justice."--Overview from BN.com The relationship between population intelligence and public health could be a driving factor in the strong rise in IQ over time. The latest medical and behavior science research are examined in this text to determine social and political implications at play