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. Steen_FM_O.pdf 1 Anchor 1 5 Steen_Ch01_O.pdf 10 Chapter 1 10 Are People Getting Smarter? 10 What Is Intelligence? 10 The Flynn Effect 11 How Real Is the Flynn Effect? 14 What Could Explain the Flynn Effect? 15 Hypothesis: IQ Tests Tend to Measure Achievement, Not Aptitude 15 Hypothesis: IQ Is Not an Accurate Reflection of Intelligence 15 Hypothesis: IQ Tests Do Not Measure “Average” Intelligence of the Population 16 Hypothesis: Brain Evolution Is Very Rapid and It Is Happening Right Now 16 Hypothesis: Child Development Is Happening Sooner or Faster than in the Past 16 Hypothesis: The Family Environment Is Improving, Thereby Enabling Intellectual Growth 17 Hypothesis: Children Are Healthier and Better able to Demonstrate Intellectual Ability 17 Steen_Ch02_O.pdf 18 Chapter 2 18 Human IQ and Increasing Intelligence 18 What Is an Intelligence Test? 18 IQ Testing of Minorities 20 Hypothesis: IQ Tests Tend to Measure Achievement, Not Aptitude 23 Hypothesis: IQ Is Not an Accurate Reflection of Intelligence 25 Hypothesis: IQ Tests Do Not Measure “Average” Intelligence of the Population 27 Steen_Ch03_O.pdf 30 Chapter 3 30 Evolution and Increasing Intelligence 30 What is Evolution? 30 What If There Was Stringent Selection Against the Dull-Witted? 32 What If Very Intelligent People Tended to Have More Children? 34 What If Selection for Intelligence Was Indirect? 36 Hypothesis: Brain Evolution Is Very Rapid and It Is Happening Right Now 37 Human Brain Evolution Is Recent and Rapid 39 Steen_Ch04_O.pdf 41 Chapter 4 41 Brain Development and Increasing Intelligence 41 Patterns of Brain Growth and Development 42 Brain Myelination and Developmental Maturity 44 Is Education Now Better Able to Compensate for Differences in Developmental Maturity? 46 Is Increasing Environmental Complexity Producing a Rise in IQ? 48 Hypothesis: Child Development is Happening Sooner or Faster than in the Past 49 The Timing of Puberty in Adolescence 50 Steen_Ch05_O.pdf 53 Chapter 5 53 Environment and Increasing Intelligence 53 Hypothesis: The Family Environment is Improving, Thereby Enabling Intellectual Growth 53 Is the Social Environment Contributing to the Rise in IQ? 54 A New Concept of the “Environment” 56 Hypothesis: Children are Healthier and Better Able to Demonstrate Intellectual Ability 57 A New Concept of the Environment: The Example of Lead Pollution 57 The Effect of Parasitic Infestation on Growth and Intelligence 59 A Medical View of the Environment Through Time 60 The Medical Environment and the Brain 63 Steen_Ch06_O.pdf 66 Chapter 6 66 Evidence of Physical Plasticity in Humans 66 A Proof of Principle 67 What is Physical Plasticity and How Do We Measure It? 68 Unambiguous Evidence of Physical Plasticity 70 Recent Evidence of Physical Plasticity 72 Demographic Evidence of Physical Plasticity 75 Physical Plasticity and Human Disease 78 Early Life Stresses and Chronic Illness 80 Steen_Ch07_O.pdf 82 Chapter 7 82 Evidence of Mental Plasticity in Humans 82 A Proof of Principle: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 83 Studying Mental Plasticity 86 Malnutrition and CI 87 Trace Nutrients and CI 89 Diarrhea and CI 91 Very Low Birth Weight and CI 92 Poverty and CI 93 Childhood Neglect and CI 95 Lessons from Lead Poisoning 96 Steen_Ch08_O.pdf 98 Chapter 8 98 Evidence of Cognitive Plasticity in Humans 98 The Importance of Language to Humans 98 Genes and Language Ability 99 Language Impairment 100 The Heritability of Language 101 Can the Environment Have an Impact on Language Learning? 103 Steen_Ch09_O.pdf 106 Chapter 9 106 Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ in the United States 106 What Medical Problems Can Impair Language Ability? 107 Can Cognitive Impairment from Poverty Be Prevented? 114 Can CI in General Be Prevented? 115 Steen_Ch10_O.pdf 117 Chapter 10 117 Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ Worldwide 117 What Medical Challenges Depress IQ Worldwide? 117 Steen_Ch11_O.pdf 134 Chapter 11 134 Medical Interventions for Cognitive Impairment 134 Testing a Medical Intervention 135 Language Remediation after Stroke: A Proof of Principle 135 Pharmacologic Treatment of Aphasia in Stroke 138 Why Language Learning is So Hard to Study 141 Why Clinical Trials for Language Impairment are So Hard to Do 142 Clinical Trials of Language Remediation in Children 143 Methylphenidate in Children with ADHD 146 What does Language Remediation Teach Us about Medical Intervention? 150 References 0 Steen_Ch12_O.pdf 153 Chapter 12 153 Increasing IQ in the United States 153 The Head Start Program 154 The Early Head Start Program 158 School Readiness and the ABC Project 160 Other Early Childhood Interventions 167 Can We Intervene to Augment IQ in Disadvantaged Children? 169 References 0 Steen_Ch13_O.pdf 170 Chapter 13 170 Increasing IQ and Social Justice 170 IQ and Social Justice 170 Why No Child Left Behind Is a Failure 172 Why Charter Schools Are Not the Way Forward 173 What Should We Do? 174 The Costs and Benefits of Cognitive Remediation 176 What Difference Can We Make in the United States? 178 What Difference Can the “Rising Tide” Hypothesis Make Overall? 179 Steen_BM1_O.pdf 181 Anchor 1 181 Steen_Index_O.pdf 214 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