The Victorians were smarter than us....

Rinoa

... a study suggests.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10053977/The-Victorians-were-smarter-than-us-study-suggests.html

Reaction times – a reliable marker of general intelligence – have declined steadily since the Victorian era from about 183 milliseconds to 250ms in men, and from 187ms to 277ms in women.

The slowing of our reflexes points to a decrease in general intelligence equivalent to 1.23 IQ points per decade since the 1880s or about 14 IQ points overall, researchers said.

Actual IQ scores from different decades cannot be directly compared because people today enjoy better teaching, health and nutrition which would help improve their results, the scientists explained.

But the reaction times signify that the genetic component of general intelligence – which leads to the type of creativity and invention typical of the Victorian era – has been dwindling over the past century.

Dr Michael Woodley, who led the study published in the Intelligence journal this month, identified the trend by comparing reaction times from trials conducted by Victorian scientists against those carried out in recent decades.

Our declining intelligence is most likely down to a "reverse" in the process of natural selection, he explained. The most intelligent people now have fewer children on average than in previous decades, while there are higher survival rates among people with less favourable genes.

"The pressures of modern life, a nine-to-five modern lifestyle, have created all these pressures against very smart people having break-even numbers of children," he said.

Hmmm, could explain a few things, but a tad controversial I guess.

vivatifosi

Last week I was listening to Women's Hour while in the car. Can't remember who the guests were, but they were discussing the fact that women with degrees, who tend to marry men with degrees, were reproducing at less than their replacement rate; plus the impact that this has on the population. I don't know what the conclusion was as I parked my car before I had the chance to find out.

System

vivatifosi wrote: »

Last week I was listening to Women's Hour while in the car. Can't remember who the guests were, but they were discussing the fact that women with degrees, who tend to marry men with degrees, were reproducing at less than their replacement rate; plus the impact that this has on the population. I don't know what the conclusion was as I parked my car before I had the chance to find out.

Whereas stupid people breed so fast they can't be stopped.

CLAPTON

what does 'reaction time ' mean

why is it a reliable maker of 'general intelligence'

tomterm8

Worst. Science. Ever.

vectistim

CLAPTON wrote: »

what does 'reaction time ' mean

why is it a reliable maker of 'general intelligence'

IQ tests seem quite silly to me, they seem to be more a word or number pattern recognition test.

Anyway, I believe that speed comes into the calculation, eg: a person who takes 10 minutes to do a test and gets 19 questions right out of 20 will get a higher score than someone who takes 20 minutes to get 19 out of 20.

chewmylegoff

I'm trying to think what technology the Victorians used to accurately measure reaction times to the nearest millisecond.

Re the theory about "intelligent" people not breeding quickly enough - hasn't this always been so. Working class families always had a bucket load of kids (I saw this on Monty Python). I suppose more of them make it to sexual maturity than in Victorian times though...

TruckerT

Were the IQ tests of 1880 identical to the IQ tests of the 21st century? If not, then how can the results of each be compared to the other?

TruckerT

chewmylegoff

I've just noticed that the research shows that women have slightly slower reaction times than men. Finally some cast iron proof that men are cleverer than women.

Best. Science. Ever.

Perelandra

I realise this may not be fair, since the article makes no statement about adjusting for age, but...

When I used to watch "Catchphrase" with my mum 20 or 25 years ago (doesn't time fly!), I would nearly always beat the contestants to getting the Catchphrase right. These days, if I watch a repeat of the show, I might get the answer at the same time as the contestants. Clearly I've slowed down.

I imagine the same thing would be true of reaction time...


(P.S. I've stopped watching Catchphrase. I find it depressing!).

Percy1983

I really can't be sure how much is nature and how much is nurture.

I say this on the idea of me and the wife could be classed as intelligent due to our jobs, now if we have children will it be genes or our behaviour when they are young which will make them intelligent. eg, we are clever enough to use covertly educational toys where as less intelligent parents will probably sit them in front of tv all day. We as intelligent parents will make sure they get enough sleep and a balanced diet, where less intelligent parents will let them play call of duty on there non parentally restricted xboxs all night and feed them happy meals.

Its not an exact science but on average children with intelligent parents do have more intelligent children, the exact causes can't be clear.