Are we becoming more STUPID? IQ scores are decreasing

[LeftishBrit]

34. Thanks - I'd been planning to investigate but hadn't got round to it yet; so thanks for the info!

I am gobsmacked that this paper ever got through peer review; there are so many holes in it.

Yes, there is some correlation between visual reaction time and IQ but it is far from a perfect one, and anyway, as the authors should know, correlation does not equal causation! Reaction time is commonly used in cognitive psychology as an indication of which tasks are easier than others: if you find a task easy you will generally do it more quickly. As people with high IQs generally find many tasks easier than those with lower IQs, they are likely on the whole to show faster reaction times. But that doesn't mean that reaction time is the basis for IQ, or that slower visual reaction time will necessarily indicate lower IQ. For example, while people with severe visual impairments are likely to be identified and excluded from such studies, people with more subtle visual difficulties (a significant proportion of the population) may take part and show slower reaction times.

As for Richard Lynn, he is a racist who brings his biases into his research, and really brings psychology into disrepute. I remember that 'IQ and the Wealth of Nations' paper; it is an awful example of how NOT to do science.

'The Mail is repackaging white nationalist bollocks, via a dumb US student.'

Yes, that describes it. The Mail loves ANYTHING that will demonstrate that everything's got worse since the days of Good Queen Victoria, and especially if it can put a racist slant on it.