IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v82y2020ics0160289620300593.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Flynn effect can become embedded in tests: How cross-sectional age norms can corrupt longitudinal research

Author

Listed:
  • O'Keefe, Patrick
  • Rodgers, Joseph Lee

Abstract

The Flynn Effect (FE; Flynn, 1984, 1987) is the decades-long increase in measured mean IQ of approximately 1/3 point per year, observed in industrialized nations over the course of at least a century. An obvious and practical implication of the FE is that the FE can cause test norm obsolescence. If norms from 1970 were used today, the average score would be approximately a standard deviation above the original mean. A more subtle effect was suggested by Mingroni (2007): Age-normed tests could have a FE “built-in” through the norming process. His observation can be true in any case where there are cohort differences (between- or within-family); it is almost certain to occur in cases where cross-sectional samples are used to age norm in the presence of cohort effects. We illuminate this process in several ways, because it can significantly impact longitudinal research. If the “built in FE” hypothesis is supported, then the FE potentially affects resulting scores assigned to test-takers from all age-normed cognitive tests exhibiting a FE. A series of graphic simulations demonstrate the logic. Following, analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children data suggest that the Flynn Effect is indeed built into the PIAT-Math scores.

Suggested Citation

  • O'Keefe, Patrick & Rodgers, Joseph Lee, 2020. "The Flynn effect can become embedded in tests: How cross-sectional age norms can corrupt longitudinal research," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:82:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300593
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2020.101481
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289620300593
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101481?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. O'Keefe, Patrick & Wänström, Linda & Rodgers, Joseph Lee, 2023. "Reframing the clouded scientific spectacles of the Flynn effect: A view through two lenses," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Vasilios Andrikopoulos, 2021. "Exploring the Validity and Reliability of the WISC-IV: A Review of the Literature," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(2), pages 101-101, December.
    3. Rodgers, Joseph Lee, 2023. "Eleven articles and 27 authors pay tribute to James Flynn: A summary and critique of special issue articles on the Flynn effect," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Rodgers, Joseph Lee & O'Keefe, Patrick, 2023. "A synthetic theory to integrate and explain the causes of the Flynn effect: The Parental Executive Model," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:82:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300593. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.