IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v98y2023ics0160289623000211.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A synthetic theory to integrate and explain the causes of the Flynn effect: The Parental Executive Model

Author

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

Abstract

The Flynn effect is one of the most interesting puzzles in psychology. Measured intelligence increased worldwide for a century, primarily in the fluid domain. Some increases may be flattening and/or reversing. Around 20 theories have been developed to explain the Flynn effect; most have empirical or conceptual weaknesses, though they also have strengths and face validity. The role of parents has been given only slight attention in past theorizing. We propose a new synthetic theory, the Parental Executive Model (the PEM) that integrates, organizes, and takes advantage of most previous theories. To structure our paper, we begin with a description of synthetic theories, and how to evaluate them (which has unique and difficult challenges). Following, we review the Flynn effect, and briefly summarize the new theory. Next, recent research is reviewed suggesting the value of re-conceptualizing the location of the Flynn effect to focus on families, and parents. Following, we describe the PEM, which states that parents – and teachers, authors, friends, etc. – use their agency to manage children's intellectual growth. The PEM posits that many (not all) parents subjectively optimize their children's intellectual outcomes, taking advantage of some subset of available resources – nutrition, education, technology, health care, etc. Cross-generational momentum occurs as parenting improves across generations. Prior research motivating the PEM is reviewed, and methods to evaluate the PEM are discussed. Finally, one recent empirical evaluation of the PEM is reviewed, that the cognitive home environment has been improving over time.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s0160289623000211
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2023.101740
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289623000211
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2023.101740?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jakob Pietschnig & Martin Voracek & Anton K Formann, 2010. "Pervasiveness of the IQ Rise: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(12), pages 1-6, December.
    2. V. Hotz & Juan Pantano, 2015. "Strategic parenting, birth order, and school performance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 911-936, October.
    3. Rindermann, Heiner & Becker, David, 2018. "FLynn-effect and economic growth: Do national increases in intelligence lead to increases in GDP?," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 87-93.
    4. 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).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. 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).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wongupparaj, Peera & Wongupparaj, Rangsirat & Morris, Robin G. & Kumari, Veena, 2023. "Seventy years, 1000 samples, and 300,000 SPM scores: A new meta-analysis of Flynn effect patterns," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Zheng, Leven J. & Fan, Youqing & Wang, Huan & Liu, Wei, 2021. "Born innovator? How founder birth order influences product innovation generation and adoption in entrepreneurial firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 414-430.
    3. Kieron Barclay & Torkild Lyngstad & Dalton Conley, 2018. "The Production of Inequalities within Families and Across Generations: The Intergenerational Effects of Birth Order and Family Size on Educational Attainment," NBER Working Papers 24530, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Heather Congdon Fors & Annika Lindskog, 2023. "Within‐family inequalities in human capital accumulation in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 3-28, February.
    5. Lucio Esposito & Sunil Mitra Kumar & Adrián Villaseñor, 2020. "The importance of being earliest: birth order and educational outcomes along the socioeconomic ladder in Mexico," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 1069-1099, July.
    6. Kyeongkuk Kim & Sang-Hyop Lee & Timothy J Halliday, 2018. "The Betrayed Generation? Intra-Household Transfers and Retirement Behavior in South Korea," Working Papers 201804, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    7. Peter J. Glick & David E. Sahn & Thomas F. Walker, 2016. "Household Shocks and Education Investments in Madagascar," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(6), pages 792-813, December.
    8. Quan-Hoang Vuong & Thanh-Hang Pham & Trung Tran & Thu-Trang Vuong & Nguyen Manh Cuong & Nguyen Phuc Khanh Linh & Viet-Phuong La & Manh Toan Ho, 2020. "STEM education and outcomes in Vietnam: Views from the social gap and gender issues," Working Papers CEB 20-003, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Kim, Kyeongkuk & Lee, Sang-Hyop & Halliday, Timothy J., 2021. "Intra-familial transfers, son preference, and retirement behavior in South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    10. Björkegren, Evelina & Svaledry, Helena, 2017. "Birth Order and Child Health," Working Paper Series 2017:3, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    11. Nik Ahmad Sufian Burhan & Mohamad Fazli Sabri & Heiner Rindermann, 2023. "Cognitive ability and economic growth: how much happiness is optimal?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 70(1), pages 63-100, March.
    12. Anne Ardila Brenøe & Ramona Molitor, 2018. "Birth order and health of newborns," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 363-395, April.
    13. Wanchuan Lin & Juan Pantano & Shuqiao Sun, 2020. "Birth order and unwanted fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 413-440, April.
    14. Bu, Feifei, 2014. "Sibling configurations, educational aspiration and attainment," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    15. Kieron J. Barclay & Torkild H. Lyngstad & Dalton Conley, 2018. "The production of inequalities within families and across generations: the intergenerational effects of birth order and family size on educational attainment," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2018-002, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    16. Sandra E. Black & Erik Grönqvist & Björn Öckert, 2018. "Born to Lead? The Effect of Birth Order on Noncognitive Abilities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 274-286, May.
    17. Björkegren, Evelina & Svaleryd, Helena, 2023. "Birth order and health disparities throughout the life course," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    18. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Magnée, Cécile A.J., 2020. "Does sibling gender affect personality traits?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Oscar Erixson & Henry Ohlsson, 2019. "Estate division: equal sharing, exchange motives, and Cinderella effects," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1437-1480, October.
    20. Daniela Del Boca & Christopher Flinn & Ewout Verriest & Matthew Wiswall, 2018. "Actors in the Child Development Process," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 575, Collegio Carlo Alberto.

    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:98:y:2023:i:c:s0160289623000211. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.