CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 79Cognitive Abilities and TestingPsychometric Methodologies and TestingIntergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

American IQ gains from 1932 to 2002: The WISC subtests and educational progress

Flynn·2007·International Journal of Testing
DOI 10.1080/15305050701193587
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Recent data from 12 pairs of tests representing eight standardization samples show that American IQ gains have occurred at a rate of 0.308 points per year from 1972 to 2002. Linked with earlier IQ gains, Americans have gained about 22 points over the 70 years between 1932 and 2002. Comparing the new WISC-IV (2002) and the old WISC-III (1989) shows a difference of only 2.5 points. However, they have only five subtests in common when full scale IQ is calculated. If one simulates a comparison of the WISC-III and WISC-IV standardization samples on the 10 subtests of the WISC-III, IQ gains over the intervening 12.75 years were no less than 3.83 points, yielding a minimum estimate of 0.300 points per year. Finally, WISC subtest trends taken in conjunction with “the Nation's Report Card” (NAEP test trends) provide a fascinating picture of the evolution of cognitive skills in America over the last two generations.

Integrity signals

Registry

OpenAlex · 10.1080/15305050701193587

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Historically, each broad ability and each Wechsler subtest has a different history of Flynn effects.

    “Historically, each broad ability and each Wechsler subtest has a different history of Flynn effects (Flynn and Weiss 2007).”

    From Wait, Where’s the Flynn Effect on the WAIS-5? (2024) · cites this paper as Flynn and Weiss 2007

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Flynn
Venue
International Journal of Testing
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2007-05-10
Volume
7
Issue
2
Pages
209-224
ISSN
  • 1530-5058 (ISSN-L)
  • 1532-7574
DOI
10.1080/15305050701193587
OpenAlex
W2092965383
Cited by
79
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 9
FWCI
9.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
International Journal of Testing (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
Keywords
IQ gains, WISC-IV, WISC-III, educational progress, cognitive skills, test score trends, US intelligence

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review