Generation Z’s Lower Intelligence – Flynn Effect and Its Reversal

Whether in public discourse or across psychology circles, Generation Z has been at the centre of a widespread debate concerning their apparent lower levels of intelligence. The fundamental purpose of this discussion is the well-documented phenomenon known as the Flynn effect.

For most of the 20th century, IQ scores rose steadily. Fresh data even suggest that this trend is likely to reverse or slacken. Thus, it raises essential questions about how intelligence levels evolve across various generations.

The Flynn effect was named and first identified by the most prominent researcher, James R. Flynn. On average, it was discovered that IQ scores increase by around three points in most countries. This surge was rather due to environmental improvements. Hence, it was not caused by genetic changes that typically occur much more slowly. For instance, better nutrition, superior healthcare, improved education systems, and environments that demand higher cognitive skills contribute to this trend of increasing intelligence.

Men and women become much better at core skills, problem-solving, pattern recognition, and abstract reasoning, usually measured by IQ tests.

For many decades, such a steady increase gave a rather optimistic view of human cognitive progress. However, starting from the late 1990s and the early 2000s, psychologists and researchers in countries like Denmark, Norway, and the UK started noticing that this upward trajectory of IQ scores started plateauing and even declining slightly. This unique phenomenon is now known as the “reverse Flynn effect.”

While the declines that have been largely observed are small and rather inconsistent, mostly affecting areas like numerical and verbal reasoning instead of intelligence on the whole, it still fuelled a lot of speculations about whether the younger generations, especially Generation Z, or people born from the mid-1990s onward, are usually less intelligent than the previous generations.

It is important to notice that the latest data does not indicate by any means that there is a significant drop in intelligence levels. However, signs of only minor differences have still been found between multiple generations. For instance, the average IQ of the Generation Z population is typically placed around 101. It is about 103 for Generation X and 99 for the Millennials. Such distinctions are bound to occur, and they also fall within the normal ranges that indicate that the intelligence levels remain more or less stable. So why does it seem like Generation Z’s intelligence levels are lower than those of the previous generations? One possible explanation for this lies in the changing environments.

The traditional IQ tests were created to measure people’s intelligence when deep reading, sustained attention, and abstract problem-solving habits were common. On the other hand, in today’s digital world, people need to have very different cognitive skills. Generation Z people grow up in an environment that is filled with widespread information, which requires rapid filtering, digital navigation, and multitasking.

A lot of critics here argue that there is too much reliance now on digital media, which reduces people’s attention spans as well as discourages focused thinking. Some also suggest that lifestyle changes, educational shifts, and increased stress levels might hamper intelligence. However, some experts also believe that these conditions are not reducing intelligence but reshaping it in new ways.