Abstract

GRACIO, Sérgio. The Flynn effect as a transdisciplinary object. Forum Sociológico [online]. 2023, n.42, pp.5-12.  Epub July 31, 2023. ISSN 0872-8380.  https://doi.org/10.4000/sociologico.10920.

The Flynn effect describes the rapid progression of cognitive levels in developed countries populations that occurred mostly in the second half of the 20th century, with its causes still being discussed nowadays. I present a possible explanation of this phenomenon in a transdisciplinary view, intercepting contributions from demography and sociology with psychometry and behavioral genetics. The decline in fertility in a demographic transition framework did not occur at the same pace across social classes. Less cognitively favored social classes are those that reduce fertility the most. In order for that to result in the elevation of the conjunct cognitive level, all it takes is that the loss in fertility in the less favored half of the population be that of a superior magnitude than that of the most favored half, generating a process which, side by side with social transformations cognitively relevant in the people experience, would have contributed with its own effect to the Flynn effect.

Keywords : Flynn effect; transdisciplinarity; fertility; class structure.

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