Psychometricians have long been aware of a phenomenon called the Flynn effect—a widespread and long-standing tendency for scores on certain tests of intelligence to rise over time. The effect is most pronounced in tests of so-called fluid intelligence, such as those that require the subject to identify the missing element in an array of figures. In the early 1980s, James R. Flynn, now an emeritus professor at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, found strong evidence for this trend when he compared some newly introduced IQ tests with the older versions they replaced: When the same people took both tests, they appeared smarter when scored on the older exams compared with the new. If results were not continually normalized so that the mean score was 100, the IQ of test-takers would rise over time—and by a large amount: about 3 points or more per decade.
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机译：心理测量学家早就意识到一种称为Flynn效应的现象-这种普遍且长期存在的趋势是，某些智力测验的分数会随着时间的推移而上升。这种效果在所谓的流体智力测试中最为明显，例如要求受试者在一系列图形中识别出缺失的元素。在1980年代初期，现在是新西兰达尼丁奥塔哥大学名誉教授的詹姆斯·弗林（James R. Flynn）通过比较一些新引入的智商测试与他们取代的旧版本，发现了这一趋势的有力证据：参加了两项考试，与旧考试相比，旧考试得分更高。如果结果没有持续标准化，以致平均得分为100，则应试者的智商将随着时间的推移而上升，而且上升幅度很大：每十年大约3分或更高。
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