Time and generational changes in cognitive performance in Romania

• DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2020.101430
• Publication Date: 2020-01-20T10:25:07Z
• Authors: George Gunnesch-Luca; Dragoș Iliescu
• Keywords: 05 social sciences; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences

Abstract The Flynn effect describes sustained gains in cognitive performance that have been observed in the past century. These improvements are not evenly distributed, with strong variations across regions or groups. To this effect, we report time and generational trends in IQ development in Romania. Using pooled repeated cross-sectional data ranging from 2003 to 2018 (N = 12,034), we used Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Models (HAPC) on data measured with the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery II. The results show an increase in measured performance of about one third of an IQ point per year, mainly driven by individual level effects and with additional variance attributable to generational (cohort) and period effects.