No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Brain drain in Syria's ancient capital: No Flynn Effect in Damascus, 2004–2013/14
Abstract
The results of two administrations of the SPM to two samples of Damascus school children aged 13 to 18 are compared. It is shown that average SPM scores did not change statistically significantly between 2004 and 2013/14. In light of Flynn Effects in other developing countries, it is suggested that the brain drain caused by the ongoing civil war in Syria – and around Damascus specifically – would substantially explain this finding. In addition, it is shown that in both samples intelligence declines from late adolescence, a phenomenon which has been observed in other Arab countries.
... Syria had a high literacy rate, and well-educated young people have fled the country. In Damascus, there is now a shortage of qualified doctors, and most middleclass people have sought safety elsewhere (Dutton et al., 2018). Arguing for brain save makes it possible to justify selecting highly educated people for resettlement quotas without damaging one's humanitarian reputation. ...
Considering the Afghan evacuation of 2021 and its aftermath, this article suggests the term ‘brain save’ to characterise emerging protection discourses and practices concerning the resettlement of skilled women refugees. Resettlement has traditionally focused on women as vulnerable because of their gender. Drawing on examples of the evacuation and prospective resettlement of Afghan women professionals, the article develops the analytic concept of brain save to label these discourses and practices. Unlike ‘brain drain’, brain save challenges established politics of vulnerability and has progressive potential for resettlement as a durable solution. However, it also implies problematic prioritisation of particular resettlement candidates.
... For example, according to a World Bank report, more than a quarter of the total number of Romanian physicians had already left the country by the year 2013 (The World Bank, 2018).Therefore, we argue that these highly skilled individuals systematically exiting the sample population could help in explaining our results. Such an interpretation would also be consistent with recent findings showing a link between brain drain caused by the ongoing civil war in Syria and a stop of the Flynn Effect in Damascus(Dutton et al., 2018).Period (time of testing) effects are also present, but are not clearly attributable to a specific variable. They have an erratic pattern, with humps and dips, but show by and large an increase by time of testing, that could be explained by the population acquiring test-taking skills, or having greater test familiarity, having access to higher quality resources (diet, nutrients), or access to information (ubiquity of personal computers and widespread internet usage)all of them having been consistently linked to increases in test scores in previous research. ...
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.
Performances on tests of creativity have been found to be in decline in the USA. Here, we explore scores on divergent thinking tests in private schools in Khartoum State in Sudan by comparing a 2005 and a 2018 administration of the Torrance Standardized Circles test to 8- to 12-year-olds of both sexes. We find a decline across the period in all three dimensions of the test (Fluency, Flexibility and Originality), as well as in the overall index of divergent thinking. In line with much previous research, females consistently outperform males. Examining previous studies that report Negative Flynn Effects on IQ in Arab countries, we conclude that our results most likely reflect highly localized and exclusively environmental causes, and caution against assuming that the same processes that underlie Negative Flynn Effects in the West, whether on IQ or any trait correlated with it, also underlie it in the Arab World.
Scores of a sample of 2,440 male and female Somalian school students aged 8 through 18 years on the Standard Progressive Matrices Plus (SPM+) are reported. The sample obtained a British-scaled IQ of 68. There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the males and females. The variance was greater among the females than among the males.
Key words: Sex differences; Intelligence; Standard Progressive Matrices Plus; Somalia.
A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 100,000 individuals identified molecular-genetic predictors of educational attainment. We undertook in-depth life-course investigation of the polygenic score derived from this GWAS using the four-decade Dunedin Study (N = 918). There were five main findings. First, polygenic scores predicted adult economic outcomes even after accounting for educational attainments. Second, genes and environments were correlated: Children with higher polygenic scores were born into better-off homes. Third, children’s polygenic scores predicted their adult outcomes even when analyses accounted for their social-class origins; social-mobility analysis showed that children with higher polygenic scores were more upwardly mobile than children with lower scores. Fourth, polygenic scores predicted behavior across the life course, from early acquisition of speech and reading skills through geographic mobility and mate choice and on to financial planning for retirement. Fifth, polygenic-score associations were mediated by psychological characteristics, including intelligence, self-control, and interpersonal skill. Effect sizes were small. Factors connecting DNA sequence with life outcomes may provide targets for interventions to promote population-wide positive development.
The Flynn effect (rising intelligence test performance in the general population over time and generations) varies
enigmatically across countries and intelligence domains; its substantive meaning and causes remain elusive. This first
formal meta-analysis on the topic revealed worldwide IQ gains across more than one century (1909–2013), based
on 271 independent samples, totaling almost 4 million participants, from 31 countries. Key findings include that IQ
gains vary according to domain (estimated 0.41, 0.30, 0.28, and 0.21 IQ points annually for fluid, spatial, full-scale,
and crystallized IQ test performance, respectively), are stronger for adults than children, and have decreased in
more recent decades. Altogether, these findings narrow down proposed theories and candidate factors presumably
accounting for the Flynn effect. Factors associated with life history speed seem mainly responsible for the Flynn effect’s
general trajectory, whereas favorable social multiplier effects and effects related to economic prosperity appear to be
responsible for observed differences of the Flynn effect across intelligence domains.
Results are reported for a standardization of the Advanced Progressive Matrices in Jordan for the ages 11 through 40 years (sample size = 2542). The mean IQ in relation to 100 in Britain is estimated at 86.
A sample of 379 primary school pupils in South Africa given the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices obtained a British " Greenwich IQ " of 65. The result is discussed in relation to other studies using cognitive tests in South Africa. There has been controversy regarding the intelligence of sub-Saharan Africans. In his compilation of race differences in intelligence, Lynn (2006) gave results for 57 sub-Saharan African samples for which the median " Greenwich IQ " was 67. The term Greenwich IQ was proposed by Rindermann (2012) to designate the average IQ of a population in relation to 100 (and standard deviation of 15) in Britain, analogous to the measurement of longitude which is set as deviations from zero through Greenwich. Lynn's conclusion that the Greenwich IQ of sub-Saharan Africans is 67 was disputed by Wicherts, Dolan, Carlson and van der Maas (2010), who contended that the Greenwich IQ of sub-Saharan Africans measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices is 76, and in a further paper by Wicherts, Dolan and van der Maas (2010), who contended that average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans measured by tests other than the Progressive Matrices is 82. These contentions were disputed by Lynn (2010) and Lynn and Meisenberg (2010), who maintained that the Greenwich IQ of sub-Saharan Africans was correctly estimated at 67. The objective of this paper is to
In this study, 63 observations of secular IQ changes (both Flynn and anti-Flynn effects) are collected from three demographically diverse studies of the Dutch population for the period 1975–2005 (representing the 1950–1990 birth cohorts), along with data on g loadings and subtest reliabilities. The method of correlated vectors is used to explore the association between Flynn and anti-Flynn effect magnitudes, both independently and together, and the g loadings of subtests. Despite a positive vector correlation the Flynn effects are not associated with the Jensen effect (r = .307, ns, N = 36), however the anti-Flynn effects are (r = .406, P = .05, N = 27). Combined, the vector correlation becomes negative but non-significant (r = −.111, ns, N = 63). Declines due to the anti-Flynn effect are estimated at −4.515 points per decade, whereas gains due to the Flynn effect are estimated at 2.175 points per decade. The N-weighted net of these is a loss of −1.350 points per decade, suggesting an overall tendency towards decreasing IQ in the Netherlands with respect to these cohorts. The Jensen effect on the anti-Flynn effect suggests that it may be related to bio-demographic changes within the Netherlands which have reduced ‘genetic-g’, despite the presence of large, parallel gains on subtests that may be relatively more sensitive to cultural-environmental improvements.
It is widely accepted that race differences in intelligence exist, but no consensus has emerged on whether these have any genetic basis. The present book is the first fully comprehensive review that has ever been made of the evidence on race differences in intelligence worldwide. It reviews these for ten races rather than the three major races (Africans, Caucasians, and East Asians) analyzed by Rushton (2000). The races analyzed here are the Europeans, sub-Saharan Africans, Bushmen, South Asians and North Africans, Southeast Asians, Australian Aborigines, Pacific Islanders, East Asians, Arctic Peoples, and Native American Indians. Studies of these are presented in Chapters 3 through 12; Chapter 13 summarizes these studies and gives evidence on the reliability and validity of the IQs of the races. Chapter 14 discusses the extent to which race differences in intelligence are determined by environmental and genetic factors. Chapters 15, 16, and 17 discuss how race differences in intelligence have evolved over the course of approximately the last 100,000 years. These discussions are preceded by accounts of the nature of intelligence and the measurement of race differences given in the first chapter, and of the concept of race in Chapter 2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous research indicates that the typical increase in IQ during childhood is greater in European countries than in Arab countries. A systematic literature review of age-dependent IQ in Arab countries is conducted, yielding relevant studies for 12 countries that fulfil the inclusion criteria. In almost all of these studies, Arab children exhibit an age-dependent IQ decline relative to Caucasian children, from 5 to about 12 years of age in particular. We term this phenomenon the Simber Effect. We propose two non-exclusive explanations. (1) The Flynn Effect is less intense in Arab countries because of localised differences, including poorer education quality and greater religiosity. (2) Those from Arab countries follow a faster Life History Strategy than Europeans, for environmental and possibly genetic reasons. Either way, the Simber Effect may amount to a Wilson Effect, meaning that the impact of genetic IQ increases with age.
We compare the results of the Standard Progressive Matrices on two samples from Khartoum, one from 1999 (N 6877) and the other from 2010 (N 5659), both aged between 9 and 25. We show that in 7 out of 12 age groups there has been a significant Negative Flynn Effect over this period. Among those aged 9 to 18 - directly comparable as they are population samples - we found a significant aggregate loss of 2.13 IQ points between 1999 and 2010 comparing these two groups. The sample, in part, is elite and we note that a cessation of the Flynn Effect has also been reported in an elite Brazilian sample; another developing country. We examine a number of factors which may be behind our finding, in particular changes in the Sudanese education system, changes in the Khartoum population, and dysgenic fertility in Sudan.
The results of two previously published Arabic language administrations of the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) are compared. The first is an administration of the SPM in 2006 to a probability sample of 6529 Kuwaitis aged between 8 and 15 from all regions of Kuwait. The second is an administration to a comparable sample of 6431 Kuwaitis in 2015. We find a significant Negative Flynn Effect in each age cohort and an overall Negative Flynn Effect amounting to a loss of 6.2 points in a decade. Possible reasons for this are discussed. It is proposed that the most persuasive explanation is increasing religious emphasis in the Kuwaiti school curriculum.
Drawing on fieldwork that spans nearly twenty years, Making Do in Damascus offers a rare portrayal of ordinary family life in Damascus, Syria. It explores how women draw on cultural ideals around gender, religion and family to negotiate a sense of collective and personal identity. Emphasizing the ability of women to creatively manage family relation ships within mostly conservative Sunni Muslim households, Gallagher highlights how personal and material resources shape women's choices and constraints around education, choice of marriage partner, decisions about employment, childrearing, relationships with kin, and the uses and risks of new information technologies. Gallagher argues that taking a nuanced approach toward analyzing women's identity and authority in society, allows us to think beyond dichotomies of Damascene women as either oppressed by class and patriarchy on one hand, or completely autonomous agents of their own lives on the other. Tracing ordinary women's experiences and ideals across decades of social and economic change Making Do in Damascus highlights the salience of collective identity, place, and connection within families, as well as resources and regional politics, in shaping a generation of families in Damascus. Copyright © 2012 by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5290. All Rights Reserved.
Syria has often lacked sympathetic observers. This book tries to interpret the country and its people in terms of how they see their own history and of what they are trying to achieve. More than a political or diplomatic history, it discusses the economy, society, education and culture to help the reader understand and explain modern Syria.
The ‘Flynn effect' is a surprising finding, identified by James R. Flynn, that IQ test scores have significantly increased from one generation to the next over the past century. Flynn now brings us an exciting new book which aims to make sense of this rise in IQ scores and considers what this tells us about our intelligence, our minds and society. Are We Getting Smarter? features fascinating new material on a variety of topics including the effects of intelligence in the developing world; the impact of rising IQ scores on the death penalty, cognitive ability in old age, and the language abilities of youth culture; as well as controversial topics of race and gender. He ends with the message that assessing IQ goes astray if society is ignored. As IQ scores continue to rise into the 21st century, particularly in the developing world, the ‘Flynn effect' marches on.
Results are reported for a standardization of the Standard Progressive Matrices in Darfur. The sample consisted of 1006 school students aged 9 to 18 years. The younger children performed better than older children, in relation to British norms. This may be because schools in Darfur do not give so much attention to teaching the problem solving skills tested in the Progressive Matrices, or perhaps due to the underdevelopment of Darfur region compared to other regions of Sudan.
Dutton and Lynn report secular declines in Fullscale IQ evaluated using WAIS of four points a decade in France between the years 1999 and 2008-9. It is posited that the trend may have a partially biological cause, stemming from dysgenic fertility and, to a lesser extent, replacement migration. Given that these, and other biological phenomena are associated with the Jensen effect, it is expected that if they are the principal causes of the IQ decline then the secular change should also be associated with the Jensen effect. Furthermore if it can be demonstrated that the vectors of secular IQ decline, g loadings and the vectors of other biological indicators share variance, then the case for biological causation will be strengthened. Using the method of correlated vectors and error disattenuation, the secular IQ declines are shown to be associated with a high-magnitude Jensen effect (ρ= 833). A multi-vector common factor comprised of the vector of g loadings along with the vectors of three biological variables (subtest heritabilities, dysgenic fertilities and simple visual reaction times) was found to load substantially on the secular IQ decline vector (λ= 723). These findings indicate that the French secular IQ loss likely has a primarily biological cause.
Cross-regional correlations between average IQ and socioeconomic development have been documented in many different countries. This paper presents new IQ estimates for the twelve regions of the UK. These are weakly correlated (
r
=0.24) with the regional IQs assembled by Lynn (1979). Assuming the two sets of estimates are accurate and comparable, this finding suggests that the relative IQs of different UK regions have changed since the 1950s, most likely due to differentials in the magnitude of the Flynn effect, the selectivity of external migration, the selectivity of internal migration or the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility. The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores (
r
=0.99). It finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment. A general factor of socioeconomic development is correlated with regional IQ at
r
=0.72.
The results of the French WAIS III (1999) and the French WAIS IV (2008–9) are compared based on a sample of 79 subjects aged between 30 years and 63 years who took both tests in 2008–2009. It is shown that between 1999 and 2008–9 the French Full Scale IQ declined by 3.8 points.
Socioeconomic status and other socio-demographic factors have been associated with selective residential mobility across rural and urban areas, but the role of psychological characteristics in selective migration has been studied less. The current study used 16-year longitudinal data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) to examine whether cognitive ability assessed at age 15–23 predicted subsequent urban/rural migration between ages 15 and 39 (n = 11,481). Higher cognitive ability was associated with selective rural-to-urban migration (12 percentile points higher ability among those moving from rural areas to central cities compared to those staying in rural areas) but also with higher probability of moving away from central cities to suburban and rural areas (4 percentile points higher ability among those moving from central cities to suburban areas compared to those staying in central cities). The mobility patterns associated with cognitive ability were largely but not completely mediated by adult educational attainment and income. The findings suggest that selective migration contributes to differential flow of cognitive ability levels across urban and rural areas in the United States.
Black/White differences in mean IQ have been clearly shown to strongly correlate with g loadings, so large group differences on subtests of high cognitive complexity and small group differences on subtests of low cognitive complexity. IQ scores have been increasing over the last half century, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. Flynn effect gains are predominantly driven by environmental factors. Might these factors also be responsible for group differences in intelligence? The empirical studies on whether the pattern of Flynn effect gains is the same as the pattern of group differences yield conflicting findings. A psychometric meta-analysis on all studies with seven or more subtests reporting correlations between g loadings and standardized score gains was carried out, based on 5 papers, yielding 11 data points (total N = 16,663). It yielded a true correlation of − .38, and none of the variance between the studies could be attributed to moderators. It appears that the Flynn effect and group differences have different causes. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes
cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances
and found that this reduces cognitive performance among poor but not in well-off participants. Second, we examined the cognitive
function of farmers over the planting cycle. We found that the same farmer shows diminished cognitive performance before harvest,
when poor, as compared with after harvest, when rich. This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition,
or work effort. Nor can it be explained with stress: Although farmers do show more stress before harvest, that does not account
for diminished cognitive performance. Instead, it appears that poverty itself reduces cognitive capacity. We suggest that
this is because poverty-related concerns consume mental resources, leaving less for other tasks. These data provide a previously
unexamined perspective and help explain a spectrum of behaviors among the poor. We discuss some implications for poverty policy.
Přeloženo z českého rukopisu?
What has been the real cost of Syria's civil war? Telegraph
- R Akkoc
Akkoc, R. (2016, March 15). What has been the real cost of Syria's civil war? Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/12146082/Whathas-been-the-real-cost-of-Syrias-civil-war.html.
Examining generational changes in the draw-a-person and in the Raven's coloured progressive matrices
- D Bandeira
- A Costa
- A Arterche
Bandeira, D., Costa, A., & Arterche, A. (2012). Examining generational changes in the
draw-a-person and in the Raven's coloured progressive matrices. Revista
Latinamericana de Pscicologia, 44, 9-18.
The slow death of Damascus
- T Cambanis
Cambanis, T. (2015, October 15). The slow death of Damascus. Foreign Policy. http://
foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/15/the-slow-death-of-damascus/.
The chosen people: A study of Jewish intelligence and achievement
- R Lynn
Lynn, R. (2011). The chosen people: A study of Jewish intelligence and achievement. Augusta,
GA: Washington Summit Publishers.
Intelligence: A unifying construct for the social sciences
- R Lynn
- T Vanhanen
Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2012). Intelligence: A unifying construct for the social sciences.
London: Ulster Institute for Social Research.
People who reject Syrian refugees are allies of extremists
- M Nichols
Nichols, M. (2015, December 22). People who reject Syrian refugees are allies of extremists, U.N. Reuters. https://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-un/peoplewho-reject-syrian-refugees-are-allies-of-extremists-u-n-idINKBN0U42NC20151221.
Standardization of John Raven's standard progressive matrices test: SPMparallel version on samples of Damascus school students
- M Y Ola
Ola, M. Y. (2015). Standardization of John Raven's standard progressive matrices test: SPMparallel version on samples of Damascus school students (Unpublished MA thesis)Syria:
Damascus University.
United Nations expert group meeting on international migration and development in the Arab regionPopulation Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Secretariat Beirut
- C Özden
Özden, C. (2006). Brain drain in the Middle East and North Africa: Patterns beneath the
surface. United Nations expert group meeting on international migration and development
in the Arab regionPopulation Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations Secretariat Beirut (15-17 May 2006).
The effectiveness of using time series and regression analysis in studying the intelligence of individuals from 7-18 years old: A field statistical study in Damascus city
- A Rahma
Rahma, A. (2004). The effectiveness of using time series and regression analysis in studying the
intelligence of individuals from 7-18 years old: A field statistical study in Damascus city
(Unpublished PhD thesis)Syria: Damascus University.
Syria: Damascus schools straining to cope with extra pupils. https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-damascus-schoolsstraining-cope-extra-pupils
- Relief Web
Relief Web (2006, October 3). Syria: Damascus schools straining to cope with extra pupils. https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-damascus-schoolsstraining-cope-extra-pupils.
Revolt in Syria: Eye witness to the uprising. London: C. Hurst & Co. te Nijenhuis
- S Starr
Starr, S. (2012). Revolt in Syria: Eye witness to the uprising. London: C. Hurst & Co.
te Nijenhuis, J., & Van der Flier, H. (2013). Is the Flynn effect on g? A meta-analysis.
Intelligence, 41, 802-807.
- E Dutton
E. Dutton et al.
Personality and Individual Differences 125 (2018) 10-13