Editing Race and intelligence (section)

=== Flynn effect and the closing gap ===
{{Main|Flynn effect}}
The '[[Flynn effect]]' — a term coined after researcher [[James Flynn (academic)|James R. Flynn]] — refers to the substantial rise in raw IQ test scores observed in many parts of the world during the 20th century. In the United States, the increase was continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to about 1998 when the gains stopped and some tests even showed decreasing test scores. For example, the average scores of black people on some IQ tests in 1995 were the same as the scores of white people in 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Mackintosh|1998|p=162}}</ref> As one pair of academics phrased it, "the typical African American today probably has a slightly higher IQ than the grandparents of today's average white American."<ref>{{cite book |last=Swain |first=Carol |title=Contemporary voices of white nationalism in America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK New York |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-01693-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/70 70] |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/70}} Note: this quote is from the authors' introductory essay, not from the interviews.</ref>

Flynn himself argued that the dramatic changes having taken place between one just generation and the next pointed strongly at an environmental explanation, and that it is highly unlikely that genetic factors could have accounted for the increasing scores. The Flynn effect, along with Flynn's analysis, continues to hold significance in the context of the black/white IQ gap debate, demonstrating the potential for environmental factors to influence IQ test scores by as much as 1 standard deviation, a scale of change that had previously been doubted.{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2001}}

A distinct but related observation has been the gradual narrowing of the American black-white IQ gap in the last decades of the 20th century, as black test-takers increased their average scores relative to white test-takers. For instance, Vincent reported in 1991 that the black–white IQ gap was decreasing among children, but that it was remaining constant among adults.{{sfn|Vincent|1991}} Similarly, a 2006 study by Dickens and Flynn estimated that the difference between mean scores of black people and white people closed by about 5 or 6 IQ points between 1972 and 2002,{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}} a reduction of about one-third. In the same period, the educational achievement disparity also diminished.<ref>Neisser, Ulric (Ed). 1998. The rising curve: Long-term gains in IQ and related measures. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association</ref> Reviews by Flynn and Dickens,{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}} Mackintosh,{{sfn|Mackintosh|2011}} and Nisbett ''et al.'' accept the gradual closing of the gap as a fact.{{sfn|Nisbett|Aronson|Blair|Dickens|2012a}} Flynn and Dickens summarize this trend, stating, "The constancy of the Black-White IQ gap is a myth and therefore cannot be cited as evidence that the racial IQ gap is genetic in origin."{{sfn|Dickens|Flynn|2006}}